US-South Africa Cooperative Research: International Research Experience for US Students in Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

该项目将支持四名本科生和一名研究生在南非开普敦大学世界一流的电力工程实验室度过一个夏天进行研究。该活动的目标包括：1)教授学生进行合理研究的过程，以及在能源效率和可再生能源的广泛领域进行研究的重要性；2)让学生接触真实的发电和利用设备，以及它们在可再生能源和能源效率领域的适用性；3)让学生认识到研究生学习的重要性；4)使学生在完全不同的文化环境中获得第一手的国际经验。该项目的智力价值在于为学生提供在能源效率和可再生能源方面的一流研究机会，而这些机会在美国是不太可能得到的。学生们还将遇到发展中国家而不是发达国家所面临的更广泛的技术挑战。这个项目有很大的潜力为学生提供一个文化丰富的国际体验；这种经历对学生态度和知识的影响将在项目期间进行监测。这些学生还将满足美国目前和未来对能效和可再生能源领域工程师的需求。

This project will support four undergraduate students and one graduate student to spend a summer conducting research in South Africa at the University of Cape Town's world-class power-engineering laboratory. The objectives of the activity include 1) teaching students the process of conducting sound research and the importance of research in the broad area of energy efficiency and renewable energy; 2) exposing students to real-world power generation and utilization equipment and their applicability to the areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency; 3) exposing students to the importance of graduate study; and 4) enabling students to gain first-hand international experience in a distinctly different cultural setting.The project's intellectual merit lies in providing first-rate research opportunities in energy efficiency and renewable energy that the students would be unlikely to get in the US. The students will also encounter a broader range of technical challenges that face a developing country, rather than a developed country. This project has great potential to provide a culturally-rich international experience for students; the impact of this experience on student attitudes and knowledge will be monitored during the project. The students will also fulfill a current and future need in the US for engineers with expertise in the areas of energy efficiency and renewable energy.