Student profiles

After working in the oil and gas industry for over a decade, Mariana decided it was time to pursue her passion for sustainable energy solutions. For this reason, she packed her bags and moved to Iceland from Brazil to start her MSc in Sustainable Energy Engineering with ISE. Mariana is currently in her second year and focusing on offshore wind power and energy storage in Copenhagen, Denmark. Here, she shares her masters experience to date and her work on sustainable ammonia production.

Originating from Calgary, Canada, Chelsea quickly discovered her passion for geology and began working in the oil and gas industry of Alberta. Deciding to specialize her career in geothermal energy instead, Chelsea began her masters degree in Sustainable Energy here in Iceland. Now a year into her degree, Chelsea is off to Colombia where she will be creating a geological model of the Nevado del Ruiz geothermal area, in order to better estimate its geothermal potential. 

From Canada to Iceland and back, with multiple stops in-between, Andrea Morgan has returned to Canada after a year of lectures here at ISE to begin her masters thesis research. Since arriving in Iceland, Andrea took her education in her own hands, visiting far-off destinations such as the UNIS in Svalbard, Norway, or SPBSTU in St. Petersburg, Russia, to learn more and grow. Now in her second year, Andrea is off to Quebec City, where she will investigate the geothermal potential of flooded mines.

Coming to Iceland from Germany, Anja Kathrin Ruess is now poised to return to Germany for her masters thesis project. Having spent a year in classes here at ISE, Anja decided upon nuclear waste management as her research topic. In particular, she aims to research public participation in a multinational nuclear waste repository project. As Iceland has no nuclear generation, Anja found it only natural to return to Germany and contacted the Karlsruhe Insitute of Technology (KIT).

Coming to Iceland from Palmer, Alaska, Riley has always been passionate about geological processes. Riley entered the Sustainable Energy Sciences program here at ISE with a background in geophysics and physics. A year later, Riley has now set out to apply his knowledge with his thesis work in New Zealand. Working with the support of experts at the University of Auckland, Riley seeks to create a geological reservoir model for the IDDP-2 well in Reykjanes here in Iceland.

With a background in Architecture, originating from the tropical Dominican Republic, Emmanuel turned both his immediate climate and career upside down by coming to study Sustainable Energy Engineering here in Iceland. Indeed, he hopes to turn the Earth's climate away from it's current trajectory by advancing renewable technology. After studying fluid and thermodynamics as a Future Arctic Scholar for a year within the ISE, Emmanuel is now in France putting his skills to good use.

Completing his B.A.Sc. in Mining Engineering at the University of British Columbia, Brennan decided to transition to renewables by pursuing his M.Sc. in Sustainable Energy Engineering degree here at ISE. A years worth of classes and lessons later and Brennan is now ready to return to Canada to apply his knowledge and skills in sustainable energy systems to the mining industry with his upcoming thesis project.

Originally from France, Romain came to Iceland to pursue his graduate education in Sustainable Energy, here at ISE. With his background in Geology of Natural resources, he had his eyes set on further expanding his knowledge in geothermal exploration. Romain is currently in Switzerland, taking the lessons he has learned in class to the real world by conducting geological research for his thesis project.

Jordon Grant joined ISE with the Class of 2018 after having worked in the oil and gas drilling industry for several years. Returning to his background in electronic engineering, Jordon has developed a big interest in power systems, in particular high-voltage-DC systems. Now in Mexico at UNAM, Jordon is designing a microgrid for a small island in Belize, working with a small company on the specifics of the design.