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Scientific and engineering expertise from the UW Department of Mechanical Engineering and APL-UW was put to work in late summer on a renewable energy project in the village of Igiugig, Alaska. The team, led by Brian Polagye and Jim Thomson, was tasked to measure the flow around an electricity-generating turbine installed in the Kvichak River. They used modified SWIFT buoys and new technologies to measure the natural river turbulence as well as that produced by the turbine itself. Installed by the Ocean Renewable Power Company, the turbine has the capacity to generate a sizable share of the village's power needs. More on the team's work to characterize the marine environment at tidal energy conversion sites: Admiralty Inlet, WA (http://www.apl.washington.edu/SeafloorTidalPower) Canal de Chacao, Chile (http://www.apl.washington.edu/ChileTurbulence)