Guardians,
It am pleased to announce that First-Class Cadet Joe DiRenzo IV, of Suffolk, Virginia, has been granted a Fulbright Scholarship.
Cadet DiRenzo’s scholarship comes from the Icelandic Fulbright Commission which offered him a Fulbright Fellowship. He has accepted it to pursue a Master's degree in Renewable Energy Science with a concentration on fuel cell systems and hydrogen technology at the School for Renewable Energy Science (RES) in Iceland. After being commissioned as Ensign in May, he will briefly serve aboard USCGC VIGILANT homeported in Cape Canaveral Florida before going to Iceland the end of this year.
The RES school offers a research-oriented, thirteen month program on renewable energy in cooperation with the University of Iceland and University of Akureyni, and in partnership with other leading universities around the world. These research opportunities are especially relevant for the U.S. Coast Guard, because of the specialization in infrastructure for the transportation sector, marine transportation, and hybrid propulsion systems. During his graduate program at RES, DiRenzo will research for a project on the feasibility of introducing hydrogen fuel cells to generate electricity to power certain electrical systems onboard Coast Guard vessels.
DiRenzo wanted to study in Iceland as 73% of Iceland’s primary energy comes from indigenous renewable energy sources, which is the highest of any country in the world. Iceland has integrated all the modern forms of renewable energy into daily living. It is the forerunner in modernizing the use of energy through programs like electric cars, buses, and ships powered by hydrogen. In addition, Iceland, like the United States, is a maritime nation and has developed renewable energy science for application in the maritime environment. While undertaking research on integrating hydrogen fuel cells into U.S. Coast Guard vessels, DiRenzo wants to observe projects where hydrogen fuel cells are being integrated into the Icelandic fishing fleet.
At the Academy, DiRenzo majored in mechanical engineering because of its potential to transform people’s lives through the creative application of science and technology. During his junior year at the Academy, he used his mechanical engineering skills to undertake a project with the Maison Fortune Orphanage, located in Hinche Haiti, designing a renewable energy system to reduce their dependence on a struggling generator. DiRenzo researched several low technology energy alternatives, and designed a solar panel based solution to the Haitian orphanage’s energy needs.
