PNNL

Ruth Branch leads the Marine Energy Research team at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. She has a PhD in environmental fluid mechanics from the University of Washington and is an Earth scientist in the Coastal Sciences Division. Her work focuses on integrating wave and current energy generation technologies with ocean observations and aquaculture. She has led the development of a wave energy converter drifting buoy and works with companies to facilitate field tests of their devices at the PNNL-Sequim campus. She has experience in numerical modeling for resource assessments and conducts feasibility studies on the use of marine energy technologies. 

• Wave energy converters
• Current energy converters
• Vortex induced vibration

• Marine energy
• Coastal ocean modeling
• Project management

• PhD in civil and environmental engineering, University of Washington, 2020
• MS in civil and environmental engineering, University of Washington, 2003
• MS in physics, University of Washington, 1999
• BS in physics, University of Washington, 1998

Full publication list available on Google Scholar

2023

• Branch, R., D. Rose, M. Grear, C. Briggs, F. Ticona Rollano (2023) Powering the Blue Economy: Marine Energy at Kelp Farm Sites, Marine Technology Society Journal, 57, 6-14.
• Branch, R., M. Bernitsas, M. Grear, S. Liapis, D. Rose, C. Briggs, K. Jones, N. Congpuong, S. Sadiq (2023) Low Tidal Current Speed Electricity Generation for Power at an Aquaculture Farm. In UMERC 2023. 
• Jung, H., Friedman, B., Hwang, W., Copping, A., Branch, R., & Deng, Z. D. (2023). Self-powered Arctic satellite communication system by harvesting wave energy using a triboelectric nanogenerator. Nano Energy, 114, 108633.
• Jung, H., B. Friedman, H. Ouro-Koura, A. Salalila, J. Martinez, A. Copping, R. Branch, D. Deng (2023) Self-Powered Autonomous Sensing System for Arctic Ocean using a Frequency-multiplied Cylindrical Triboelectric Nanogenerator. In OCEANS 2023-Limerick (pp. 1-5). IEEE.

2022

• Branch, R., F. M. Ticona Rollano, E. Cotter, J. McVey, E. cotter, J. McVey, I. Rigor, R. Cavagnaro (2022) Marine Renewable Energy for Arctic Observations, Frontiers in Marine Science, 9, 970337.
• Branch, R., R. J. Cavagnaro, A. Turpin, J. McVey, M. Wickett, M. Wickett, W. Boult, S. Hindley (2022) Vortex Induced Vibration Test of the WITT Device in a Tidal Channel, OCEANS 2022.

2021

• Yang, Z., T. Wang, R. Branch, Z. Xiao, M. Deb (2021) Tidal Stream Energy Resource Characterization in the Salish Sea, Renewable Energy, 172, 188-208.
• Branch, R., G. Garcia-Medina, Z. Yang, T. Wang, F. Ticona Rollano, L. Hosekova (2021) Modeling Sea Ice Effects for Wave Energy Resource Assessments, Energies, 14, 1-15.