Host Facilities for Marine Energy Fellowship

Host facilities for this program may include government research facilities or labs, industry sites (such as technology developers), or other locations approved by WPTO. Fellows and mentors are responsible for coordinating appointment start and end dates which typically last 12 months and may be conducted virtually or onsite. As part of the application process, fellows will collaborate with their mentor to develop a research plan that must be submitted at the time of application.

While this list serves as a helpful starting point for identifying suitable facilities, applicants are not limited to the options provided. Fellows are encouraged to directly contact host facility representatives listed on this page if they are interested in collaborating with them.

Questions? Contact us at DOE-RPP@orise.orau.gov.   

Additional Information

Army Research Laboratory
  • Department: Spectrum Dominance Team
  • Mentor: Andre Slonopas; andrew.slonopas2.civ@army.mil
  • Area of Expertise: Advanced functional materials.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Semiconductors that can be leveraged for energy harvesting.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: No preference
  • Location: No preference
Blackfish Engineering
  • Department: N/A
  • Mentor: Marcus Oliver Gay; marcus.gay@blackfishengineering.com
  • Area of Expertise: Innovation, new product development, and engineering design of tidal and wave energy devices.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Blackfish Engineering works on behalf of many ocean renewable energy technology developers to develop, design and test devices at full-machine, system, and sub-system scales. The company has led the design and manufacture of ocean renewable energy machines ranging from 20 kilowatts to 1 megawatt.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: Remote
  • Location: No preference but open to domestic and international travel supporting U.S., UK, and EU projects.
  • Open to post-graduate fellows
CalWave
  • Department: N/A
  • Mentor: Marcus Lehmann; marcus@calwave.energy
  • Area of Expertise: Systems engineering, original equipment manufacturer of wave energy converters
  • Primary Research Area(s): Techno economics; systems engineering; design tradeoffs informed by end-user interviews and market research; and market entry strategies including end-user engagement with Tribal nations, corporations, project developers, microgrid and offshore wind project developers and operators, utilities, cooperatives, and others.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: No preference
  • Location: Alameda, California
  • Open to post-graduate fellows
  • Department: N/A
  • Mentor: Thomas Boerner, PhD; thomas@calwave.energy
  • Area of Expertise: Control methods, system identification, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, time domain simulations, feedback systems.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Implementation of reinforcement learning methods into ocean wave energy converter control. Application of machine learning methods for ocean wave prediction for applications in wave energy converter control.
  • Fellow Start Date: Spring (May–June)
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: Remote
  • Location: N/A
  • Open to post-graduate fellows
C-Power
  • Department: N/A
  • Mentor: Zhe Zhang; zzhang@cpower.co
  • Area of Expertise: C-Power makes wave power systems that tap the world’s largest battery – our oceans – to supply cost-effective, dependable, and predictable energy to reduce operational cost and complexity and unleash innovation and decarbonization in the global economy.
  • Primary Research Area(s): C-Power's product development covers a broad range of engineering work but specific areas of interest for a Fellow include advanced controls strategy, differentiating WEC designs (e.g., subsurface expression), PTO/electric plant, and power flow optimization.
  • Fellow Start Date: Spring (May–June)
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: Hybrid or remote depending on candidate and research focus.
  • Location: Corvallis, OR
  • Open to post-graduate fellows only
Deep Anchor Solutions Inc.,
  • Department: Marine Anchor Systems Division
  • Mentor: Junho Lee; jlee@deepanchorsolutions.com
  • Area of Expertise: Expertise in designing and optimizing marine anchor systems for floating marine energy platforms under extreme conditions.
  • Primary Research Area(s): We develop and optimize marine anchor systems for floating marine energy platforms, covering concept design to commercialization. Our research includes numerical modeling (FE or CFD), laboratory testing, and field experiments to evaluate anchor performance in various soil types and severe loading conditions. A fellow can specialize in areas such as modeling, field testing, or techno-economic analysis based on fellow's interests, with guidance from experienced mentors. There are opportunities for professional networking, industry collaboration, and contributing to research publications or presentations, providing a fellow with a well-rounded and industry-relevant experience.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid or Remote: No Preference
  • Location: Houston, TX
Idaho National Laboratory
  • Department: N/A
  • Mentor: Mucun Sun; mucun.sun@inl.gov
  • Area of Expertise: Reliability analysis and risk assessment of marine energy converters.
