Page 9 - ME Newsletter Fall

MERL researchers, including Northrop (second from left), meet with Volvo representatives in front of a MERL fleet vehicle.
Research
Catching Big Waves
Professor Jim Van de Ven has been working with Boston-based company Resolute Marine Energy for almost a decade. Over the years, this partnership has offered research opportunties to undergraduate and graduate students
and has resulted in many
student-led publications in
the group’s quest to help
take ocean waves and
convert them to energy or
fresh water through reverse
osmosis.
Van de Ven’s lab, the Mechanical Energy and Power Systems Laboratory, focuses on making the hydraulic pump and motor system involved in harvesting the wave power and making the components more efficient. They also run system studies for Resolute Marine Energy, making recommendations about how the entire system should be laid out with the goal of maximizing efficiency in converting wave power to energy.
Van de Ven sees these partnerships as significant for both academia and industry. “The benefit to the University is that it helps ground our research in practical industry needs and connects the foundational things we teach with industry practice,” said Van de Ven. “It also allows students to have direct communication with industry and understand what their needs and goals are. It’s a career pathway potential, and it allows the companies to have access to cutting-edge research and direct that research in ways they wouldn’t otherwise be able to.”
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