Students from Auburn University's electrical engineering department have spent their summer and fall semesters devoted to research projects. Some students have been continuing work they began during a summer research program, while others started working with professors this fall.
Sherasee Mandal and Breanna Laski, both graduate students in electrical engineering, have been working together on a project centered around renewable marine energy throughout the summer and into the fall semester. This offshore project would provide electricity to areas that cannot receive electricity without a power grid or diesel.
Since installing power grids and transporting diesel are time-consuming and expensive, Mandal and Laski have examined these off-the-grid areas, such as the Alaskan city Yakutat, to understand how they can better receive energy. Mandal and Laski’s model would offer a less expensive and renewable form of energy.
“The idea is to have this completely islanded, offshore system that has no grid connection,” Laski said.
The energy required for this technology would be available to these regions, as the project must only be placed in a sea with waves.
“We are using oscillating water columns to extract the energy, so whenever the wave comes in, there is a turbine that goes up when the wave energy is there, ” Mandal said. “There’s air compressed in the chamber, and when the wave comes, the air in the chamber goes up and the turbine spins. Then, your electricity is generated.”
Mandal emphasized that their model would cut costs, especially when compared to the price of diesel and its transportation.
“These things are expensive to set up in the initial cost of it, but after that, it kind of takes care of itself, except the maintenance part,” Mandal said.
This project is extensive. Over the summer, Mandal and Laski focused on generation, storage and utilization of energy. Currently, they are working on adding a battery storage, which can send energy to a battery system rather than a grid. This is all done via a simulation software named PSCAD (Power Systems Computer Aided Designs). Because Mandal and Laski's work is digital, research is different from other groups that may work in labs.
Under the guidance of Dr. Eduard Muljadi, electrical and computer engineering professor, Mandal and Laski meet and work on simulations together. As of now, they plan on continuing their project throughout the fall semester.
Cole Middleton is an undergraduate student who participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program alongside Laski. The SURE program provides students with hands-on research experience to give them insight into whether they are interested in pursuing graduate school to research. Middleton, who expressed an interest in renewable energy, was paired to work with Muljadi.
“I got to learn a lot about PSCAD, a circuit software. That was fun, because I didn’t know anything about it before, until I got to learn how it works and how to use it,” Middleton said.
Despite being on such different parts of their academic journey, these three students each described researching in the electrical engineering department as a learning experience.
“Our department is very encouraging and trying to get grad students, keep them and push them to succeed,” Laski said.
Mandal, who came to Auburn from New Delhi, India last year, expressed a similar sentiment.
“As an international student, it’s been a very good transition for me in this department. They have been very supportive,” Mandal said.
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Layla Hyatt, sophomore double majoring in journalism and public and professional writing, is from Mobile, Alabama. She has been with The Auburn Plainsman since the fall of 2025.
