Meet the Experts

  • Simona Trandafir Meet the Experts — Simona Trandafir - As an academic with a focus on the economics of energy – how we can better understand, measure, and make informed choices about how we power our lives – Simona Trandafir considers Rhode Island’s experience with the country’s first wind farm as both significant and exciting. “Through my work with my students, I emphasize the unique opportunity we have here, through the Block Island Wind Farm, to contribute to learning and how we think about energy issues in terms of the economics.”  
  • Kaylyn Hawkes Keane Meet the Experts — Kaylyn Keane - Kaylyn Keane plays a vital role in connecting students to the emerging science of offshore renewable energy. In her work with URI Cooperative Extension, she connects the dots between students’ interests and the burgeoning wind industry. 
  • Christopher Baxter Meet the Experts — Chris Baxter - Dr. Christopher D. P. Baxter is a URI Civil & Environmental Engineering and Ocean Engineering professor as well as the Graduate Director of Ocean Engineering.
  • Thomas Sproul Meet the Experts — Tom Sproul - Dr. Thomas Sproul’s research background is in Agricultural and Resource Economics, with a focus on risk modeling, insurance and risk management. He has done research on a variety of topics, including pollution regulation, farm policy, strategic behavior in fisheries, and behavioral economics and finance. Here, he shares his perspectives on offshore wind energy, and how resource economics research can help us understand the benefits and tradeoffs of developing wind farms.    
  • Reza Hashemi Meet the Experts — Reza Hashemi - Reza Hashemi is both a researcher and a teacher, helping guide students in their career choices as he shares with them his expertise in ocean engineering and physical oceanography. Drawn to ocean renewable energy and coastal resilience issues, in the context of ocean engineering, Hashemi provides his perspective here about the advances in this rapidly changing field.  
  • Tracey Dalton Meet the Experts — Tracey Dalton - Tracey Dalton, a University of Rhode Island social scientist, researches a variety of topics – public participation, spatial planning and management, shellfish aquaculture, marine protected areas, and governance of linked social and ecological systems – all of which involve human interactions with marine and coastal environments.
  • Aaron Bradshaw Meet the Experts — Aaron Bradshaw - Aaron Bradshaw currently serves in both the Civil and Environmental Engineering and Ocean Engineering departments at the University of Rhode Island, and his research interests lie in marine geotechnics.