Happy Women’s History Month! March 8 marked the globally celebrated Women’s Day that brings awareness to issues such as women’s rights and equality, including equity and advancements in professional careers. This year’s theme is “Inspire Inclusion.” According to the National Science Foundation, women make up only about one-third of the STEM workforce in the United States. To highlight women in STEM and showcase opportunities and careers in ocean sciences, Triton celebrates the team’s amazing female engineers, scientists, and communicators making important contributions to the marine energy environmental effects space.
The women of Triton in the field, conducting laboratory experiments, at conferences, and more!
Spotlight: Kate Buenau
Kate Buenau and University of New Hampshire researchers came together to test active acoustics sonar used for monitoring fish. (Photo by Makena Lee | University of New Hampshire)
Triton quantitative ecologist Kate Buenau is an experienced modeler who co-leads the project’s collision risk predictive modeling research. Kate joined Pacific Northwest National laboratory (PNNL) in 2009 after earning a PhD in ecology and marine biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Supporting the development of marine energy in a way that benefits both humans and the environment is an important part of her broader motivation to help build a more sustainable world. Kate’s experience includes assessing and modeling species–habitat relationships and species interactions in large rivers, estuaries, and nearshore habitats. Her work supports large-scale ecosystem restoration on the Missouri and Columbia rivers and Puget Sound and conservation of a diverse range of species including shorebirds, fish, and seagrass.
For Triton, Kate has conducted a review of modeling approaches for understanding and monitoring the environmental effects of marine energy through the Triton Field Trials (read the paper here). She also helps develop models to better predict and understand potential environmental effects of marine energy systems, including the Probability of Encounter Model (PoEM) project, an empirical model aiming to understand, and ultimately mitigate, collision risk of fish with underwater turbines.
Iliana takes a moment to admire the view during tethered balloon system field tests off the California coastline. (Photo courtesy of Iliana Alvarez | PNNL)
Triton recently welcomed Iliana Alvarez, a math major at California State University – Stanislaus interested in applying statistical methods to real-world problems. Iliana joined the team through the Department of Energy’s Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program. Her interests span from machine learning and working with big data, to advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM fields. Iliana shared, “I chose PNNL because I wanted to be in a space where scientist spoke like and looked like me. Coming from an underserved community it is important to find role models that are Latin women scientists.”
Iliana recently went to the field to support tethered balloon system validation tests for the Marine Wildlife Detection and Tracking Project. She is currently conducting a literature review for the project to explore existing machine learning applications that can automatically detect marine mammals to support data processing for the project.
News
WPTO 2022-2023 Accomplishments Report
PNNL divers prepare to dive in during tests in Sequim Bay. (Photo by Shanon Dell | PNNL)
The Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) recently released its 2022–2023 Accomplishments Report. This annual publication features successes from over 40 WPTO-funded projects in the marine energy and hydropower portfolio. The report highlights Triton’s work developing methodologies and tools to help researchers advance knowledge around environmental stressors related to marine energy technologies and their potential impact on marine wildlife. Check out the highlight.
Tethered Balloon System Research Featured in Regional Newspaper
Triton’s Marine Wildlife Detection and Tracking Project was recently featured in the Monterey County Weekly! The article shared the project’s recent field research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Granite Canyon site near Big Sur, California, and how a big balloon is working to advance the marine energy industry with local communities. Read the feature.
Triton is designed to support the development and testing of more precise and cost-effective environmental monitoring technologies for marine energy. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory leads Triton on behalf of the Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office.
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