Abstract
My technical capstone project and my STS research paper are connected through the idea of energy, specifically within power systems and reliability. In my capstone project, my team and I created a hydropower educational device that allows students to explore how energy is generated and measured. In my STS research paper, I focused on how large-scale infrastructure, like Virginia’s power grid, influences the social environment through policy decisions. While the two projects focus on different scales, one small and educational, and the other large and societal, they both work to show how energy systems shape the way people think and make decisions.
My technical project focuses on the design of the SHaRK (Student Hydropower Analysis Reliability Kit), which is a hands-on educational module that demonstrates how water flow generates electricity even on a small scale. The system involves different turbines of variable size and shape connected to a generator and a microcontroller that measures voltage, current, and power in real time. Users can change turbine designs and observe how these changes affect their performance. The goal of this project is to help students better understand renewable energy systems by allowing them to interact with them directly instead of solely learning through theory in an online simulation.
Furthermore, my STS research paper explores how Virginia’s power grid shapes state energy policy using the concept of Technological Momentum by Thomas Hughes. I argue that the grid has developed enough “mass” and “velocity” that it now influences policy decisions, especially through the need for reliability. I focus on the case of data center growth in Northern Virginia, where roughly 13-14% of the world’s data centers are located, and show how this rapid increase in energy demand forces regulators to prioritize infrastructure expansion over clean energy goals to prevent catastrophic events like the Northeast Blackout. This demonstrates that the power grid is not just a tool but an active system that limits what policymakers can realistically do.
Working on both projects at the same time helped me better understand how engineering systems operate at different scales and their importance. The capstone project showed me how systems are designed and optimized for performance and reliability, while my STS research showed me how those same priorities can influence society and policy. Even though our technical project was small, it still reflects the importance of reliability and system behavior, which are also key ideas in my STS research paper. Overall, working on both projects together helped me see that engineering decisions do not just stay within a system but can have larger impacts beyond what engineers initially expect, and I hope to pass this on to future generations.
