News
SEA Lab Presents at ASME IDETC CIE 2026
August 25th, 2026Congratulations to PhD candidates Georgia McSwain and Collin Treacy on presenting their research at ASME IDETC CIE in Houston, Texas! They showcased two projects: Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of an Autonomous Surface Vehicle for Ocean Microplastic Removal (presented by Georgia) and End-to-End Differentiable Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of Wave Energy Converters (presented by Collin). Excellent work!
PhD Matthew Haefner B Exam
August 12th, 2026Dr. Matthew Haefner presented Integrated Pumped Hydro Reverse Osmosis Systems at his B Exam. Haefner’s thesis uses multidisciplinary design optimization approaches for exploring collocating pumped storage hydropower and reverse osmosis systems to exploit their symbiotic attributes while meeting energy and water needs. Matt-nificent work, Dr. Haefner!
PhD Olivia Murphy B Exam
July 18th, 2026Dr. Olivia Murphy presented Identifying an Optimal Offshore Wind-Powered Sea Water Treatment Process for Co-Located Lithium & Hydrogen Extraction at her B Exam. Murphy’s thesis explores options for lithium and hydrogen extraction from a systems-level perspective. Excellent work, Dr. Murphy!
PhD Georgia McSwain Awarded Link Fellowship
July 13th, 2026PhD candidate Georgia McSwain received the Link Foundation Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation Fellowship, funding the next year of her bio-inspired robotics work. During this fellowship, McSwain will build on her Molluska project, which aims to develop an autonomous plastic collecting robot. Great work!
PhD Nate DeGeode Awarded Internship at MathWorks
April, 2026PhD candidate Nate DeGeode starts his summer internship at MathWorks in Natick Massachusetts. During the internship, he will work to develop innovative desalination models in Simscape that will support his wave-driven desalination PhD work. Great work DeGeode!
PhD Becca McCabe B Exam
Dr. Becca McCabe presented her dissertation, System Optimization of Ocean Wave Energy Converters. Her research advances multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) for wave energy converters through novel modeling approaches and a holistic, system-level perspective. Throughout her doctoral work, she developed OpenFLASH, an efficient semi-analytic hydrodynamic modeling Python package, as well as MDOcean, a comprehensive MDO framework for wave energy systems. Additionally, her work investigated the impacts of wave energy integration into the electric grid. Incredible work, Dr. McCabe!
April 10th, 2026
PhD Olivia Vitale B Exam
April 10th, 2026Dr. Olivia Vitale presented WEC farms: design, modeling, and application at their B Exam. Vitale’s thesis explores wave energy converter (WEC) farm technology through numerical simulations and experimental work. Their work covers everything from wave sheltering to rigorous comparisons of tradition WEC modeling techniques with experimental data. Excellent work, Dr. Vitale!
PhD Collin Treacy Awarded ORISE Fellowship
March 19th, 2026PhD candidate Collin Treacy received the Marine Energy Fellowship through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) and the Department of Energy Wave Power Technologies Office. Through this program, Treacy will collaborate with Carlos Michelen Strofer from Sandia National Laboratories to enhance differentiable hydrodynamics and optimal control computations for wave energy converter farm design optimization.
PhD Collin Treacy Awarded NSF IRES Fellowship
March 13th, 2026PhD candidate Collin Treacy has been awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) International Research Experience for Students (IRES) fellowship. Through this 12-week program at Maynooth University in Ireland, Treacy will collaborate with Dr. John Ringwood at the Centre for Ocean Energy Research (COER) to study wave energy converter control co-design. This opportunity will allow him to establish international research partnerships and integrate global insights into his dissertation work.
