Rise and shine! I woke up this morning after an amazing night’s rest and headed straight down to breakfast. I ended up having two pancakes, although I wasn’t really feeling most of the selections they had out this morning. The coffee, however, was amazing and definitely helped wake me up. After breakfast we began the day with a tour of Reykjavík University and their Iceland School of Energy. It was really interesting to get a look at what students study there. We learned about their majors, different courses, clubs, and even got to tour some of their labs. They also had some food out for us which was a nice bonus.
While we were there we listened to a few presentations from current students about the research projects they are working on. Two of the students were studying potential geothermal drilling locations and volcanic activity deeper underground. Their work focused on analyzing data from the earth to better understand where drilling might be effective and safe, which is really important in a country like Iceland where geothermal energy is such a big part of the energy system.
The project that stood out to me the most was from a student researching energy consumption in homes that all had the exact same structure. She placed monitoring devices in five Icelandic homes located right next to each other that were built with the same design. Even though the homes were identical, the energy usage was still very different. Her goal was to understand why those differences existed and how to reduce wasted energy. One idea she discussed was simply notifying homeowners about their energy use so they could change their habits. Another possible solution was connecting windows to the monitoring system so they could automatically ventilate homes when needed without wasting heat or energy.
At the end of our visit, the university trip finished with a long and detailed presentation about the boreholes we saw yesterday. It gave us the chance to dive deeper into how they are drilled, monitored, and used for geothermal energy production.
After leaving the university, we headed into the city for our Iceland tasting experience. I finally got to try puffin. It honestly was not as good as I had hoped, but I can officially check it off my bucket list now. One thing I did really enjoy though was horse tartare, which surprised me. After that we walked around the city for a while and did some shopping before stopping to see the famous church Hallgrímskirkja. It was really astonishing to see in person and there were so many people gathered around it. The architecture is very unique and it stands out over the entire city.
Later in the evening we came back, showered, and went to dinner. We had some amazing fish followed by a chocolate and raspberry dessert that was the perfect way to end the meal. Overall it was a really fun day of exploring the city and it felt like a great way to wrap up the trip.
Today I learned a lot about how engineering research is actually carried out by students and professionals. Seeing the projects at the Iceland School of Energy showed me how engineers gather data, analyze patterns, and then design solutions that can improve efficiency and sustainability. The engineering techniques used here really gave me a broader mindset and allowed me to realize that there are many possible solutions to energy and sustainability challenges beyond the approaches we commonly use in the United States.
Looking back on the entire trip, I feel like I gained a much deeper understanding of how engineering connects directly to real world problems. From geothermal power plants to glaciers, volcanic systems, and energy research labs, everything we saw showed how chemical and environmental engineering can help create sustainable energy solutions. I think the experiences from this trip will definitely stay with me as I continue my classes and move toward my future career. Seeing these systems in person made everything feel more real, and it motivated me to keep learning about how engineering can be used to solve global challenges.
Swanson School of Engineering 