I'm a researcher working at the intersection of energy sustainability and mechanical/ocean engineering. Since 2010, I've focused on the design, modelling, and testing of floating offshore wind turbines for harnessing wind energy over deep waters. I'm also passionate about education and local energy sustainability, working as a professor for several years at the University of Prince Edward Island. Since 2019, I've worked at the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) focusing on engineering innovations for the large-scale deployment of floating wind farms.
This personal site is a web presence for some of my past work. For current information:
LinkedIn | NREL bio | GitHub | Google Scholar
Background
I began my research career as master's student at the University of Victoria's Institute for Integrated Energy Systems, then did a PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of Maine. During that time I explored global optimization techniques for floating wind turbine support structures, developed and validated a hybrid modeling approach for floating wind turbine basin testing, and created the MoorDyn mooring dynamics model.
I was an assistant professor of Sustainable Design Engineering at the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada, where I taught in the areas of design and sustainable energy and helped establish the program's sustainable energy curriculum. I led research projects on local renewable energy integration and marine renewable energy technologies. During that time I also began investigating shared mooring systems for floating wind farms. I took that research to NREL for the first research project of the National Offshore Wind R&D Consortium. I currently lead research in mooring system innovations and design of floating wind farms.
Publication Highlights
- Design and Analysis of a Ten-Turbine Floating Wind Farm with Shared Mooring Lines
- Comparison of Pilot-Scale Floating Offshore Wind Farms with Shared Moorings
- Initial Perspective on a 100% Renewable Electricity Supply for Prince Edward Island [open-access preprint]
Teaching
While at UPEI, I taught courses in first-year design and communication, numerical methods, final-year experimental practice, and the following two sustainable energy courses, which I created:
- Wind and Water Power: a technical crash course on wind- and water-based renewable energy technologies including hydro, tidal, wind, and wave power.
- Macro Energy Systems: a big-picture course on energy at the system level – developing a techno-economic understanding of energy sources, services, and everything in between.