KINGSTON, R.I. – June 20, 2022 – It’s common for students at the University of Rhode Island to catch some rays on the quad toward the end of the school year.
The students in URI’s Solar Energy Systems course, however, weren’t on the College of Engineering quad recently to work on their tans. They were catching rays for academic reasons.
Any of the 25 students who could make an 8-ounce plastic bottle of water explode or melt within two hours, using a solar thermal cooker and the power of the sun, would receive an automatic “A” for the spring semester course.
“The first time I taught this course, the project was simply a heavily weighted homework activity,” said Gretchen Macht, an assistant professor of systems engineering at URI. “I changed it to a high-stakes, high-reward model.”
Kaitlin Neville, who is pursuing a master’s degree in…