  • Primary Research Area(s): In this project, INL will partner with Mississippi State University and ABS to qualify a variable transmission system for tidal devices. The scope includes reliability analysis and fault modeling. ABS will conduct New Technology Qualification of an Integrated Tidal Energy Converter (ITEC) with a hydrokinetic turbine produced by Hydrokinetic Energy Corp. (HEC) and an Infinitely Variable Transmission (IVT). INL will be responsible for the reliability analysis of the ITEC system. ABS will review the designs, drawings, and reports on the ITEC design to ensure compliance with ABS standards and industry best practices. INL’s main task is to perform IVT gearbox reliability analysis by identifying failure modes through Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and then conducting a risk assessment to understand the likelihood of component failure given the identified failure modes. This reliability assessment helps us understand the system’s operational dependencies and lifespan. By identifying potential failure modes, we can implement corresponding improvements, leading to increased efficiency and reduced maintenance costs. This has a substantial impact on ensuring consistent performance, minimizing downtime, and enhancing overall productivity.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid or Remote: No preference
  • Location: Energy Systems Laboratory at Idaho National Laboratory
Integral Consulting
  • Department: N/A
  • Mentor: Samuel McWilliams; smcwilliams@integral-corp.com
  • Area of Expertise: Research on marine energy projects and their environment.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Integral Consulting focuses on multiple stages of marine energy project research from resource characterization, marine spatial planning, environmental impacts due to the presence of a device or array, and environmental monitoring of devices. The company utilizes numerical modeling tools and a range of field instrumentation, including acoustic doppler current profilers (ADCPs) and hydro-acoustic sensors, to conduct research in support of marine energy projects.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: No preference
  • Location: No preference. If the fellow prefers in person, facilities in Santa Cruz, California, focus on marine energy projects.
  • Open to post-graduate fellows
Kelson Marine Co.
  • Mentor: Tobias Dewhurst; Toby@KelsonMarine.com
  • Area of Expertise: Ocean engineering, including hydrodynamics, system integration, and design optimization of wave and current energy technologies.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Kelson Marine's mission is to help humans use the ocean for good. The company aims to bring advanced, model-based ocean engineering research and development to low-margin blue economy industries like ocean renewable energy. Current and recent projects include the control co-design and testing (including wave tank and field tests) of a multibody wave energy converter, the development of a modular, low-cost hydrokinetic turbine system, and enhancement of open-source software packages for ocean energy arrays.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid or Remote: In person
  • Location: Portland, Maine
  • Open to post-graduate fellows
Littoral Power Systems, Inc.
  • Department: N/A
  • Mentor: David Duquette; dduquette@littoralpower.com
  • Area of Expertise: Current energy conversion and wave energy conversion.
  • Primary Research Area(s): In-current hydrokinetics. Littoral Power Systems, Inc. is developing two different current energy converter devices—one for deployment in mid-water column, non-reversing-current sites and one with a surface expression for prosecuting tidal sites. The company is also developing a processing code for rapid characterization of potential sites. For wave energy, the company is developing an artificial intelligence-informed control technology for wave energy converters with the goal of enhancing their efficiency in diverse sea states.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: No preference
  • Location: New Bedford, Massachusetts
  • Open to post-graduate fellows
MarineSitu
  • Department: N/A
  • Mentor: James Joslin; james@marinesitu.com
  • Area of Expertise: Environmental monitoring using integrated instrumentation systems and artificial intelligence data analysis.
  • Primary Research Area(s): MarineSitu provides environmental monitoring technology and services for marine energy deployments. This includes customized hardware developed for long-term, continuous monitoring in harsh marine environments, software for data collection, and automated data processing using custom-trained machine learning models. The company is currently developing new, lower-cost hardware systems and providing data management services for several marine energy system deployments.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: Hybrid
  • Location: Seattle, Washington
  • Open to post-graduate fellows
MITRE
  • Department: BlueTech Lab – Advanced Maritime Technologies
  • Mentor: Nicholas Rotker; nrotker@mitre.org
  • Area of Expertise: Resilient energy systems.
  • Primary Research Area(s): MITRE engages in research across the spectrum of maritime technology prototypes. This includes developing novel solutions for sensing, autonomy, and energy systems in the marine environment.
