Hope everyone had a great fall semester. As we wrap up our fall programming, we’d love to share a few updates from the past few months!
Introducing the New HSWET E-Board!
Huge thank you to all our subteam leads and board members for making this semester such a fun, collaborative, and meaningful one. The team wouldn’t be where it is today without your energy, leadership, and commitment.
Fall Recruitment
We had a blast at SIF, the Pava Center Open House, and the department elevator pitches! Over 80 new students expressed interest, and after our training and onboarding season, we’ve built a 50+ member team across eight subteams. Stay tuned for our full team photo!
1st GBM: Exploring Renewable Energy and AI’s Growing Grid Demand
Our first GBM of the year featured a guest speaker panel with Levi Patterson, Director of Energy, Science, and AI Infrastructure Policy at NVIDIA, and Daniel Kammen, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of the Just Energy Transition. Both speakers shared valuable insights on how renewable energy will support the growing grid demand of future AI data centers. Shoutout to all our e-board members for hosting the panel, introducing each subteam, and answering questions from new members. We’re excited to continue fostering more industry-academia conversations on campus!
Everyday Superheroes: Women in Energy Panel
In early October we hosted our first HSWET career panel of the cycle! We were grateful to welcome Jamie Mears, Collegiate Wind Competition alum and Project Development Manager at Ørsted, and Lourdes Spurlock, Reconstruction Manager at Apex Clean Energy. They joined us for a wonderful evening, sharing their career journeys in renewable energy—from project development to on-site engineering—and offering insights and encouragement to HSWET women. A night full of inspiration, learning, and new connections!
Trip to Rhode Island: Visiting Onshore and Offshore Wind
Over fall break, HSWET took a trip to Rhode Island to visit local wind sites. We stopped by the Portsmouth Abbey wind turbine, a behind-the-meter distributed wind project powering the local school. The turbine is a Vestas 660 kW machine with 77 ft carbon fiber blades atop a 164 ft steel tower. It helps reduce grid load, improve local power quality, and has generated over $100k per year in revenue through RECs.
We also visited Block Island to see Ørsted’s five-turbine fixed-bottom offshore wind farm—an incredible chance for the team to experience one of the first U.S. offshore wind projects up close!
2025 Yale Clean Energy Conference
In early November, four of our members traveled to Connecticut to participate in the 2025 Yale Clean Energy Conference. The event featured panels on first-of-its-kind projects, clean energy finance, supply chain roadmaps, and emerging cleantech innovations. It was an inspiring weekend of learning, networking, and exploring New Haven!
A deep appreciation to everyone as we close out the semester with the completion of our internal Phase 2 deliverables, continuing the tradition from past competition cycles. Thank you to all our returning members for guiding new teammates through onboarding, the competition landscape, industry concepts, technical tools, and the team culture overall. Your time, patience, and dedication are what make HSWET such a special community at Hopkins—and a standout presence in the broader energy space.
Wishing everyone a festive end of the year, and looking forward to reuniting in the spring!
GO HSWET 💙