By Cam Adams
Western Carolina University College of Engineering and Technology professor Bora Karayaka knew it was a shot in the dark — but that shot ended up paying off.
Karayaka and WCU affiliate faculty member Yi-Hsiang Yu received a $45,000 grant from the Coastal Studies Institute. The grant was also received by M.A. Gabr and Anderson Rodrigo de Queiro at North Carolina State University.
“In terms of grant search, you should try whatever you can,” Karayaka said. “Nothing is guaranteed, so I said, ‘Sure, let’s give it a try,’ and we tried and then it worked out at that time, so we were happy.”
The grant will be used toward a project Karayaka and his colleagues are working on. The team is looking to see whether placing wave energy converters around wind farms on the coast would reduce the impact of environmental loading into the wind farms.
Karayaka, Yu and two WCU graduate students will be responsible for making models for the wave energy converters while they meet with their NC State partners on a biweekly basis.
In the spring, the team will head to the Coastal Studies Institute in Wanchese for the North Carolina Renewable Ocean Energy Research Symposium to present their results.
Along with the chance of advancing research on the North Carolina coast, Karayaka also views this as an opportunity for WCU to continue to lend a hand in these research projects.
“I don’t think we have received grants before (from the North Carolina Renewable Ocean Energy Program,) so it kind of opens the door to us to collaborate with other folks and get to know other folks, NC State, UNC Charlotte,” Karayaka said.
“Maybe in the later stages, we will look into more physical aspects of the system. How can we put together a prototype? Not just models and make it real in a way.”