The U.S. Department of Energy selected four semi-finalists earlier this month to advance to the final round in the third annual National Geothermal Student Competition: the University of Rochester, Oregon Institute of Technology, the University of South Dakota – LTEC and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Student teams will receive an award of $5,500 to complete their business plans; winners will be announced in June.

Now in its third year, this cutting-edge effort at America’s leading research universities harnesses the excitement of geology and geoscience to explore solutions and technologies that could reduce the cost and risks of deploying geothermal energy.