Kayla Trahey, SIT Summer 2023
During my study abroad, we traveled to three different universities. They varied in size and studies available. In Reykjavik, Iceland there was the main university where it was set up similar to Pitt. They had a dining hall, multiple classrooms, and a large campus with a pond in the middle. We were taught by a PhD student while we were there. We received lectures from him in the beginning of the trip as well as at the end and he gave us a semester-long group project to work on. This project consisted of evaluating the renewable energy types that our home state used. We looked at any plans they had for the future and possible avenues to increase renewable energy use even further. He also took us on multiple field trips to explore large geothermal and hydro power plants in the surrounding area. In one of the hydropower plants, they allowed us to go below the surface and see the water filter through the dam. Since Iceland has such a large amount of glacier runoff, this creates large waterfalls which can in turn power the turbines in the hydropower plants. At most of the geothermal plants, we could only see the huts that covered the boreholes. The steam that comes out of the boreholes is at such extreme temperatures that if you were to interact with it, it would leave severe burns.
At our second town in Isafjordur, we were in the University of the West Fjords. This university serves as a testing center where students can take exams when they cannot make the journey back to their home university. It can also be a place where they can sit and use resources while taking online classes. While we were here, we received lectures from experts on fisheries and various master’s students completing their research. One of the Master’s projects was investigating how the acoustics of large boat motors affect the migration patterns of juvenile Atlantic Cod. This was an interesting study because Isafjordur is a large area for cruise ships to port for the day.
The last place we spent time was in Akureyri, which is the second largest city in Iceland after Reykjavik. While there, we had a guest lecturer named Brynhildur Davíðsdóttir. She is on the advisory board for a company called Carbfix which focuses on carbon sequestration. They do this by reinjecting the CO2 into the basalt rocks rather than letting it be released into the atmosphere. She also gave us a group project to work on while we were there. This project included analyzing a state in the US and analyzing their renewable energy portfolio to make the state more renewable. We all “competed” and proposed our different plans and one group was named the winner. In my typical classes at Pitt, we do not usually have guest lecturers. It was also a very unique experience getting to travel to different places within the country and see how they are utilizing renewable energy as well.
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