PhD Kapil Khanal B Exam
November 14th, 2025Dr. Kapil Khanal successfully presented his thesis, Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of Novel Offshore Systems: From Conventional to Differentiable Design Methodologies. His research advances the design optimization of complex offshore structures—such as unmanned charging stations and wave energy converters—by integrating differentiable models. Notably, he developed MarineHydro.jl, the first differentiable boundary element method solver, bridging a critical gap in scalable design optimization that conventional methods struggle to achieve. Dr. Khanal is the first PhD student to graduate from the SEA Lab. Congrats!
PhDs Georgia McSwain and Collin Treacy Pass Research Fundamentals Exam
October 29th, 2025PhD students Georgia McSwain and Collin Treacy have passed their research fundamentals exams at the University of Michigan, officially advancing to PhD candidacy. McSwain’s work explores cutting-edge plastic collection using a snail-inspired robot, while Treacy’s research focuses on reducing the computational complexity of wave energy converter farm optimization. Congrats!
SEA Lab Moves to the University of Michigan
August, 2025Dr. Maha Haji and several of her PhD students have transitioned from Cornell University to the University of Michigan. UMich offers a rich array of research initiatives and resources that align with the SEA Lab’s mission, providing an ideal environment to accelerate its expansion and impact. Go Blue!
PhD Collin Treacy Passes Qualifying Exam
PhD Collin Treacy passed the Dynamics, Systems, and Controls qualifying exam at Cornell. Treacy’s technical background in this area will support his future research on optimizing wave energy converter design.
May 19th, 2025
Vitale Awarded ORISE Fellowship
PhD candidate O. Vitale received the Marine Energy Fellowship through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) and the Department of Energy Wave Power Technologies Office. Through this program, Vitale will collaborate with an industry partner to complete their thesis on WEC arrays. Congrats!
September 25th, 2025
Vitale presents at INORE
PhD candidate O. Vitale presented their work on WEC arrays at the International Network for Offshore Renewable Energy (INORE) European Symposium in Lokken, Denmark. Nice work!
September 20th, 2025
SEA lab members Nate DeGoede, Matt Haefner, and Maha Haji presented at the annual ASME IDETC conference in Anaheim, California. Great work!
August 12th, 2025SEA Lab presents at IDETC
SEA Lab presents at UMERC
SEA lab members Alaa Ahmed, Kapil Khanal, Rebecca McCabe, Eliana Olson, Collin Treacy, and Olivia Vitale presented oral presentations, workshops, and posters at the annual UMERC+METS conference in Corvallis, Oregon. Alaa, Rebecca, Eliana, and Olivia all won awards for the work they presented at the conference – great work!
August 12th, 2025
HetWECs Project Featured by TEAMER
HetWECs was featured by Testing and Expertise in Marine Energy (TEAMER). This project investigates heterogenous WEC arrays and analyzes their hydrodynamic interactions. Learn more through their video feature here!
July 8th, 2025
PhD Becca McCabe Awarded Provost Diversity Fellowship
PhD candidate Rebecca McCabe has been awarded the Provost Diversity Fellowship through Cornell. The Provost Diversity Fellowship is a competitive one‐term dissertation completion fellowship designed to advance diversity, access, equity, and inclusion. More information about the fellowship can be found here. Congrats, Becca!
June 26th, 2025
PMEC Features HetWECs Prototyping Project
June 12th, 2025The Pacific Marine Energy Center (PMEC) featured the HetWECs prototyping project. The project, funded by TEAMER and the Cornell Atkinson Center, involved designing and manufacturing 8 wave energy converter (WEC) prototypes and conducting an experimental campaign at the O.H. Hinsdale Directional Wave Basin. The team investigated WEC array interactions in heterogeneous arrays, containing both heaving point absorbers and oscillating surge WECs. Check out the full article here.
PhD Nate DeGeode Passes His A Exam
June 10th, 2025Now PhD candidate Nate DeGeode passed his Admission to Candidacy (A) Exam! DeGeode’s research focuses on improving modeling techniques and designs for wave-powered desalination systems, including improved dynamics modeling, accurate economic estimates, innovative optimization techniques, and more. View the recording of the live presentation here.