Five University of Rhode Island engineering students were among the 12 Energy Fellows who presented their projects to mentors and peers at URI’s Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences.

The Energy Fellows Program was established in 2008 to engage and train students who are interested in a career in the sustainable energy sector.

Here are the engineering students who participated in the program.

Collin Treacy

Major: Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mathematics
Project: The Effectiveness of Energy Efficiency and Energy Conservation
Fellowship Placement: URI Office of Sustainability
Hometown: Malta, New York
What I Learned: “I learned that increasing the use of renewable energy, such as wind and solar, results in an increase in demand for natural gas. This is due to renewable energy production being intermittent. The wind speeds vary throughout the day and sunlight is not always shining. This results in an inconsistent amount of energy being produced. To fill these gaps, natural gas is required. In order to avoid using natural gas, energy storage systems are needed.” 

Jesse Duroha

Major: Industrial & Systems Engineering (Ph.D.)
Project: Energy Conservation Behavior Change Survey Results from the URI Residence Halls
Fellowship Placement: URI Office of Sustainability
Hometown: Lagos, Nigeria
What I Enjoyed: “I really enjoyed learning about the obstacles and progress renewable energy is making in Rhode Island through the seminars, workshops and student presentations provided by the program. For example, I learned about the work Dr. Corey Lang, Kate Venturini Hardesty and Clare Laroche are doing to educate the public about solar siting in Rhode Island. Their work has taught me that large scale solar siting decisions need to be interdisciplinary and take into consideration the communities’ preferences and interests.”

Clare Laroche

Major: Ocean Engineering
Project: Identify, Educate, Disseminate: Inspiring Change in RI Solar Policy Through Targeted Outreach
Fellowship Placement: URI Cooperative Extension
Hometown: Bristol, Rhode Island
What I Learned: “As an ocean engineering student, I welcomed this project as an opportunity to expand my skills in a new field. My fellowship was focused on social science, so I learned about renewable energy from the point of view of residents, policymakers and environmental advocates. I created surveys which were distributed to individuals to measure their learning growth. I then analyzed the survey results to measure our progress in disseminating information. The soft skills I utilized throughout my project will serve me well in my future engineering career.”

Grace Darkow

Major: Mechanical Engineering
Project: Energy Efficiency: Variable Frequency Drives and Refrigeration Controls
Fellowship Placement: RISE Engineering
Hometown: Hopkinton, Massachusetts

 

Zachary deWardener

Major: Industrial & Systems Engineering
Project: URI’s Smart Grid Research: How strides in artificial intelligence will make our future grid management systems more dependable
Fellowship Placement: URI College of Engineering Network Security and Trust (NEST) Laboratory
Hometown: Narragansett, Rhode Island
What I Learned: “I learned just how vulnerable our electrical grid is. There’s been so much news about ransomware attacks on big corporations, but most people don’t realize that the biggest threat to our national security is right under our noses and the more tech-savvy state-sponsored ‘hacktivists’ become, the less prepared we are for a serious event that could change the way we live. As an industrial engineering major, I went into this experience with very little knowledge of computer science, and even less in electrical systems management, but gaining first-hand exposure in a lab that specializes in both was a great learning experience for me.”