For six years, in conjunction with collaborators at University of Virginia, University of Texas at Dallas, ColoradoSchool of Mines and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Lucy Pao – the Palmer endowed chair in the department of electrical, computer and energy engineering – and her team have developed the Segmented Ultralight Morphing Rotor, or SUMR, turbine, a two-bladed, downwind rotor to test the performance of this lightweight concept.