| education advances
argonne lab renews indian education challenge
by MIkE kOSHMRL
mike koshmrl is the editorial intern at SOLAR TODAY.
he is a master’s degree candidate in journalism at the
university of colorado.
The U.S. Department of the Interior is once again team- ing up with Argonne National Laboratory and the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to stage the second
annual Indian Education Renewable Energy Challenge
(IEREC).
The competition is divided into high school and collegiate levels and is open to all tribal colleges and Bureau
of Indian Education high schools. Last year, students were
asked to build a prototype balsa wood wind turbine with
a 3-foot maximum rotor diameter. The students with the
best 10 designs received $1,300 for construction costs
and were required to submit a video demonstrating their
model’s energy output. After a second round of judging,
the top team in each division was awarded an expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C.
This year’s focus will be announced just before the
submission deadline, which usually falls in late October.
“We could do wind again or solar or biodiesel. Maybe geo-
thermal,” said Harold Myron, the director of Argonne’s
educational programs division. “But I’ll tell you, we’re not
going to do nuclear. It’s a little too dangerous.”
The victors of last year’s inaugural competition includ-
ed teams from the Oneida and Menominee Nations in
Wisconsin and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic
Institute in Albuquerque, N.M. All were the recipients of
an unexpected award.
argonne national laBoratory
20 September/October 2010 SOLAR TODA Y solartoday.org Copyright © 2010 by the American Solar Energy Society Inc. All rights reserved.
The winner of the Indian Education Renewable Energy Challenge collegiate division, the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, receives its first-place
award last fall. (The College of Menominee Nation tied, sharing first place.) Fifth from the left is Secretary of the Interior ken Salazar; to Salazar’s immediate
left is Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk.
