Welcome to the seventh installment of “Dissertation Diaries.” We will be highlighting Bridget Moynihan, a final-year Ph.D. candidate researching offshore wind energy engineering at Tufts University. Moynihan researches offshore wind turbines, using structural health monitoring instrumentation along with the subsequent data to analyze and predict the extent to which the turbines are degrading and need maintenance or upgrading.
This essentially means that she uses small sensors and data from wind farms to infer the total lifetime of structures and advocate for increased lifespans of wind turbines, which legally have to be replaced every 25 years after the permit expires.
She models these structures by creating “digital twins” — digital models of wind turbines that are built to replicate the physical structures so that she can analyze the structural response. These models allow for more accurate predictions of damage to the structure and help prove that the foundations of towers of wind turbines can last longer than 25 years.
The goal of her work revolves around proving that these structures have the physical capacity to last for more than 25 years, which addresses the political controversy of building offshore wind. Her other areas of study include energy and climate policy, energy markets, offshore wind turbine foundation design, nature-inclusive design and gravity-based foundations. Moynihan knows firsthand the value of looking at the climate through an interdisciplinary lens, and one that centers the stakeholders in the communities where these structures are built.
Moynihan graduated with her bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Tufts School of Engineering, where she was chosen as the student spotlight of 2023. She knew that she wanted to pursue something related to the climate and environment, but wasn’t sure she was going pursue engineering until she got accepted to the SOE.
During her time at Tufts, she became involved with research, specifically with two professors in the SOE: Professor Babak Moaveni and Professor of the Practice Eric Hines.
She also began her work with Salem Alliance for the Environment and other community groups, nonprofits and think tanks. Salem Alliance for the Environment’s goal is listening to and advocating for the needs and interests of the Salem community, which may or may not be aligned with what policy makers or developers prioritize; Moynihan said she specifically worked on the public ownership of energy so that residents “could have more power and ownership over their energy system.”
It was through her work in Salem that she learned that climate policy, community engagement and science and engineering are not topics that can be siloed. These research and community engagement experiences are also what led her to eventually pursue her Ph.D.
Now her work on offshore wind is essential to reaching the goal of a carbon free energy grid. However, Moynihan also emphasized that onland and solar energy must be part of the solution as well, and that it’s important to be aware of the potential challenges that can come with the clean energy transition. On a whole global scale, though, Moynihan firmly believes that the positives outweigh the negatives.
Moynihan’s work is not limited to her turbine modeling work, during her Ph.D. she also collaborated on a proposal that advocates for the next administration to establish a federal offshore wind authority. This would help the government safeguard and promote offshore energy. The authority would be an agency of the federal government and would combat the issue of private ownership of offshore windfarms. On top of combating this issue, it could increase public access to offshore wind data.
For people interested in pursuing a Ph.D., Moynihan recommends considering your skillsets, what you enjoy and how you want to spend your time. She also recommends considering your core motive, which for her was having the biggest impact on climate solutions. Another piece of advice that Moynihan wanted to give students thinking about pursuing a Ph.D. or currently pursuing one is that it is completely normal for your levels of productivity to ebb and flow, which can lead to a variety of different emotions that can vary based on the day or season. Lastly, Moynihan advises that, as a Ph.D. candidate, it’s incredibly important to focus on managing your mental health well to prevent burnout. In her words, “being a Ph.D. makes me marketable to places where I can use my expertise for good.”
