January 30, 2012

Amplified Wind Solutions Executive team (L to R): Rahul Sukheja, Patrick Mohney, and Niki Zmij.

A team of CSU business and engineering students, led by Dr. Oya Tukel and Dr. Majid Rashidi, was selected as a semi-finalist in the Clean Energy Challenge 2012, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and Clean Energy Trust. This is a significant achievement since more than 100 applications were submitted to compete for $250,000 in cash prizes.

Clean Energy Challenge is a first-in-class business competition that seeks to find Midwest clean energy businesses with the potential to bring innovations to the marketplace. Applicants compete in either the Early Stage Business track or the Student Challenge.

The team, comprised of MBA students Niki Zmij and Rahul Sukheja, engineering student Patrick Mohney, and Terry Thiele, director of sustainable product strategies at Lubrizol, developed a commercialization plan for an innovative modular Wind Speed Amplification system based on a design by Dr. Rashidi at CSU. The business plan introduces consumers to a new understanding that wind turbines do not have to be placed in high wind areas, costing millions of dollars in investment, in order to generate adequate electricity.

The team is also working very closely with the Urban Development Law Clinic at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, which provides student associates with the opportunity to work on real legal problems under the supervision of clinical professors. Their services include assisting with the incorporation of the company, intellectual property and patent protection, and licensing.

The Amplified Wind Solutions team will compete with 18 other semi-finalists on February 29 and March 1 in Chicago, IL. The winner of the Student Challenge will represent the Midwest at the U.S. Department of Energy’s national competition in Washington for a chance to win the $100,000 grand prize. For more information about the Clean Energy Challenge, visit:

http://cleanenergychallenge2012.istart.org

*Note: This article was originally published in the Jan. 2012 edition of Dialogue.