One student's personal journey is influencing the development of curriculum in renewable energy field

In the heart of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania is buzzing with excitement as a third-year Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM) student, Ngaatendwe Manyika, embarks on a groundbreaking project. With the support of various faculty members and the Penn's Environmental Innovations Initiative (EII), Manyika is developing a new course aimed at the next generation of engineers building renewable energy sources.

Manyika's journey began last semester when she took Energy and Sustainability Science: Science, Engineering, and Technology (ENGR 5215). It was during this course that she met Lorena Grundy, a practice assistant professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and learned about the EII funding opportunity.

Grundy, whose motivation for designing an interdisciplinary course stems from her own life spent at the intersection between sustainability, engineering, and energy devices, was immediately impressed by Manyika's passion and ideas. The University of Freiburg also extended its support, involving Grundy and Manyika as lecturers in the development of a new course for the development of new regenerative energy sources.

This summer, Manyika has been hard at work, building small wind turbines that generate clean power. Her work serves as a pilot for Grundy's upcoming course, Renewable Energy Technologies Lab, to be offered in Fall 2026. The course will ask students from different engineering disciplines to collaborate on a single working system.

Students in Grundy's course will build and calibrate measurement circuitry, manage storage, safety, and electrochemistry, shape aerodynamics, gearing, and structures, and choose and test blade and hub compositions. Manyika's work will provide a valuable foundation for this hands-on learning experience.

Manyika's goal is to help bring affordable, reliable energy to people in Zimbabwe, with solar and wind as her focus. Her inspiration comes from the ingenuity in the face of scarcity she saw during her teenage years in Harare.

Bruce Kothman, a senior lecturer, assisted Manyika in the discovery of the reversed rotor blades, while Russell Composto of Materials Science and Engineering provided support for her project. Peter Bruno, the educational lab coordinator, shepherded Manyika's wind-tunnel sessions, and Nathaniel J. Wei from Aerodynamics, Wind, And Renewable Energy Lab provided Manyika with a crash course in aerodynamics.

Grundy would welcome Manyika back as a teaching assistant for the first cohort of the Renewable Energy Technologies Lab course in the fall 2026 semester. Manyika's project, and the knowledge she gains from teaching the course, will undoubtedly inspire future engineers to create sustainable and innovative solutions for the world's energy needs.

One student's personal journey is influencing the development of curriculum in renewable energy field