About The Wind Institute the Fellowship Program

The Wind Institute Fellowship Program provides funding for NJ university students seeking to be at the forefront of advancing knowledge and innovation in the offshore wind industry in New Jersey. In its second year, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Rowan University, Montclair State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Seton Hall University, Stockton University, and Stevens Institute of Technology are participating in the Fellowship Program to offer a combined 40 undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to perform paid, independent research over an academic year. 

This year’s Wind Institute Fellowship Research Symposium will be held on April 12, 2024. The Wind Institute Research Symposium provides fellows the opportunity to present their research to peers, faculty advisors and industry leaders. 

Kripa Shrestha 

Ph.D., Environmental Science and Management 
Advisor: Dr. Pankaj Lal
Project Title: Offshore wind development and associated impact on recreational fisheries in New Jersey: A socio-spatial approach

Kevin Vargas 

Graduate, Mathematics 
Advisor: Dr. Ashwin Vaidya
Project Title: Innovating Wind Energy: Evaluating the Efficiency and Performance of S-Wind Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Isabele Bittencourt 

Graduate, Computational Linguistics 
Advisor: Dr. Aparna Varde
Project Title: Multilingual Sentiment and Topic Analysis of Social Media Posts on Offshore Wind Energy in New Jersey

Faith Monesteri 

Undergraduate, English 
Advisor: Dr. Aparna Varde
Project Title: Stakeholder perception of offshore Wind Energy Development in New Jersey

Daniel Bindas 

Undergraduate, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Jie Li
Project Title: Defining Resilience. Risks, and Readiness of Offshore Wind

Zaynab Hazaveh

Graduate, Mechanical Engineering 
Advisor: Dr. Behrad Koohbor
Project Title: Multiscale Mechanics and Failure of Wind Turbine Composites by Experimental Characterization

Justin Dworacek

Undergraduate, Civil and Environmental Engineering 
Advisor: Adriana C. Trias Blanco
Project Title: Structural Assessment of Offshore Wind Turbines Using Remote Sensors

Ian Bain 

Graduate, Mechanical Engineering 
Advisor: Yashwant Sinha and Francis Haas
Project Title: Hands-on, Minds-on Training Tools for the Wind Energy Curriculum 

ANdrea John  

Undergraduate, Meteorology and Communications 
Advisor: Travis Miles
Project Title: An Investigation of Potential Impacts of Wind Turbines and Foundations on Ocean Stratification

Ashley Bhandari

Undergraduate, Economics and Mathematics
Advisor: Mariya Naumova and Moulik Kallupalam Balasubramanian
Project Title: Economic impact research of offshore wind energy using machine learning algorithms

Jeevanandan (Jeeva) Ramasamy

Undergraduate, Computer Science  
Advisor: Aziz Ezzat Ahmed 
Project Title: Data Science for Offshore Wind Energy Operations and Forecasting


Jessica Parineet  

Master of Public Policy, Climate and Energy Policy
Advisor: Mark Paul
Project Title: The Socioeconomic and Policy Implications of Offshore Wind Implementation in New Jersey

Juan Lopez Muro 

Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering 
Advisor: Laurent Burlion 
Project Title: Co-Design Strategies for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWT) 


Kevin Leach  

J.D.  
Advisor: Steve Gold
Project Title: Are the Laws Enough? Opposition to Offshore Wind Energy in New Jersey and Solutions Through Comparative Law Analysis 

Leon Tkacenko 

Ph.D., Ecology and Evolution
Advisor: Julie Lockwood
Project Title (tentative): Ecological Vulnerability and Offshore Wind

Michael (Mike) Supple 

Undergraduate, Material Science Engineering
Advisor: Richard Riman
Project Title: Carbon Negative Turbine Blade Materials

Ryan Weightman 

Ph.D., Computation and Integrative Biology 
Advisor: Benedetto Piccoli
Project Title: A Mathematical Model for the Optimal Design and Integration of a Wind Farm


Teemer Barry   

Ph.D., Oceanography
Advisor: Grace Saba
Project Title: Understanding the Seasonal Linkages of Underlying Oceanographic Conditions and Phytoplankton Dynamics In and Around Offshore Wind Development Areas

Zain Kamal 

Undergraduate, Physics and Computer Science 
Advisor: Dr. Roger (Ruo-Qian) Wang
Project Title: Observing and Analyzing Global Offshore Wind Farms from the Space 

