Low-Carbon Energy System Modeling Summer Student Interns
Job Description:
We are looking for chemical or mechanical graduate or undergraduate
engineering students with backgrounds in chemical engineering process
simulation, heat transfer, thermodynamics, stationary or mobile power plant
design, and/or energy conversion device design. Ideal candidates have
* knowledge of chemical engineering process simulation software, such
as Chemcad and/or ASPEN,
* knowledge of fuel cell systems, and/or
* knowledge of stationary cogenerative power plant design.
Some knowledge of economics and optimization is also helpful.
The core body of this work is in developing models of stationary
cogenerative fuel cell systems and related energy conversion or storage
devices. These energy device models will be connected to each other to
simulate a distributed energy grid composed of many such devices. This
macro-distributed grid model will be tested against electricity and thermal
demands in buildings. The design of these energy devices, their installed
capacity, and their installation design and control will be optimized in the
context of energy demands.
Successful candidates will help evaluate avant-garde designs of cogeneration
stationary fuel cell power plants, and building energy demands. Assessment
criteria for these energy systems and supply chains will include 1) their
impact on the environment including a) greenhouse gas emissions, b) criteria
air pollutants, c) solid waste production, d) human health and e) energy
efficiency; 2) their implications for national security including a) the
security of the fuel and energy supplied, b) the diversity of the fuel
supply, and c) the dependence of foreign oil; and 3) their costs to
consumers, governments, and incumbent energy suppliers.
Required / Desired Criteria:
Required General Student Internship Program (SIP) Criteria:
Must be at least 16 years of age
Must have full-time enrollment status at a college or university
Must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2/4.0 (or 4.0/5.0)
Must be a U.S. citizen
Graduate or undergraduate student status
Knowledge of chemical engineering process simulation software (Chemcad
and/or ASPEN)
Desired Criteria:
We are also looking for chemical or mechanical engineers with backgrounds in
chemical engineering process simulation, heat transfer, thermodynamics,
stationary or mobile power plant design, and/or energy conversion device
design. Ideal candidates have
* Knowledge of chemical engineering process simulation software, such
as Chemcad and/or ASPEN.
* Knowledge of fuel cell systems.
* Knowledge of stationary cogenerative power plant design.
Some knowledge of economics and optimization is also helpful.
We are looking for both undergraduate and graduate students.
To Apply:
* Please feel free to contact Dr. Whitney Colella directly
(wgcolel@sandia.gov or phone (505) 844-8534).
Whitney Colella , PhD, MBA
Truman Research Fellow
Sandia National Laboratories
MS 0734, PO Box 5800, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87185
Phone: (505) 844-8534; Voice Mail (only): (925) 294-2612
Fax: (505) 844-7786; Email: wgcolel@sandia.gov
* Please submit your resume via the Sandia employment website.
External Job Posting Website: http://tinyurl.com/ry722
* To learn more about the summer intern programs at Sandia, please
check
Graduate Summer Internships:
http://tinyurl.com/5km54o
Undergraduate Summer Internships:
http://tinyurl.com/4o2c7v
Department Description: Department 6330 - Energy & Infrastructure Future
Our nation depends on secure, reliable, sustainable, and cost effective
supplies of energy to support economic development and to maintain a high
standard of living. The present energy infrastructure was designed to meet
these needs with fossil fuels because their inherent high energy and power
densities enable the creation of flexible, adaptive mobile and fixed power
supplies with intrinsic storage and dispatchability. These benefits have
come at a cost of high carbon emissions, dependence on foreign petroleum,
and low energy source diversification investment. In order to move beyond
the present state of an insatiable appetite for fossil fuels and the
resulting infrastructure, new concepts, ideas, and technologies will be
needed to support the DOE's National Energy Policy goals to:
. Diversify our energy mix and reduce dependence on foreign petroleum,
. Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts,
. Create a more flexible, more reliable and higher capacity U.S. energy
infrastructure, and
. Improve energy efficiency and productivity.
Sandia's approach to addressing these goals under the present constraints of
our existing infrastructure and shortterm, market-based mentality is an
iterative top-down, bottom-up optimization process called Energy Surety.
Energy surety is a collection of features of an "ideal" energy system,
which, when satisfied, enable the system to function properly while at the
same time allow it to resist stresses that could result in unacceptable
losses. The attributes (metrics) of the energy surety model include safety,
security, reliability, recoverability and sustainability. The collective
goal of the Energy and Infrastructures Futures Group is to design, develop,
and implement safe, secure, reliable, sustainable, and cost effective energy
and transportation infrastructures. This goal is being accomplished through
hardware and software development integrated with testing, evaluation, and
verification based upon energy systems analyses. The energy systems analyses
define potential energy and infrastructure futures through thermodynamics,
physics, and engineering which are evaluated through economic analyses.
Sandia has taken a leadership role in a number of areas across the spectrum
of programs in the DOE Offices of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,
Fossil Energy, and Nuclear Energy, as well as the Office of Science. We also
have developed a substantial effort of corporately funded activities through
Sandia's Laboratory Directed Research & Development Program. We also conduct
research in direct support of U.S. industry partners through Sandia's Work
for Others Program. These activities are carried out by multidisciplinary
scientists and engineers located at Sandia's sites in Livermore, Calif., and
Albuquerque, N.M. The work is done in close partnership with other industry,
government, and university research institutions worldwide.