Dr. Todd Griffith, associate professor of mechanical engineering, demonstrates his blade design for an offshore floating wind turbine. The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) award provides support for his team to design and build a prototype for a floating offshore wind turbine. Griffith (left) discusses the properties of a blade that will be used for a more traditional wind turbine design. The grant to design and build a floating offshore wind turbine prototype is one of several UT Dallas research projects focused on advancing wind energy technology. Much of the University’s wind-energy research falls under the National Science Foundation-funded Wind Energy, Science, Technology and Research ( WindSTAR) Industry/University Cooperative Research Center.