MIT Awards MIE Researchers Dana Parsons and Jonisha Aubain a Prestigious STREAM Grant
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Laboratory Manager Dana Parsons of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE) Department and MIE Ph.D. candidate Jonisha Aubain have received a grant from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s “Solutions Through Research, Education, and Art in Massachusetts” (STREAM) program to support their project to design and construct a “Reference Tidal Turbine for Research and Outreach.” The MIT STREAM program aims to cultivate partnerships and encourage innovative initiatives that help bridge art, education, engineering, and science with one-year grants of up to $10,000. See STREAM Grants announcement.
Both Parsons and Aubain are affiliated with the Ocean Resources & Renewable Energy (ORRE) laboratory at UMass Amherst. As the two project leads for the STREAM research, Parsons and Aubain will work with the ORRE lab to design and construct a scale-model tidal turbine for testing and public demonstration.
The ORRE lab, directed by MIE Professor and Endowed Chair in Renewable Energy Krish Thiagarajan Sharman, will feature a wave-current flume and a synthetic rope-testing facility, both currently under construction, which will enable extensive testing on wave-current interaction, wave-tide interaction, scaled tidal turbine testing, and many other kinds of experiments.
As such, the lab will have a wide range of research capabilities with potential applications that apply to socially and environmentally responsible topics relevant to climate change and the “blue economy,” which the World Bank defines as “the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystems.”
As Parsons and Aubain explain about their STREAM project, “Tidal turbines can generate energy from strong tidal currents along a full gradient from sea floor to sea surface. This tank is supposed to portray real-world applications, so seeing the current and resulting power gradient with respect to depth will be analyzed. The lab will provide tours and demonstrations to the educational community, with the tidal turbine providing a participatory visual experience.”
Parsons and Aubain add that “With the coupling of a pre-visit lesson plan, the project will provide awareness about marine renewable energy to local schools and students of all ages. The team aims to create a lasting initiative that will benefit efforts in renewable-energy education and research.”
Parsons is the Laboratory and Technical Operations Manager for the MIE department and holds an M.S. Degree in Applied Physics from Northern Arizona University. He is also a Ph.D. candidate in the ORRE lab. Previously, he has been the lab manager in the physics departments at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Smith College. He has over 10 years of experience working in instructional and research laboratories.
Aubain, who is currently an ELEVATE Fellow with the UMass Energy Transition Institute, is a Ph.D. student working under Sharman and MIE Professor Erin Baker. In addition to her STREAM research, she is doing a techno-economic analysis of tidal energy being applied to her home, the U.S. Virgin Islands, to replace the use of diesel power as an energy source. It is a project that is closely related to her continuing work on the experimental design and construction of a reference tidal turbine to be tested in the ORRE Lab. She received her B.S. in Physics from the University of the Virgin Islands. (May 2023)
