Today we visited Reykjavik university, and had a chance to hear some master’s students present their thesis projects. All of their projects focused on geothermal energy, which is big in Iceland if you haven’t heard, and it was really great to hear about the projects right after visiting Hellisheiði power plant, as a lot of their research was done in the geothermal activity area surrounding the facility. The students we talked to are doing a lot of really cool things with three-dimensional modeling using seismic data, as well as an analysis of homes that are heated by the geothermal fluid that the power plant produces. For example, one of the students is mapping potential magma reservoirs below depths of two thousand kilometers, and another one is surveying discrepancies in energy use in identically built homes in the Reykjavik area.
We were also able to tour the makerspaces and part of the Engineering wing of the University, which was really neat. Their makerspace with a wind tunnel is pictured above. They have a European equivalent of Pitt’s Panther Racing team, which I’m a member of. They have a few cars on display and I enjoyed looking at the similarities and differences across the two organizations. Reykjavik University also has a unique layout. The building is modeled after the solar system, with a central hub called “Sun”, and wings named after the planets branching out from it.
Swanson School of Engineering 