Behind the Blades: How Jason Roadman’s Daily Commute Inspired a New Career Path | News

Wind energy engineer considers equipping eagles with flight tracking devices, preparing students for careers in clean energy and using his knowledge to make a positive impact

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Wind turbines had been on Jason Roadman’s mind since before he wore his National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) badge.

In the late 2000s, Roadman was living in Golden, Colorado, and working on a master’s degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. My daily commute was along Colorado State Highway 93, a windy road that cuts through the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains and past NREL’s Flatirons campus, home of the National Wind Technology Center.

“I saw the first industrial-scale wind turbines go up on campus and I thought, ‘They look really cool,’” Roadman recalled.

It wasn’t just the novelty of wind turbines that interested Roadman. It was the idea to use his aviation and space training to make a positive impact.

“One of the career paths I could offer after completing my aviation degree was weapons design and manufacturing,” Roadman explained. “But I wanted to use my knowledge to help, not harm. I knew that wind turbines produce electricity without polluting the air, which helps the environment. I also thought there was aeronautical engineering involved in wind turbines.

Inspired by this alternative path, Roadman began to explore his networks. Pat Moriarty, an NREL engineer whom Roadman knew through the master’s degree committee, encouraged Roadman to apply for an engineering contractor position at NREL. Roadman landed a job as a contractor in 2011 and in 2014 became a full-time research scientist at NREL.

Roadman is currently an applied research engineer at the National Wind Technology Center, where he coordinates and conducts field experiments on research wind turbines on campus and is the designated area representative for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) 1.5 megawatt (MW) turbine. . . Roadman is also on the team that organizes the annual DOE Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC), which helps students prepare for careers in the wind and renewable energy industries.

In the conversation below, we met with Roadman, who was setting up an experiment on a 1.5 MW DOE turbine to measure acoustic emissions.

First of all, in layman’s terms, what do you do at the National Wind Technology Center?

As an applied research engineer, I take various sensors and place them in wind turbines to measure how the turbines behave in different ways. For example, today I am measuring the noise level produced by a 1.5 MW DOE turbine as its blades rotate. For other experiments, I might measure how much energy the turbines generate under given environmental conditions. How do turbines respond to temperature, air pressure, humidity and other environmental changes? What load or stress is the turbine blades and the rest of the turbine structure subjected to? I share this data with other researchers or industry partners for analysis.

Then, as CWC organizer, I lead the development of our annual rules document and the maintenance and upgrade of our wind tunnels, which teams use to test their wind turbine models at our final event. Each spring during the competition’s final event, I serve as the Chief Rules Judge, which means I make sure all student teams follow the rules and also work with the CWC organizers to answer questions about the rules. I also act as a turbine test judge, which means I check the turbines for compliance and run the wind tunnel while the students are testing.

What problems do you solve or what needs do you address by conducting field tests of wind turbines and helping to organize the CWC?

In terms of my field experiment work, I help lead research to prepare wind turbines for commercial launch. The Flatirons campus was built in a unique wind environment. Due to our location in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains and at the mouth of Eldorado Canyon, we experience extremely variable wind conditions and wind speeds higher than what most wind farms experience annually. This means we are able to characterize or report the types of intense conditions a wind turbine may experience. Much of our work involves using various research turbines on campus to predict how well newer turbines will withstand intense wind conditions. Additionally, because wind conditions in our location change so frequently, we can test new technologies more quickly than in a location with less variable conditions.

In terms of my work on the Collegiate Wind Competition, both onshore and offshore wind are poised for significant growth over the next few decades, which means these industries will need a huge influx of workers to fill all kinds of roles – not just engineers, but also financiers, environmental analysts and public relations specialists. CWC helps educate the next generation of workers, equipping them with the skills, knowledge and professional connections that will help them enter the industry.

What are you working on now that you’re particularly excited about?

We just concluded the 2024 Collegiate Wind Competition and we are still accepting entries for CWC 2025! We organized CWC 2024 on May 5–9 at the CLEANPOWER conference organized by the American Clean Power Association in Minneapolis. The competition is always a great culmination of the work students have done during the last school year and is an excellent opportunity to establish contacts. Students meet and share ideas, and since the final event takes place at a conference for representatives of the renewable energy industry, they sometimes even meet with their future employers. It is very rewarding to know that CWC is helping college graduates find jobs and the wind and renewable energy industries find workers.

I can say that the CWC really fills your sails, so to speak! What other projects have inspired you as much?

In 2016, we conducted an experiment collecting bird flight data to help technology companies reduce bird collisions with wind turbines. We had a group of researchers who designed systems to detect birds and bats around wind turbines, assuming that the turbines would stop spinning before the animals got close to them. Scientists wanted to test how well the technology could detect real flying objects, but at the time, Federal Aviation Administration regulations made it difficult to fly unmanned aircraft.

I came up with the idea of ​​putting a GPS tracker on a real bird and flying it around the turbines on the Flatirons campus. My sister, a wildlife biologist, encouraged this idea. I went to the local hawking club and, surprisingly, several members were very interested in research. Through these people, I made contact with Auburn University, which agreed to bring its trained eagles, Spirit and Nova, to the Flatirons campus for a field test. We tested two different technologies – one based on radar and the other based on camera. Some wind farms now use camera technology to detect golden eagles and shut down turbines if eagles are present. Conducting this experiment, watching these eagles fly around campus, and knowing that we were collecting data that would help protect other eagles near wind turbines was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my career.

This sounds like an amazing experience! What advice do you have for people who want to do what you do?

I have some advice. First, enter an engineering and design competition, whether it be CWC or something else. I have been participating in engineering and design competitions in various positions for 28 years – first as a student in junior high school, high school and college, and later as an advisor, judge and organizer. The reason I continue to engage in these types of competitions is because they give you a chance to apply everything you learn in engineering classes to real-world problems.

Secondly, don’t limit yourself to networking. Take the time to follow people who do the work that interests you. That’s why CWC and programs like it are so beneficial: they connect students with wind and renewable energy professionals, giving them a chance to learn first-hand about the careers they’re studying for. When I was in college and exploring career paths, I went to work with friends who worked in organizations that interested me. I met with their colleagues and superiors, asked questions about their work, and found out what was happening in their companies. This strategy gave me confidence that when the opportunity presented itself, NREL would be the right choice. When I started working at NREL, because I had already done a lot of hands-on career research, I knew I had come to the right place. Thirteen years later, I’m still where I want to be.

Finally, if you are reading this as a student or professor, apply for CWC 2025! We accept applications until 16:59 MT, June 13, 2024.

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