For students who wish to pursue a career in sustainable energy, the University of Rhode Island’s Energy Fellows Program provides paid experiential learning opportunities. 

Students are placed at a company, governmental agency or department at URI where they gain at least 600 hours of hands-on experience. In addition, energy fellows can receive up to six academic credits by completing two semesters of professional development training.

Over the summer, energy fellows attend a weekly Energy Industry Training Series, with site visits and discussions on energy markets, policy and equity with industry professionals. The program culminates with an annual symposium, at which students present the impact of their fellowship work to an audience of mentors, peers, URI faculty and staff, and professionals from the energy industry.

This year, six of the 14 energy fellows at URI are engineering students.

Grace Darkow

Mechanical Engineering  |  Hopkinton, MA

Grace Darkow conducted her energy fellow internship at RISE Engineering.

In the image to the right, Kevin Silveira, director of Electro-Mechanical Services at RISE, teaches Darkow how to normalize weather data. Normalizing weather data is a mechanism that is used to adjust a customer’s electric bill due to variations from normal weather temperatures.

Zachary deWardener

Industrial and Systems Engineering  |  Narragansett, RI

The United States uses about four trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, making the security of America’s electrical grid extremely important.

Zachary deWardener is examining how the grid can be protected in Professor Haibo He’s Network Security and Trust Laboratory at URI.

“By using digital twin technology to run numerous simulations that imitate a hacker’s cyber-attack on the electrical grid, tests can be conducted without disrupting the actual grid,” said deWardener. “The opportunity to work with cutting edge artificial intelligence technology, along with cyber-physical defense systems, was just too cool of a subject to pass up.”

Jesse Duroha

Industrial and Systems Engineering  |  Lagos, Nigeria

Jesse Duroha knows a thing or two about energy, or a lack thereof. Losing electricity was a regular occurrence where he grew up.

“Growing up with an unstable power supply in Nigeria shaped my fascination for the role energy plays in society and how that impacts sustainability across communities,” said Duroha.

Unlike the other engineering energy fellows who are pursuing their bachelor’s degrees, Duroha is working toward a doctorate at URI in industrial and systems engineering, with a research focus on solar energy systems.

Through the Energy Fellows Program, Duroha is developing an algorithm that will assess the quality and reliability of large-scale solar powered systems.

“The algorithm will detect anomalies in solar production and predict these anomalies’ root cause to improve solar production efficiency,” said Duroha.

Duroha’s algorithm will be put to the test by the South Kingstown Solar Consortium, a public-private partnership between the towns of South Kingstown and Narragansett, URI and Kearsarge Energy.

Clare Laroche

Ocean Engineering  |  Bristol, RI

Rhode Island is expected to rely heavily on solar energy by 2030. However, there is limited open space for solar developments. Clare Laroche’s responsibility as an energy fellow is to disseminate data to stakeholders, primarily Rhode Island policymakers, on research being conducted that addresses the conflict between the state’s solar policy and a lack of available space.

“I have learned a great deal about Rhode Island’s environmental goals and the ways policy can be shaped to achieve those goals while remaining sensitive to the needs of municipalities,” said Laroche.

The Rhode Island House of Representatives recently approved the Act on Climate bill, which calls for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“The passage of that policy highlights how important environmentalism is to Rhode Island and makes this project more relevant than ever,” said Laroche. 

Matthew Moretta

Chemical Engineering  | Westerly, RI

Matthew Moretta has been supporting the Ocean State Clean Cities Coalition‘s effort to make stakeholders aware of funding opportunities and alternative fuel resources since January 2021.

“Being an energy fellow has enabled me to meet some of the leading energy professionals in Rhode Island and gain first-hand experience in the renewable energy sector,” said Moretta. “Working with motivated individuals and problem-solvers toward a global, renewable future has been inspiring.”

Moretta hopes to someday form a company in the renewable energy field.

“One of the reasons I’m studying engineering is to find solutions for some of today’s largest problems and those that await us in the future,” said Moretta.

Collin Treacy

Mechanical Engineering, Applied Mathematics  | Malta, NY

As a way of encouraging staff and faculty at the University of Rhode Island to be more mindful of sustainability practices in their own office space, the URI Sustainability Office developed a Green Office Certification program.

“The goal of the project is to make URI more sustainable by educating groups on how they can make their workspaces more green,” said Collin Treacy, who is serving as an energy fellow in the Sustainability Office.

By adjusting habits in such categories as energy conservation, waste, mail and documents, purchasing, recycling, transportation, and networking and awareness, faculty and staff can earn the Green Office designation.

Sustainability and renewable energy are subjects Treacy has felt strongly about since he was in high school.

“I recall feeling compelled to work with renewable energy ever since I was exposed to the profound issues resulting from carbon emissions,” said Treacy.

How to Become an Energy Fellow

Applications for the 2022 Energy Fellows Program will be accepted in September 2021. Students with an interest in the sustainable energy sector are encouraged to apply. Contact Kaylyn Keane at kkeane@uri.edu with any questions.