Akhyurna Swain

Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Philip Pong
Project Title: Power Hardware in the Loop (PHIL) Simulations for Enhanced Condition Monitoring of Offshore Wind Turbine Drive Trains

Jayden JOhnson

Undergraduate, Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology
Advisor: Dr. Pramod Abichandanj
Project Title: Offshore Wind Inspection and Monitoring with Advanced Sensor-Equipped Drones

Michelle Hernandez 

Graduate, Electrical Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Philip Pong and Dr. Marcos Netto
Project Title:
Optimizing Wind Power Generation: Developing a Digital Twin for Real-Time Monitoring and Analysis

Riya Karande

Undergraduate, Electrical Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Philip Pong and Dr. Sotirios Ziavras
Project Title: IoT and Digital Twin Platform for Remote Monitoring and Real-Time Data Analysis in Islanded Areas: Case Study of a Wind Turbine Testbed Fault Diagnosis and Prognosis

Ahmed Shalaby 

Ph.D., Ocean Engineering 
Advisor: Dr. Muhammad Hajj
Project Title: Assessment of Passive Control Strategies of Monopile Vibrations


Alyson Zhang 

Undergraduate, Naval Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Muhammad Hajj
Project Title: Damping Mechanisms for Floating Offshore Wind Platform


Javad Saeidaskari

Ph.D., Civil Engineering 
Advisor: Dr. Muhammad Hajj
Project Title: The Effect of Water and Vibration-Induced Scour on the Offshore Wind Turbine Foundation: Numerical Study

Rojyar Barhemat

Ph.D., Civil Engineering  
Advisor: Dr. Yi Bao
Project Title: Distributed Fiber Optic Sensor-Based Monitoring of Scour for Offshore Wind Turbines

Avery Barnett

Ph.D., Public Affairs
Advisor: Prof. Jesse Jenkins
Project Title: Resilience of Offshore Wind Technologies under Hurricane Landfalling Within PJM

Hannah Hata Williams 

Ph.D., Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 
Advisor: Prof. Michael E. Mueller
Project Title: Relative Impacts of Environmental Factors on Finite Offshore Wind Farms

Mian lao 

Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering
Advisor: Prof. Minjie Chen
Project Title:
Advanced Power Electronics for Impedance-Based Stability Analysis of Offshore Wind Power Systems

nicholas Conlin

Ph.D., Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 
Advisor: Prof. Marcus Hultmark
Project Title:
Coastal Boundary Layer Effects on Offshore Wind Energy Production in New Jersey

Daniel Enrique Guerrero 

Ph.D., Physical Chemistry 
Advisor: Dr. Jose L. Lopez
Project Title: Using a Plasma Actuator for the Enhancement of a Wind Turbine’s Airfoil Performance


Kaitlyn Spitzer 

Master of Public Administration (MPA), Political Science and Public Affairs 
Advisor: Dr. Michael Taylor
Project Title: Wind Powering the Garden State: Stakeholder Insights for NJ’s Offshore Wind Industry

Laura page 

Undergraduate, Political Science and Public Affairs
Advisor: Dr. Kwok Chuen T. Teo
Project Title: Lessons from Europe in Offshore Wind Power

Rylee Nelson 

Graduate, Communications 
Advisor: Dr. Ruth Tsuria
Project Title: The role of Women and Minorities in Emerging Wind Power Industry

Anthony MARINo

Undergraduate, Sustainability
Advisor: Dr. Patrick Hossay
Project Title: Reduction of Noise Pollution by Changing the Surface of the Blades

Dylan Irmiere

Undergraduate, Political Science 
Advisor: Dr. Tina Zappile
Project Title: The Impacts of Education on Public Opinion About Offshore Wind Farms

Emily Zembricki

Graduate, Coastal Zone Management
Advisor: Dr. Peter Straub
Project Title: Using Oceanographic and Hydrographic Data to Assess the Artificial Reef Effect of Structure Placements as a Proxy for Wind Farm Installations

Emma Morrone

Undergraduate, Applied Physics 
Advisor: Dr. Joseph Trout
Project Title: Do Wind Farms Affect the Local Mesoscale and Synoptic Scales of Weather?

Adrian Aranda Alzamora 

Undergraduate, Political Science and Economics
Advisor: Dr. Victoria C. Ramenzoni
Project Title: Understanding Offshore Wind Development in New Jersey: Community Impacts and Policies

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Dhrruv Singroha 

Undergraduate, Finance and Computer Science
Advisor: Dr. Roger (Ruo-Qian) Wang
Project Title: Wind Turbines: Environmental Co-Design

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