Rm. 154,
Office Phone Number: 806 651 2296
Mobile # 806 324 3396
E-mail kstarcher
I
started as an undergraduate assistant in 1976 working for Dr. Vaughn Nelson.
When AEI was formed in 1977, I was one of the student slaves. I have been here
ever since. During these 34 years, we have installed more than 85 small
renewable systems at our test sites (Nance Ranch, field tests in Borger, Tulia
and Canyon City Well fields, the Wind Test Center, north of the WTAMU campus,
USDA, Bushland, TX and the AEI-Regional Wind Test Center (at Nance Ranch)) as
well as helping industry in California sites near Palm Springs, wind farms here
in Texas and assisting with airfoil/blade design for many others.
We
are collecting wind data all over our State, and have helped companies/agencies
with met tower maintenance and installation in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona,
Vermont, Kansas and Oklahoma.
A recent project was installing a home sized system for the Hale County Farm
and Ranch Museum for SECO. We also helped the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
with Sheldon Lake State Park improvements and incorporating renewables for
educational purposes. Several small wind turbines have been built at High Schools in South Texas (Laredo,
McAllen/Weslaco) and here in the Panhandle.
I have had the great
pleasure to travel to Jamaica, China (5 times), South Africa, Korea, Germany
(twice), Italy, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, France, Brazil (Manaus, Rio de
Janeiro, and Sao Paulo), Thailand, Japan (3 times), Costa Rica, Chile and all
over Texas and the USA.
I have learned to
program computers and data loggers, collected and analyze data for long term
projects and high speed data for short term tests, produced templates for blade
manufacturers to test new thin airfoils, coordinated student/staff schedules,
examined modal vibrations of wind turbine blades (learning from Rich Osgood of
NREL), collected the first flow visualization images of blades from operating
wind turbines (Dr. David Eggleston taught me alot), manufactured VAWT joint fillets (Dr. Woody
Stoddard taught us everything) for 34 m vertical axis test bed, and conducted
thin airfoil blade tests (with Bruce Andrews).
( ) The
people in the parenthesis are the main forces behind each project.
I have worked with
lots of people over the years, students, faculty and foreign interns. A
comprehensive 34 year look at AEI is in the works and should be finished before
the next 35 years have flown past. Each person has left a little bit of new
knowledge and hopefully taken away more than they left. Now, as Associate
Director of Training Education and Outreach at AEI, I will see that it follows
the path charted this last 1/3 century to make renewables more attractive to
our world.
Anything
to do with space interests me, lots of books on moon exploration and
astronautics are in my bookshelf. The latest MARS lander Spirit/Opportunity is especially
interesting as I have my name on the DVD's mounted to the lander frames, part
of the Planetary Society effort. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of
US manned space flight today too (May 1960 – 2010). I have a soft spot for
minerals too, keeping a large collection of rock eggs and spheres that I have
collected from all over the world on trips.
I
have a computer near me at ALL times. I have worked with lots of systems and
the main claim to fame is that of the 5 systems in the Smithsonian display on
personal computers in
I
get to play each day doing different jobs, teaching, electrical work,
computers, getting answers for visitors to AEI, traveling and writing, planning
future research, budgeting how to pay for it and the State PAYS me too! It is a
great place to work and Canyon is the best place in
I
share my home with my lovely wife Madeleine Tainton, an artist, teacher,
videographer, baker and cat cushion.
We share info on our public
page. Son Ramsey is now in the Great Northwest of the
I
am a dedicated Robert A. Heinlein fan, have all his paperbacks and constantly
upgrade to hardbacks when I can find them. I am a die hard, bleed
AND A
SPECIAL WELCOME TO
HEAD COACH MIKE SHANAHAN !!!
And
GENERAL MANAGER BRUCE ALLEN !!!
MS 1995, WTAMU, Engineering Tech
BS 1980, WTSU, Physics/Computer
Science
Vaughn
Nelson and
V.
Nelson, K. Starcher, H. Ito and P. Lockwood, "Extreme Wind Events"
AWEA Windpower 2003,
Vaughn Nelson, Earl Gilmore and
Kenneth Starcher, INTRODUCTION TO WIND ENERGY, AEI, Report 94-2, September
1994, 39 pgs.
F.S. Stoddard, V.C. Nelson, B.C.
Andrews, and K.L. Starcher, "Atmospheric Testing of a Special Purpose HAWT
Airfoil Family," EWEC Conference,
2000 WTAMU Clarence Thompson Staff
Excellence Award
Board of Directors, American Wind
Energy Association (AWEA) 2002-2003
Texas Renewable Energy Industry
Association, (TREIA)
Individual Member of the Year,
2005
Small Wind Educator of the Year,
2010
The Planetary Society
The Artemis Foundation
Alternative Energy Institute WTAMU HOMEPAGE