For decades, scientists have predicted sea-level rise as a major outcome of the warming climate, bringing with it significant impacts to coastal communities. Yet, accurately predicting how quickly and by how much the world’s oceans will rise remains challenging because of many complex factors controlling how glaciers and sea ice melt.
Graduate student Courtney Beringer makes adjustments to LUPA, a prototype wave energy converter tested at the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Lab.
Photos by Johanna Carson and Chance Saechao.
What images pop up when you hear someone mention wind power and solar power? It’s a safe bet you’ll picture towering three bladed turbines, photovoltaic panels, or perhaps vast mirror arrays. But what do you see when you imagine the machinery used to harvest wave energy?
A CONSERVATION DRIVEN CAREER
A lover of outdoor activities from the time she was a child, Mary Beth Berkes (’10 M.S., Coastal and Ocean Engineering) was drawn to an environmental and conservation-focused career. More than nine years into her role as an assistant civil technical leader specializing in stream restoration at GAI Consultants, Berkes finds her job continuously rewarding and challenging.