  • Fellow Start Date: Spring (May–June)
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: In person
  • Location: Bedford, Massachusetts
  • Open to post-graduate fellows
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
  • Department: Marine Energy R&D: Techno-Economic Analysis
  • Mentor: Elena Baca; elena.baca@nrel.gov
  • Area of Expertise: Evaluating the performance and economic potential of marine energy systems through techno-economic analysis.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Tool/code development, power performance modeling, cost modeling, and metrics development.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: Hybrid
  • Location: Flatirons Campus, Arvada, Colorado
  • Open to post-graduate fellows
  • Department: Water Power R&D group and Applied Research for Communities in Extreme Environment (ARCEE)
  • Mentor: Michael Lawson; Michael.Lawson@nrel.gov
  • Area of Expertise: Michael Lawson leads the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's marine energy team, focusing on wave and water current energy research and development.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Michael Lawson, a senior research scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), leads the water power group, focusing on advancing marine energy technologies. Since joining NREL in 2010, his research has emphasized numerical modeling and system design for marine and wind energy applications. Lawson has contributed to the development of the WEC-Sim (Wave Energy Converter SIMulator) tool, which models the dynamics and performance of wave energy converters. His work also includes assessing marine energy resources across the United States, aiding in the identification of opportunities for harnessing wave, tidal, and ocean current energies.
  • Fellow Start Date: Fall (July – September)
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: No preference
  • Location: N/A
  • Open to post-graduate fellows
Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific
  • Mentor: Yolanda Meriah Arias-Thode; Yolanda.m.arias-thode.civ@us.navy.mil
  • Area of Expertise: The use of microbial fuel cells to extract power from mud to power sensors underwater.
  • Primary Research Area(s): The Benthic Enabled Autonomous Collaboration Operations Notification System (BEACONS) Lab focuses on extracting energy from mud to power sensors underwater. This requires electrical engineers to optimize extracting electrons from 0.4 volts and stepping up the voltage to 12 volts. Mechanical engineers aim to increase surface area and develop form factors that can be easily deployed. Environmental microbiologists, chemists, and material scientists help understand the mechanistic processes, improve power density, and model current and future power generation.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: In person
  • Location: Point Loma, San Diego, California
Naval Sea Systems
  • Department: Command
  • Mentor: Peter McCauley; peter.f.mccauley.civ@us.navy.mil
  • Area of Expertise: Energy conservation; propulsion; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; and generation.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Reducing the energy consumption of legacy and future naval platforms by developing efficient architecture and integrating energy conservation alternatives onto existing platforms.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: Hybrid
  • Location: Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C.
  • Open to post-graduate fellows
  • Department: Command
  • Mentor: Dr. John Heinzel; john.m.heinzel.civ@us.navy.mil
  • Area of Expertise: Future power and energy storage systems.
  • Primary Research Area(s): The integration of batteries with advanced power conversion to support current and future loads. The integration includes controls, safety, conversion, and circuit protection of current and advanced batteries.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: Hybrid
  • Location: Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C.
  • Open to post-graduate fellows
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  • Department: Energy Systems Development Group, Advanced Reactor Engineering and Development Section, Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division
  • Mentor: Thien D. Nguyen; nguyen@ornl.gov
  • Area of Expertise: Experimental and computational thermal-hydraulics.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Dr. Nguyen's research centers on thermal-fluid dynamics, combining experimental measurements and numerical modeling for applications in mechanical, aerospace, civil, chemical, and nuclear engineering. With extensive experience in advanced instrumentation and innovative measurement techniques such as LDV, LIF, PIV, high-speed thermography, shadowgraphy, and Schlieren imaging, Dr. Nguyen also has a strong background in computational fluid dynamics (RANS and LES). Their work focuses on investigating safety-related phenomena, systems, and component designs in nuclear, mechanical, and aerospace engineering, including studies of various flow types and conditions. Dr. Nguyen is also an expert in turbulent flow analysis using mode decomposition, validation and verification, and uncertainty quantification.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: No preference
  • Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee
  • Department: Materials Science and Technology Division
  • Mentor: Jun Qu; qujn@ornl.gov
  • Area of Expertise: Tribology and lubrication of marine turbomachinery.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Development of environmentally acceptable lubricants for marine turbines
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: In person
  • Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
  • Department: Coastal Sciences Division
  • Mentor: Lysel Garavelli; lysel.garavelli@pnnl.gov
  • Area of Expertise: Environmental effects of marine energy.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Ocean Energy Systems-Environmental brings together the collective knowledge of the international marine energy community to decrease the uncertainty around environmental effects of marine energy and engages with stakeholders to provide access to information to reduce critical environmental and regulatory barriers to deployment. OES-Environmental seeks to support the development of transformative, reliable, and cost-competitive marine energy technologies by providing access to the information needed to reduce critical deployment barriers and deliver predictable and affordable power from offshore resources. Ongoing research under OES-Environmental encompasses environmental acceptability of marine energy devices, environmental effects of off-grid applications, socioeconomic effects of marine energy, and systems-wide effects.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: Hybrid
  • Location: Seattle, Washington
  • Department: Coastal Sciences Division: Marine Technology Team
  • Mentor: Christopher Rumple; chris.rumple@pnnl.gov
  • Area of Expertise: Applying experimental fluid mechanics and structures for energy production from bio-inspire tidal turbines to vortex-induced vibration methods.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Environmental assessment for offshore wind and tidal power. Research focuses on developing techniques to remove the effects of flow noise on passive acoustics to effectively assess biological target passage through a tidal channel. Work for offshore wind has encompassed the development of a radar system that can compensate for buoy motion while scanning the sky for birds and bats over open water. Research is moving toward studying a lift-based, low cut-in, bio-inspired turbine for use in tidal power.
