I-CPIE Hosts Dr. Vince Neary from Sandia National Laboratories

Participants of the seminar pose for a group photo with Dr. Neary.

Lehigh University’s Institute for Cyber Physical Infrastructure & Energy (I-CPIE) recently hosted Dr. Vincent Neary from Sandia National Laboratories for the Horizons Distinguished Seminar Series. Dr. Neary is the lead for Sandia National Laboratories’ Marine and Hydrokinetic Technologies research and development projects. He also manages the U.S. Department of Energy’s Marine and Hydrokinetic Technologies reference model program.

The visit was coordinated by Arindam Banerjee, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics and I-CPIE faculty member. Banerjee first met Dr. Neary in 2011 at a Marine Energy Technical Symposium in Washington, D.C. Since that initial meeting, Banerjee and Dr. Neary have continued to cross paths at other conferences, discuss opportunities for collaboration, and participate in several large proposals together. 

I-CPIE’s Horizons Distinguished Seminar Series brings noted experts from government, academia, and industry to Lehigh to share insights into trends in infrastructure and energy science, technology, and policy. Dr. Neary has spent the last dozen years working on a wide-range of topics advancing marine renewable energy. His talk, Advancing Marine Renewable Energy Technologies to Commercialization: Opportunities and Challenges, discussed the global need to diversify energy portfolios, expand energy supplies, and reduce carbon emissions.

Prior to the seminar, Dr. Neary spent time meeting individually with I-CPIE faculty and touring several Lehigh laboratory facilities, including ATLSS and the High Turbulence Testing Facility. Given the number of Lehigh faculty and students working in wave/tidal energy, offshore wind energy, and other topics of interest to Sandia National Laboratories, Banerjee notes that Dr. Neary’s visit was, “an excellent opportunity to connect Lehigh faculty and students with Sandia, which has a variety of energy research programs.” As a part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratories and Technology Centers system, the research completed at Sandia contributes to the larger goal of advancing science and technology in the U.S.