September 2020
Name: Nadia Cohen
Department: College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science
School: Oregon State University
Project: A Robotic Lander to Study Ice-Ocean Interactions at a Near-vertical Glacier Face
Research Advisor: Dr. Jonathan Nash
Nadia Cohen is a first-year PhD student in the college of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. Nadia received her BS in Physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As an undergraduate, she worked as an intern with the U.S. Army Engineer and Development Center’s Field Research Facility in Duck, NC, during which she assisted in the design, construction, networking, and deployment of low-cost mini-Argus systems, a video camera system used for coastal monitoring and research. Their image products provide estimates of shoreline and sandbar positions, wave characteristics, alongshore currents, and bathymetry. These undergraduate experiences sparked a deep interest in small-scale ocean physics and instrumentation for Nadia. Her PhD will focus on the design and implementation of a specialized robotic system that will implant itself into an ice surface to measure melt processes and boundary layer physics on the near-vertical face of an iceberg. Sea-level rise is one of the most significant effects of climate change, already putting the homes, businesses, and health of the millions of people living on the globe’s coastlines at risk. Accurately representing ocean-glacier interaction physics, particularly the melt process, is essential for effective mitigation. To date, no studies have collected – and few have attempted – in-situ measurements across the near-vertical ice-ocean interface because of the dangers of working underneath a caving ice cliff. Ultimately the development of this lander will enable scientists to collect measurements of physical ocean properties at the resolution (cm-m) needed to understand the complex processes controlling the boundary layer and, consequently, melt rates. These measurements will produce a fundamental change in our understanding of how glacial ice melts and will lead to a significant improvement of future sea level rise predictions.
Name: Gyeong Sung Kim
Department: Mechanical Engineering
School: University of Maryland, College Park (UMD)
Project: Wave-powered heat pump desalination system
Research Advisor: Dr. Reinhard Radermacher
Mr. Gyeong Sung Kim is a PhD candidate in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Maryland at College Park. He received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Korea Maritime and Ocean University and hold a MS in Civil Engineering from Korea University, South Korea. His research focuses on desalination system to supply drinking water to the remote areas suffering not only from water scarcity but also from power shortage. The isolated regions such as small islands have unique features and limited options for water supply system. Therefore, Gyeong Sung intend to develop a self-powered and zero-discharged floating desalination system combining irregular sea wave motions and a vapor compression cycle of a heat pump system with the support of the Link Foundation. For the combination of thermodynamics and physics behind wave-body interactions, his research will investigate an oscillating vapor compression model using sea wave motions to enhance evaporation and condensation of water vapor. Also, he will study a dual source heat pump system working with a wave energy converter (WEC). He believes that this work can contribute to new desalination system design to supply drinking water to coastal places urgently in need because it does not require large marine structures for intake and discharge.
Name: Leo Liu
Department: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
School: University of Virginia
Project: Improving the Swimming Capability of Ray-Inspired Underwater Vehicles by Harnessing Ground/Surface Effects
Research Advisor: Dr. Daniel B. Quinn
Leo Liu is a PhD candidate in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Department at the University of Virginia (UVA). He received his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering along with a minor in Statistics from the University of Rochester (UR) in 2019. During his time at UR, Leo conducted research with Dr. Jessica Shang to study surface swimming while using low amplitude and high frequency actuating motions. Through many trials and errors, Leo realized that his research interest lies within Fluids Mechanics, specifically Biological and Bioinspired Fluids. Drawing inspiration from different stingray species and taking advantages of the “Ground Effect” and the newly discovered “Equilibrium Altitude”, Leo focuses to improve the swimming capability of ray-inspired underwater vehicles. Leo proposed a set of experiments to examine the different aspects of stingrays’ swimming motion, from the kinematic and morphological differences between benthic and pelagic rays to their undulation and oscillation strategies, such as thrust, frequency, and speed. Leo envision his underwater vehicles to be compatible with advanced ocean technology instrumentations and expect the results to be especially relevant to near interface missions that require the vehicles to travel long distances, such as mapping the topography of the ocean floor, tracking benthic species as well as their migration, and surveying shallow coastal regions.
Name: Lina Taenzer
Department: Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry (WHOI) and Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (MIT)
School: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Project: Development and Validation of a Deep-Sea Chemiluminescent Sensor for Measuring Reactive Intermediates
Research Advisor: Dr. Colleen Hansel and Dr. Scott Wankel
Lina Taenzer is a PhD candidate in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (MIT-WHOI) Joint Program. She received her BS in Earth and Space Sciences and Environmental Studies from Jacobs University Bremen in Germany in 2017. In her undergraduate thesis work she studied trace and rare earth element distributions in calcium carbonate shells. She then continued on to get her MS in Earth Sciences at Dartmouth College in 2019. During her Masters she used stable and clumped isotopic analyses to research a microbial pathway of marine methane generation. Her current work in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program focuses on the development of a deep-sea in-situ chemiluminescent analyzer (SOLARIS) to measure reactive oxygen species such as superoxide. Investigations of the biological and chemical origins of superoxide have previously been limited by its rapid decay which poses a problem for measurements that are based on traditional water collections. Lina is interested in better understanding the role of superoxide in the biogeochemical cycles of the oceans and its ability to reflect the health of organisms that produce it. With the support of the Link Foundation she is excited to continue her PhD research on the development of SOLARIS and ultimately use it measure superoxide concentrations throughout the marine water column and in association with deep-sea biological communities.
If you would like to find out more about our Link Foundation Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation Fellows and projects that have been funded in the field of Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation by the Link Foundation, please visit the Link Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation webpage at http://www.linkoe.org/.