  • Fellow Start Date: Spring (April–June)
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: Hybrid
  • Location: Sequim, Washington
  • Department: Coastal Sciences Division
  • Mentor: Ruth Branch; branch@pnnl.gov
  • Area of Expertise: I have technical expertise in the area of co-locating tidal energy and wave energy conversion devices with aquaculture.
  • Primary Research Area(s): The fellow would assist with a feasibility study on the use of small-scale turbines or WECS to provide power for the New England shellfish industry. They would compare permitted shellfish farming locations to new high-resolution numerical models for resource assessment. Spatial analysis techniques would be used to identify potential sites for co-located marine energy and shellfish farming installations. The fellow would also conduct a significant amount of stakeholder engagement to learn about current and future shellfish farming power needs and gauge the local interest in marine energy projects.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: Remote, New England
  • Location: New England
  • Department: Coastal Sciences Division
  • Mentor: Karthik Balaguru; Karthik.Balaguru@pnnl.gov
  • Area of Expertise: Hurricanes and their impacts on energy infrastructure.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Balaguru is a climate scientist and team lead for coastal modeling and resilience at PNNL. Their research interests encompass upper-ocean dynamics, air-sea interactions, and salinity processes in relation to the hydrological cycle. A significant focus of Balaguru’s work has been on tropical cyclones and their interaction with the ocean and climate. At PNNL, they also lead the development of the Risk Analysis Framework for Tropical Cyclones (RAFT), a comprehensive pipeline for modeling both the physical aspects of tropical cyclones and their socio-economic impacts.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: No preference
  • Location: Seattle, Washington
  • Mentor: Jessica Cross; Jessica.Cross@pnnl.gov
  • Area of Expertise: Dr. Cross studies the integration of marine energy with other marine technologies, particularly those that can serve as demand drivers for marine energy. 
  • Primary Research Area(s): Dr Cross’ research with PNNL’s Fundamental and Applied Biogeochemistry team focuses on the development of Seawater as a Strategic Resource, including the integration of marine energy with other forms of chemical processing that support marine resource development. Previous work for WPTO has included grants supporting marine energy constraints on the scale of marine chemical processing techniques such as carbon removal, as well as mapping non expert marine energy and marine carbon removal information needs to guide future research projects.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: Hybrid
  • Location: Sequim/Seattle, WA
  • Department: Sequim
  • Mentor: Lenaig Hemery; lenaig.hemery@pnnl.gov
  • Area of Expertise: Environmental and ecological effects of marine energy, as well as stakeholder engagement.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Multidisciplinary approach to study the potential environmental and ecological effects of marine energy, leveraging knowledge syntheses, laboratory experiment, and field monitoring (e.g., underwater imagery, environmental DNA), as well as to share the information through the creation of educational materials and engaging with stakeholders.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: No preference
  • Location: Sequim, WA
  • Mentor: Yao Qiao; yao.qiao@pnnl.gov
  • Area of Expertise: My expertise is in fiber-reinforced polymer composites and bonded structures, with emphasis on surfaces and interfaces under marine environments.
