U.S. Department of Energy Hydropower Collegiate Competition (HCC)
Team Name: Hydro Raiders
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas
Tell us about your team:
The Hydro Raiders are participating in the Hydropower Collegiate Competition for the second time in 2024. Our team is part of the Renewable Energy Student Association of Texas Tech University.
We have two team leaders. One is a Ph.D. candidate who represents the other graduate students on our team, and one is an undergrad who represents the other undergrads. Our team is divided into two subteams: the case study subteam and the connection subteam. Our team meets regularly to identify the tasks that need to be completed and the members who can complete those tasks most efficiently. We also use our meetings to explore new ideas. We are active on social media, using Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook as our form of communication to the public.
What are you doing to ensure your team is diverse and inclusive?
We have a very diverse team of both undergraduate and graduate students. We have members from different parts of the world like Chile, Nepal, Cuba, Brazil and the United States of America. Even though we come from different parts of the world, we all have creative ideas, and those ideas are help our team to perform better. We had a few continuing members from last year, but we needed to grow our team this year. To do this, we posted Instagram stories on our page and started distributing pamphlets in front of the Student Union Building. We also promoted our organization at Texas Tech’s Student Organization Fair, where we interviewed prospective team members.
What is your team hoping to get out of their HCC experience this year?
We are looking forward to learning more about the different aspects of hydropower. We are excited to integrate the creativity of our very diverse team with the knowledge gained and the connections made through this competition. We hope our work can play a role in the country’s goal of increasing renewable energy production.
The Hydro Raiders include (from left to right): Javier Morales Riech, Carla Gavilan Rodriguez, Saksham Sedhai, Medhawi Niroula, Manish Giri, Ashish Sedai, Pedro Eisenkraemer, and Leandro Bastias. Photo from the Hydro Raiders, Texas Tech University.
