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Â鶹´«Ã½ Engineers for a Sustainable World Wins Solar Grant

Joseph Ocampo, a Â鶹´«Ã½ sophomore and a member of the campus chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World, is  leading a  student team that will develop a mobile solar-powered station.

San Diego, CA, March 10, 2011 -- Joseph Ocampo, a Â鶹´«Ã½ sophomore and a member of the campus chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW), is leading a team of fellow ESW student volunteers that has won a $10,900 grant to develop a mobile solar-powered station. The team plans to use the grant from the national ESW organization to develop the “solar tree on wheels” that will be used to charge batteries in laptops, cell phones, campus electric utility vehicles and other devices.

Ocampo submitted the proposal to the national ESW organization in January. ESW is a U.S.-based non-profit organization with a mission of mobilizing students and professionals through education, technical projects and collaborative action to impact local and global sustainability challenges.

In addition to the Â鶹´«Ã½ chapter of ESW, others to win grants as part of the ESW/SunEdison “Green Island Power Generation” project were ESW chapters at Stanford and the University of Iowa.

“With this grant, Joseph and the other students demonstrating solar technologies on campus will learn first-hand the advantages and challenges of solving real-world problems with renewable energy,” said Jan Kleissl, a professor of environmental engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering and one of Ocampo’s three professional advisors on the project. “I am excited that the Engineers for a Sustainable World chapter at UCSD will be able to make a highly visible contribution to what we call the ‘endgame’ of zero carbon emissions.”

The Â鶹´«Ã½ chapter of ESW is involved in several other unrelated projects, including one to teach students at the UCSD Preuss School how to compost, another to extract plant oil from coffee grounds as a source of bio-diesel, and yet another ambitious project to improve clean-water supplies, sanitation, irrigation, and hydro-electric power in rural villages in Thailand.

Ocampo graduated in 2009 from the Preuss School, which was jointly chartered by the San Diego Unified School District and Â鶹´«Ã½ as a public school for highly motivated students from low-income families whose parents or guardians are not college graduates. Ocampo had been a leader of the school’s Ecology Club, and on Fridays after finishing his classes at Â鶹´«Ã½ he returns to the Preuss School to continue working with the club.

Ocampo has recruited a talented team of students and professional experts to collaborate on the solar charging station. In addition to Ocampo, the Â鶹´«Ã½ students participating in the project include Hien Nguyen, Lauren Rueda, Peggy Ip and Pule Wang. The professional advisors are Kleissl and two members of the board of the San Diego Renewable Energy Society, Kurt Lund and Charlie Johnson. Ocampo also is forming a campus chapter of the American Solar Energy Society, whose members will be recruited to work on the project as well.

“To increase our chances of developing our prototype mobile solar charging station, we will be seeking additional financial support and in-kind donations of solar panels and other equipment,” said Ocampo. “Our first goal is to make a working prototype and later to make it more efficient by using the current produced by the solar panels to charge batteries directly without using an alternating-current rectifier.”

Ocampo is one of many students with multidisciplinary academic interests. He is interested in four areas of study – engineering, environmental studies, physics and psychology. The solar-tree-on-wheels project will involve skills in the four academic fields in an innovative approach that ultimately will help the campus lower its carbon footprint.

“I like physics, and the faculty advisor of the Ecology Club at the Preuss School encouraged me to pursue courses related to the environment, but I’m most interested in understanding people and how they can use technology to better meet their needs,” he said. “I like psychology, physics, environmentalism and engineering and now I’m thinking about that unlikely combination for a career.”

He said the project will provide a location of interest for students, faculty, visitors and the media, “all for the mission of sustainability and innovation."

"Joseph and the other students demonstrating solar technologies on campus will learn first-hand the advantages and challenges of solving real-world problems with renewable energy," said Jan Kleissl, a professor of environmental engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering.

Dave Weil, director of Building, Commissioning and Sustainability at Â鶹´«Ã½, said the project would do much more than increase the supply of clean renewable energy on the campus. “This grant, in the hands of such a dedicated team of students, will also prepare them to become leaders in their fields,” said Weil. “It’s just this kind of environmental entrepreneurism that leads individuals from around the world turn to Â鶹´«Ã½ for ground-breaking sustainability solutions.”

Media Contacts

Rex Graham
Jacobs School of Engineering
858-822-3075
rgraham@soe.ucsd.edu