Northern Illinois University
Virtual Renewable Energy Laboratory
College of Engineering and Engineering Technology

Using Renewable Energy Experiments to Enhance Student Engagement in STEM.

This web site is developed for the project “Interactive Virtual Laboratory: Using Renewable Energy Experiments to Enhance Student Engagement in STEM” funded by the National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program. The Principal Investigator for this project is Dr. Liping Guo from Engineering Technology Department at NIU. The Co-Principal Investigator is Dr. Andrew Otieno from Engineering Technology Department.

This web site provides an internet portal in which college and pre-college students can conduct virtual experiments with solar, wind, and distributed power generation system, and collect data for their engineering activities. Networking and information technology were utilized to create the virtual laboratory. The virtual laboratory is interactive, flexible and cost effective. It provides a structured learning platform, where students will gradually achieve knowledge and skills while designing renewable energy systems and finding solutions to authentic energy-related problems. Through the virtual laboratory, we will engage the students to increase their interest in STEM learning. The virtual laboratory on this web site is integrating the cutting-edge research by the Principal Investigators with educational curriculum.

Live Data From NIU Solar Power System