UMass Amherst ARROW Team to Participate in Collegiate Wind Competition
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A team of undergraduates from UMass Amherst, the Riccio College of Engineering, and Mount Holyoke College has been selected by the annual U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC) as one of 30 teams to participate in CWC26 this June. The UMass team is one of four teams affiliated with the Academic Center for Reliability and Resilience of Offshore Wind (ARROW) that will be competing in CWC26. See ARROW website.
ARROW was founded by the U.S. DoE, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, and the Maryland Energy Administration to educate the next generation of professional offshore-wind workers and deliver innovations that reduce cost and increase benefits to consumers.
Some 30 students are participating on the UMass Amherst ARROW team, led by the following students. The president is Mechanical Engineering (ME) and Music major Sean Thapa. The vice president is ME major Sarah Bryan. The two Aerodynamics Team leads are ME majors Ordell Luetschwager and Jake Silveira. The Manufacturing & Design & Materials Team leads are ME majors Dia Le and Ben Schaffer. And the Electrics & Control Team lead is Computer Engineering major Kevin Tran.
According to the DoE, “The final of [CWC26] is expected to take place at the American Clean Power Association’s CLEANPOWER Conference and Exhibition, which is typically held in conjunction with the competition.” CLEANPOWER 2026 will take place from June 1st to 4th in Houston, Texas.
As its website explains, “ARROW is proud to announce that all four of the ARROW-affiliated teams that submitted applications were selected to participate in the 2026 Collegiate Wind Competition!”
In addition to UMass Amherst, ARROW teams from Johns Hopkins University (including members from Morgan State University, another ARROW institution), Northeastern University, and the University of Massachusetts-Lowell were also among the 30 schools selected for CWC26.
ARROW emerged from a Congressionally mandated solicitation process overseen by the DoE and is funded through 2027, with renewal through 2029 possible, and kicked off formal operations in January of 2025.
The CWC, created by the U.S. DoE and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in 2014, says it is designed “to prepare undergraduate students from multiple disciplines to enter the wind-energy workforce by providing real-world wind-energy experience.”
The DoE explains that the CWC helps college students prepare for jobs in the wind and renewable-energy workforce through real-world experiences with wind-energy technology, project development, finance, communications, and outreach. By participating in the CWC, schools and students connect with wind-energy experts and industry contacts, enhancing curriculum offerings for schools and strengthening the professional networks of students.