Best Dissertation: Mirko Musa
“Local and Non-local Geomorphic Effects of Hydrokinetic Turbines: Bridging Renewable Energy and River Morphodynamics” by Mirko Musa
Mirko Musa (Ph.D. 2019) has received the 2020 Best Dissertation Award in Physical Sciences and Engineering awarded by the University of Minnesota Graduate School. Musa’s research addresses generation of renewable energy using wind-turbine-like devices in rivers.
Musa studied the placement of hydrokinetic in-stream turbines (similar to wind turbines) and the interaction of these devices with the river channel. His research helps expand renewable energy production to rivers with active sediment transport, which are the most energetic ones. Musa’s research has progressively removed existing technical barriers. He provided experimental results and quantitative modeling to estimate scour (erosion of a riverbed) at the support tower, the effect of incoming bedforms (changes in the riverbed) on the harnessed power, and the effect of turbine spacing on power generation and river morphological equilibrium.
Experiments conducted at Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) suggest that turbines can be placed strategically and could be used to protect stream banks from erosion. Hydrokinetic turbines could become part of stream restoration projects that support and sustain the ecological function of the river channel while producing clean renewable energy.
Michele Guala, an associate professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geo- Engineering and Associate Director of Research St Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL), advised Musa and nominated him for this award. Guala respects Musa as an excellent student and a critical thinker: “Mirko is scientifically independent and confident, able to defend his ideas and stand up for them. The quality, breadth, and impact of his dissertation work have exceeded all expectations.”
Describing their work together, Guala said, “In the last 2 years of his Ph.D., Mirko and I have been brainstorming on how to integrate renewable energy systems in natural rivers, and actually flip the paradigm that energy production would have negative environmental impacts.” They developed the revolutionary idea to predict the alteration of the river bottom and water depths due to the presence and use of hydrokinetic turbines. That bathymetric data could be used to optimize the placement of turbines to control and protect the river’s evolution.
Musa holds an outstanding reputation among the SAFL faculty, research and engineering staff, and students. Professor Vaughan Voller, Professor and SAFL researcher who was also on Musa’s dissertation committee, declared the decision to award Musa “absolutely outstanding” and “well deserved.”
In responding to news of his award, Musa expressed surprise and gratefulness, “I am incredibly honored and excited about receiving this award; I am especially happy to “bring it back” to CEGE. This definitely made my day (if not my month) and it is definitely a breath of fresh air in this crazy period [of the COVID-19 quarantine].”
Musa joined Guala’s research group in September 2014 as a PhD student. In 2013, Musa worked on joint research between SAFL and the University of Trento in Italy where he obtained his BS and MS degrees. He graduated from UMN in June 2019 and now works at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) largest science and energy laboratory. Musa and Guala will continue collaborating. They will be working on a DOE sponsored project until 2022. Guala said, “I expect more projects will come; I foresee a bright future for Mirko Musa.”
The Best Dissertation Award in Physical Sciences and Engineering recognizes the University’s top Ph.D. graduates in four broad areas: arts and humanities, biological and medical sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and social and behavioral sciences and education. Each graduate program may nominate only one student. The award is competitive and selection is prestigious.