Image

The Academic Center for Reliability and Resilience of Offshore Wind (ARROW) at UMass Amherst recently hosted ARROW-SEA 2026 (Summer Education Accelerator), a four-day program that brought together more than 125 faculty members and students from 16 universities, including UMass Amherst, UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth and UMass Lowell, to explore offshore wind energy.

Based in New Bedford, the event also drew industry representatives and featured presentations from Benjamin Downing, CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC); Jennifer Downing, executive director of the New Bedford Ocean Cluster; and other offshore wind experts.

ARROW is a partnership of eight academic institutions, three national laboratories and dozens of industry partners led by UMass Amherst. Directed by Sanjay Arwade, professor of civil and environmental engineering, the center prepares the next generation of offshore wind professionals and develops innovations to reduce costs and increase benefits for consumers.

In addition to tours of operating offshore wind farms in Massachusetts and Rhode Island waters, ARROW-SEA 2026 participants visited the School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) at UMass Dartmouth, where they learned about fisheries monitoring, whale behavior and migration research, ecosystem connectivity and scallop research.

“It was incredibly inspiring,” says Zoe Getman-Pickering, ARROW program director and program coordinator for the ELEVATE program. “Many of the faculty and students who study offshore wind had never actually seen offshore turbines and substations in person.”

The event also featured presentations by UMass faculty and industry experts. Ike Uri, a postdoctoral research associate in the Riccio College of Engineering, discussed energy justice and how offshore wind developers engage with fishing communities and coastal regions during project planning. His presentation emphasized incorporating more feedback from fishing communities during the permitting and siting process.

Participants also heard from Michael Goodman, professor of public policy at UMass Dartmouth, about lessons from the Vineyard Wind project and its impact on economic development in Massachusetts.

Several sessions explored the use of drones and other technologies in offshore wind. Christopher Niezrecki, distinguished professor of mechanical engineering at UMass Lowell, discussed drone imaging and data analysis. Christopher Rillahan, assistant research professor at UMass Dartmouth, demonstrated autonomous underwater vehicles at a local pier. Sarah McElman, senior marine engineer at Metocean Expert Americas, spoke about using drones to collect metocean data, while Greg DeCelles, lead strategic specialist at Ørsted, discussed industry drone applications and research involving “cod vocalizations.” Alessandro Sabato, associate professor at UMass Lowell, and his team led a drone racing demonstration.

Additional programming included sessions on offshore wind hydrodynamics, student research presentations, poster sessions and networking events designed to connect students, faculty and industry representatives.

ARROW-SEA 2026 was funded by MassCEC and the Maryland Energy Administration. The National Wildlife Federation organized and funded tours of offshore wind facilities.

Getman-Pickering adds, “Huge thanks to [SMAST Dean] Kevin Stokesbury, [SMAST Interim Assistant Dean for Operations] Kyle Cassidy, and the incredible SMAST faculty and students for hosting us and sharing their expertise on the innovative environmental-monitoring work happening at SMAST, including fisheries-monitoring methods, whale-behavior and whale-migration research, ecosystem connectivity, and everything you ever wanted to know about scallops.”