Pacific Marine Energy Center

06/04/2026

This Friday, celebrate World Ocean Day with MACO! Play games, win prizes, enjoy refreshments, and climb aboard an OSU research vessel. Find out more about marine research opportunities happening at Oregon State University.

Students, researchers, and organizations join together to celebrate and raise awareness about the ocean, its vital connection to our Earth’s wellbeing, and ways students can get involved with OSU marine programs. All are welcome at this free event.

You may have caught that World Ocean Day is officially June 8. MACO will host this event on June 5, 2026 so more students can participate.

05/28/2026

💡Insightful case study by UAF masters of engineering graduate Lydia Andriesen at :

The remote northern community of McGrath, Alaska, faces some of the highest electricity costs in the US and regular brownouts when the city’s water treatment plant starts up. They are exploring alternative energy options, including river energy.

Lydia’s modeling and field research found that a 100 kW river turbine could meaningfully offset diesel use, particularly in summer months. In addition to affordable power, the city’s energy committee sees river energy as an opportunity to grow more jobs in and for the community, and is engaging the youth early.

Read more about Lydia’s findings here: https://lnkd.in/gZT3RQQS or tap the link in the bio.
This project was in collaboration with the City of McGrath and supported by funding from TEAMER - Testing Expertise and Access for Marine Energy Research. Other Institutional support from Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP) and Pacific Marine Energy Center.

Photos: Lydia’s field research on the frozen river, educational activities with the youth of the city, and her conclusion slide.

05/06/2026

Register for the seminar by tapping the link in the bio.

Speaker: Dr. Kate Van Ness, Senior Research Engineer, UW Applied Physics Laboratory

Date/Time: Thursday 5/14, 2pm Pacific

Title: Axial-Flow Tidal Turbine Research at APL-UW: Insights from Modeling, Flume Testing, and Field Testing

Over the past decade, Kate has collaborated with researchers and engineers across UW to study axial-flow tidal turbines using a combination of modeling, flume testing, and open-water field testing. A focus of the work has been on passive adaptive blades, designed to passively shed load by deforming in strong currents. In this talk, Kate shares what the team is learning from this research, highlights growing capabilities in modeling and testing, and describes how both are supporting an ongoing effort to design, validate, and deploy a 1.2-meter diameter turbine for battery charging.

04/14/2026

The PMEC supported student club MREC went on a tour of Panthalassa’s facilities where they fabricate massive machines designed to harness ocean power.

To learn more about MREC, check them out via clickable link in the bio.

04/01/2026

After four years on this project, yes we’re sure about this! Robertson and Vivekanandan are two members on this large and diverse team, led by OSU professor and roboticist Geoff Hollinger. They just completed the final milestone in a four year project docking an autonomous underwater vehichle with a wave energy converter.

If you’re genuinly curious to know more about this project, there’s a clickable link in the bio to the PMEC blog. There you can read Judy Twedt’s full article on A New Paradigm for Ocean Interaction. (She’s a great writer; stop scrolling and go read!)

Video by Bryson Robertson.

03/30/2026

In 2024 - 2025, Sarah Henkel, a professor of Integrative Biology at OSU, conducted field work with graduate student MJ Strike, to build a more detailed understanding of biofouling off the central Oregon coast. Biofouling is the accumulation of algae, barnacles, and other organisms on surfaces and cause degradation. Read more about it in our Annual Report. Clickable link in the bio.
TEXT DESCRIPTION:
barnacles and seaplants completely cover a piece of marine monitoring device except the cameras, making it look like a strange robot encrusted in a rocky texture with seaweed hanging from its arms. text reads what is biofouling?

03/26/2026

The Alaska Native Village of Igiugig approaches energy through Tribal sovereignty and Native values that guide their ways of life. Learn more about their experience harnessing energy from the Kvichak River, and the ways has PMEC supported this effort, in our annual report. Clickable link in the bio.

text description:
blue gradient background with a quote reads we are not the problem to be solved. We are the answer. end quote. Alaska Village Igiugig is approaching sustainable energy through the frame of Tribal sovereignty and the Indigenous values that guide their ways of life read more in the description. The next image shows an aerial view of a river with a turbine. in quotes text reads if we can prove a technology in Igiugig, it can be done anywhere in the world. end quote. AlexAnna salmon , native village of igiugig.

03/26/2026

The Alaska Native Village of Igiugig approaches energy through tribal sovereignty and native values that guide their ways of life. Learn more about their experience harnessing energy from the Kvichak River, and the ways has PMEC supported this effort, in our annual report. Clickable link in the bio.

text description:
blue gradient background with a quote reads we are not the problem to be solved. We are the answer. end quote. Alaska village Igiugig is approaching sustainable energy through the frame of tribal sovereignty and the indigenous values that guide their ways of life read more in the description. The next image shows an aerial view of a river with a turbine. in quotes text reads if we can prove a technology in Igiugig, it can be done anywhere in the world. end quote. AlexAnna salmon , native village of igiugig.

09/29/2022

There's nothing quite like going out to sea! Newport High School students on the Oregon coast recently participated in a research cruise aboard R/V Pacific Storm with PMEC's Sarah Henkel as part of STEM at Sea-Oregon (click through to their page for more photos and info).

This awesome program combines with research that will test the environmental effects of wave energy converters and is supported by Oregon Sea Grant and Oregon State University's College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences - Oregon State University's Oceangoing Research Vessel Program.

Learn more on their page: https://www.facebook.com/STEMatSea/

10/20/2021

In 2 weeks! The University Marine Energy Research Community Research Landscape Workshop #⃣1⃣. If you're in the marine renewables community, especially at a U.S. university, please register to join:

About UMERCResearch Landscape WorkshopsContact Us Research Landscape Workshop SeriesAbout this eventThe University Marine Energy Research Community (UMERC) is a new initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and administered by the Pacific Ocean Energy Trust. UMERC’s purpose is to promote ...