The US East Coast has a vast offshore wind energy resource that can potentially meet a large portion of the electricity demand of the coastal communities. The first US offshore wind farm was constructed off of Block Island, Rhode Island and several offshore wind farms have been planned by Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and other states in this region. URI’s College of Engineering is in a unique position to promote ocean renewable and offshore wind energy education due to its nationally and internationally recognized marine-related and renewable energy expertise. This minor would be an option for engineering students who would like to focus more on offshore wind engineering. Students can focus on a specific area of offshore wind based on their interest/background such as foundation, substructure design, fluid-structure interaction (hydrodynamics), micro-siting, and instrumentation/control.

Required courses for CHE/CVE/MCE/OCE students (9 credits): • EGR 213G Energy and Environment • EGR 313 Computational Solutions of Engineering Problems • OCE/OCG 513 Ocean Renewable Energy (For CHE students, CHE 347 Transfer Operations I will be accepted as an equivalent for MCE 354 Fluid Mechanics, the prerequisite for OCE 513)

Required courses for BME/CPE/ELE/ISE students (12 credits): • EGR 213G Energy and Environment • EGR 313 Computational Solutions of Engineering Problems • MCE 354 Fluid Mechanics • OCE/OCG 513 Ocean Renewable Energy Elective courses (9 credits for CHE/CVE/MCE/OCE students, 6 credits for BME/CPE/ELE/ISE students) – Provided that the prerequisites are satisfied, a student can select any of the following courses for their minor:

Foundation focus: • CVE 582 Marine Geotechnics • OCG 540 Geological Oceanography • OCE/CVE 583 Deep Foundations

Hydrodynamics and fluid-structure interaction focus: • EGR 515 Hydrodynamics • OCE 421 Coastal Structure Design • OCE 514 Engineering Wave Mechanics and Nearshore Processes • OCE 517Fluid-Structure Interactions and Floating Body Dynamics

Structures/mechanical focus: • CVE 354 Structural Engineering • CVE/OCE 422 Offshore Structure Design • CVE 460 Steel Structures • CVE 565 Structural Dynamics • MCE 466 Introduction to Finite Element Method

Electrical power and energy systems focus: • CHE 213 Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics I

Program Description • ELE425 Renewable Electrical Power Systems • ELE 446X Introduction to Power Electronics • MCE 341 Thermodynamics

Material science focus: • CHE 232 Material Sciences and Engineering • CHE 333 Engineering Materials • CHE 534 Corrosion and Corrosion Control • MCE 440 Mechanics of Composite Materials Economic focus: • EEC 350G Sustainable Energy Economics and Policy

For More Information: M. Reza Hashemi, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Ocean Engineering
University of Rhode Island  
215 South Ferry Road, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA
+1.401.874.6217