The Matthew R. Simmons Windstorm Challenge, hosted at the University of Maine’s Harold Alfond W2 Ocean Engineering Laboratory, on Friday, May 12, 2023, asks teams of students to design and construct 1:100 scale floating wind turbine platforms and test them in the Alfond W2 Ocean Engineering Laboratory at the Advanced Structures and Composite Center (ASCC) in order to simulate their performance in open ocean conditions. The competitors, student teams with a diverse range of experiences, present to a panel of expert judges.
This year was the largest Windstorm Challenge yet with over 600 Maine students attending from all over the state and the John Bapst team Seas The Day, comprised of Kyle Sidaway, Mark Gaetani, Hunter Higgins, and Lucas Gagnon, took first place among 48 high school teams competing in the High School Division of the Challenge.
This earns them a $20,000 per year internship at the ASCC, contingent upon their enrollment at UMaine. This is the second year in a row that Bapst’s Engineering Program has taken home a Windstorm Challenge win, where students must perform a successful tank test and present their design to industry engineers and engineering faculty.
Additional congratulations go to Lucien Bilodeau, Connor Simcox, and Alex Shanos of team Red, Wet, and Blue, and Jing Russell, Julianna Clark, Hunter Smith, and Alex True of team Turbine Titans for an outstanding test and presentation at the Challenge. Julianna, Hunter, and Alex also scored second place in the Bridge-Breaking Contest held by the Transportation Infrastructure Durability Center at ASCC.
Led by John Bapst science faculty member Michael Dudley, the Engineering II class competes at the ASCC each May. This year, the 11 students in three teams competed in a field that attracted over 120 teams and over 600 middle and high school students from across the state.
View coverage of the 2023 Simmons Windstorm Challenge by WABI-TV (Channel 5 in Bangor) and WFVX-TV (ABC 7/Fox 22 in Bangor).
