A team of students has a pretty nice commute to work this summer. Three students, Marine Affairs master’s student Joe Dwyer and Coastal Fellows Natasha Willcox and Kayla Nitzberg will be riding the ferry to Block Island a couple of days each week. There, they will recruit full-time residents, seasonal residents, and visitors to share their attitudes about the Block Island Wind Farm. Construction on the five-turbine wind farm–the first in U.S. waters–is scheduled to begin three miles of the southeast coast of the island later this summer. The project, led by Marine Affairs faculty member, Dr. David Bidwell, will assess why people support or oppose the project and how those attitudes change throughout the construction process.

Coastal Fellow and wildlife conservation major Natasha Willcox, and Marine Affairs graduate student Joe Dwyer at South East Light on Rhode Island’s Block Island, which will be the best vantage point for viewing the first offshore wind farm in the U.S.