Marine Energy: Investigation of Innovations for the Minimization of Environmental Impacts

• Project in Chile
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• Project Proposal

  When I am in Santiago I will be working on a research project that will work to validate marine technologies in the Southern Chile environment. I will work with Professor Cristian Escauriaza of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile as well as the Marine Energy Research and Innovation Centre. To do this I will gather data on flow and animal activity at sites like the Chacao Channel and culminate my findings in a paper presented to Professor Escauriaza’s class.

  I am very excited to meet Chilean fishermen and compare their lifestyle to what I know personally from being raised fishing in Alaska. I intend to volunteer as an ESL tutor in Santiago as well in order to teach English while I am improving on my Spanish. I will also assist when my affiliated university volunteers in rural communities every July which will be a great opportunity for me to meet local Chileans with different views from Santiaguinos.

  In the near future I want to pursue a Master’s degree in Physical Oceanography, focusing on its application to marine energy harvesting. I plan to share knowledge I gather in Chile with students back home and turn my skills and experiences into my career path. My dream is to engineer an efficient, small-scale wave energy harvester in conjunction with the Marine Energy Research and Innovation Centre in Santiago.

  Final Report

  My work was in making a small model marine energy turbine and to test it in the flume at PUC. I found that they had all the supplies I needed except for a few that were easy to find in the city. Facilities were good, and the people were super helpful. I certainly used many personal and innovative ideas in making the turbine model, and I hope they will continue to be helpful well into the future.

  I developed a good friendship with my affiliated professor and he was always available via messages to help me get situated and find the resources that I needed. I found him and the university through a connection to my hydraulics professor in EEUU.

  Be prepared to do a lot of the work yourself, you gotta be tenacious here to get things done, doors opened, etc. Also do your best to learn to speak well and more importantly understand quickly spoken Spanish

   

• Proposal:

  Final Presentation:

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