{"id":36077,"date":"2025-01-07T10:56:51","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T15:56:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/newengineer\/?p=36077"},"modified":"2025-07-16T14:20:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T18:20:44","slug":"uf-graduate-diego-acevedo-dives-into-sustainable-island-solutions-in-aruba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/stories\/uf-graduate-diego-acevedo-dives-into-sustainable-island-solutions-in-aruba\/","title":{"rendered":"UF graduate Diego Acevedo dives into Sustainable Island Solutions in Aruba"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Diego Acevedo\u2019s grand life \u2013 from kite surfing in his Aruba neighborhood to three engineering degrees from three countries \u2013 stems from mere curiosity. Maybe a bit of restlessness, too.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Born in Colombia, Acevedo, Ph.D., earned his bachelor\u2019s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Florida in 2003. There, he met his wife, Monica Nucete, and within 20 years of marriage, the two embarked on a global tour of education and engineering that wove through Gainesville, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, and, now, Aruba. They are the parents of Lucas, 2, and Ema, 15.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nucete is a high school biology teacher, and Acevedo is a professor and researcher at the University of Aruba. He serves on the Pan-American Marine Energy Association board and has done much work on ocean thermal energy systems and offshore solar systems.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn Aruba,\u202fDiego\u202fhas been exploring the high penetration of renewables on small grids and resource recovery from desalination brines,\u201d noted Mary Church, senior director of development for UF\u2019s department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Next to the academic career, Acevedo, and his business partner, Frank Timmen, operate Happyponics VBA, a hydroponics farm that hosts weekly farmers markets. Yet a large chunk of Acevedo\u2019s life is making Aruba more sustainable and resilient to environmental changes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy daughter says I have three or four jobs,\u201d Acevedo said. \u201cMy day job is working at the University of Aruba. The way I try to explain the program is an academic start-up. We\u2019ve come up with a new program for islands, by islands. This was done with the support of the European Union.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He and his students look at energy, waste, water and wastewater. They examine how the built environment relates to the natural environment, and they tour the island once a year to see every system.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhere do we get our water? Where does the waste go? How do we get our energy \u2013 renewables such as wind and solar,\u201d he said of the annual island tour.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Part of the program includes bio-environmental sciences, with an eye on mangroves ecosystems, coral ecosystems and beach erosion. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBecause I am an engineer,\u201d he said, \u201cI am attracted to technical solutions. We have this program here called Sustainable Island Solutions Through STEM (SISSTEM). It is not a traditional engineering degree. It is a STEM-focused degree \u2013 bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s. What we really try to do is solve issues that are common on islands.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His Ph.D. research centered on the valorization of brines from the desalination systems, which could result in diversification of an island economy while providing stronger-and-lighter materials for the global energy transition. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere is quite a lot of opportunity to recover some resources from the salt water,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe put a lot of energy and effort into processing seawater, making freshwater out of it. It\u2019s a shame if those concentrated salts return to the ocean. We can actually recover, for instance, magnesium; I think there is a huge potential in that.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;69f4a8a35d3f2&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"69f4a8a35d3f2\" class=\"alignright size-large is-resized wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"681\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/conference-diego-acevedo-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-36087\" style=\"width:600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/conference-diego-acevedo-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/conference-diego-acevedo-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/conference-diego-acevedo-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/conference-diego-acevedo-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/conference-diego-acevedo.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\taria-label=\"Enlarge\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.imageButtonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.imageButtonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Diego Acevedo, shown here speaking at a Green Challenge conference, is a researcher and professor at the University of Aruba. He and his wife, Monica Nucete, are UF graduates. (Photo courtesy of Diego Acevedo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>This has large implications, especially as automobile manufacturers are looking to reduce the weight of vehicles.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMagnesium is one of the lightest structural metals,\u201d he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne of the things I have been obsessed with over the last year is that potential for magnesium to provide a very interesting alternative to structural metals, like aluminum or steel. If we can do this cheap enough, and I think we can, when we take it out of concentrated brine sources, like the desalination brine and use a cheap renewable energy source in places where you have a lot of wind and solar, like in Aruba, I believe we can get to an important enough contribution to generate magnesium metal, to provide alternatives on the bigger scale.\u201d &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those are big ideas from a small island. But Acevedo contends, \u201cThe islands can show the way.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of the world looks to the future capped in crisis \u2013\u202fshortages of water, energy, food.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBut in a place like Aruba, we don\u2019t have that,\u201d he said. \u201cFor decades, we\u2019ve been 100% dependent on the water from the ocean. Energy has always been imported. We don\u2019t have oil reserves here, so we were pioneers in large-scale renewable energy. Same with food systems, which is one of my other jobs. I have a technology-focused greenhouse. How do we grow things in a tropical desert location?\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The work is the latest chapter in globetrotting after he and Nucete graduated from UF. They moved to South Florida, where he worked for a machinery company; it bought a factory in France, where the Acevedos lived until their daughter was born.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They earned their master\u2019s degrees in The Netherlands, Nucete\u2019s in biology and education from Leiden University and Acevedo\u2019s in sustainable energy from Delft University of Technology. After a few years they moved to Aruba where after a few years Diego got a joint PhD position at the University of Aruba and the KU Leuven in Belgium. He defended his PhD in May 2024.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nucete is originally from Aruba, and Acevedo said the island is a great place to raise a family, a safe place with good people, beaches and enough challenges to satisfy an engineer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Much of that curiosity started in Gainesville.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cGainesville was fun,\u201d he said. \u201cI found it very easy to relate to people there. There were people from all over the place, and I was able to get involved in a lot of things.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also took the LSAT and was accepted into UF\u2019s law school.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI registered, and then a couple of weeks before I was to start classes, I got this job offer to work on the commercial side for an engineering company, so I did not follow that path to go to law school,\u201d he said. \u201cI still think before 60 I\u2019m going to get a law degree just because I\u2019m curious \u2013 curious and a little crazy.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Crazy?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps. But Acevedo wants to combine the social and environmental sides of his work \u2013 the man-made laws with nature\u2019s laws.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo get important solutions out there, it\u2019s not just the technology,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of engineers are dead set on efficiency and dead set on making the perfect machine. You still need people. Social acceptance. You still need to comply with regulations. You still need to make sure the political climate where this thing will be implemented actually works because it is going to generate jobs or not take away jobs.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI get concerned sometimes that on the engineering side, we forget these things. We forget the people sometimes, so I try to bring those together.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Acevedo also is a runner who took on the Paris marathon in 2022.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI just wanted to see if I could do it because I was never very sporty,\u201d he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI also picked up an instrument recently. I am not very musical, but I wondered if YouTube could teach me how to play the guitar. It\u2019s not so bad,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been on the wall for maybe eight years. Then I decided, \u2018Well, let me see if I can tune it and see if anything can come out of it.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first song he learned was \u201cRedemption Song\u201d by Bob Marley.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m now realizing I\u2019m hyperactive,\u201d he said, laughing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Indeed, that is a big plate with many noble quests. So what makes him most proud?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cThat\u2019s very difficult,\u201d he answered. \u201cI haven\u2019t gotten there yet. I want to do something impactful. I have been very lucky. I have a very good life. But there is still a lot of work to do.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UF mechanical engineering graduate Diego Acevedo\u2019s grand life \u2013 from kite surfing in his Aruba neighborhood to three engineering degrees from three countries \u2013 stems from curiosity and a bit of restlessness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2592,"featured_media":36085,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-templates\/single-sidebar-none.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"featured_post":"off","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[433,447,3,23,55,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2025issue","category-alumni-news","category-alumni-spotlight","category-mae","category-magazine","category-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - 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