  • Primary Research Area(s): My current research is directed toward designing fiber-reinforced polymer composites with durable structural integrity for marine and hydropower applications. For example, I develop surface modification methods to improve the performance of bonded hybrid structures in high-humidity and submerged environments. I also investigate damage and fracture behavior of fiber-reinforced composites under marine conditions and advance polymer composites with enhanced anti-biofouling capabilities. My work integrates analytical methods, experiments, multi-physics computational modeling, and machine learning.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: No preference
  • Location: Richland, WA
  • Mentor: Rob Cavagnaro; rober.cavagnaro@pnnl.gov
  • Area of Expertise: Dr. Cavagnaro works at the intersection of marine energy and the technologies and applications that may benefit from it at sea, including marine robotics.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Dr. Cavagnaro is leading an effort to design and field an autonomous docking and charging station for autonomous surface vehicles powered by tidal energy. The project is a challenging mix of engineering design and analysis, rapid prototyping, and field deployment in a dynamic ocean environment.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: In Person
  • Location: Sequim, WA
Palaemus Oceanic
  • Department: Tech Transfer
  • Mentor: Jeremy Reid; jreid@palaemus.com
  • Area of Expertise: Integration and engineering of early-stage marine energy tech into dual-use systems for the maritime space.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Palaemus is currently working with University California San Diego on an electrokinetic energy harvesting technology that may have broad application in marine energy. The goal is to take this tech from the lab to the field and demonstrate it as a suitable environmental power source for subsea and offshore maritime sensing instruments, as well as at a larger form factor to one day support utility-scale levels of ocean energy through wave, current, and tidal flows.
  • Fellow Start Date: Spring (April–June)
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: Remote
  • Location: Mostly remote with occasional travel likely to San Diego, California, or a to-be-determined test site.
Sandia National Lab
  • Department: Semiconductor Material and Device Science
  • Mentor: Todd Monson; tmonson@sandia.gov
  • Area of Expertise: Magnetic materials for marine energy.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Monson works on the synthesis and fabrication of new soft and hard (permanent) magnets. These materials can be used in different electric generator topologies to create energy in marine environments.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: In person but willing to consider hybrid and remote options
  • Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • Department: Water Power Technologies
  • Mentor: Carlos Michelen; cmichel@sandia.gov
  • Area of Expertise: Computational modeling and design optimization of wave energy converters (WEC), computational marine hydrodynamics, and open-source code development.
  • Primary Research Area(s): My research focuses on developing methods and software for computational modeling and optimization of WECs, and using these techniques to drive design. I use modern modeling and optimization techniques, including control co-design, multi-disciplinary optimization, and scientific machine learning, which rely on differentiable programming. To enable these techniques our domain-specific scientific models must be differentiable, and a large part of my work is on developing differentiable hydrodynamic solvers, including an ongoing effort to develop an open-source boundary element code.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: No preference
  • Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Sitkana
  • Department: Semiconductor Material and Device Science
  • Mentor: Lance McMullan; lance@sitkana.com
  • Area of Expertise: mechanical engineering and large-scale renewable operations
  • Primary Research Area(s): Sitkana is developing a modular approach to tidal energy generation for Southeast Alaska. Sitkana is an equipment manufacturer at a TRL level of 6. Our patented rotor has been analyzed for power by the University of Washington. We are working closely with the Alaskan village of Kake on a pilot project installation. The next steps of development are to build and test a full-scale system.
  • Fellow Start Date: Fall (July-September)
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: In person
  • Location: Juneau, AK
U.S. Army Construction
  • Department: Engineering and Research Laboratory
  • Mentor: Thomas Bozada; thomas.a.bozada@usace.army.mil
  • Area of Expertise: Advanced microgrid architectures for mobile and fixed, low- and medium-voltage applications.
  • Primary Research Area(s): Development of model-based engineering solutions for planning and deployment of advanced mobile and fixed, low- and medium-voltage microgrids for military forward bases, installations, and remote communities. The research utilizes electrical infrastructure digital twins and resource optimization tools to integrate new power generation resources, investigate upgrades and other changes to existing electrical infrastructure, and determine the optimal mix of power resources (generation and energy storage) to meet microgrid reliability and resilience objectives. A key objective of this team is the design and creation of flexible microgrids that can utilize any available power resources. The project is looking to integrate marine energy resources into existing, land-based microgrids for both portable and fixed power requirements.
  • Fellow Start Date: No preference
  • In Person, Hybrid, or Remote: In person
  • Location: Champaign, Illinois
  • Open to post-graduate fellows