Renewable Energy and Resources

Biography

Christopher Niezrecki is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He obtained dual BS degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering from the University of Connecticut in 1991. In 1992 he obtained a MS. degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech and his Ph.D. in 1999 while working at the Center for Intelligent Materials Systems and Structures (CIMSS). He was the Director of the Smart Structures and Acoustics Laboratory at the University of Florida until 2004, is currently the Co-Director of the Structural Dynamics and Acoustic Systems Laboratory (http://sdasl.uml.edu/), and leads the Center for Wind Energy at UMass Lowell (www.uml.edu/windenergy). Dr. Niezrecki is also the Director of the NSF-Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Wind Energy Science Technology and Research (WindSTAR). He has been directly involved in mechanical design, smart structures, noise and vibration control research for over 23 years, with more than 100 publications. He is the member of three separate conference executive committees pertaining to structural dynamics/smart structures/materials and serves as an Associate Guest Editor of the Journal of Energy Resources Technology. Areas of current research include: renewable energy systems, wind turbine dynamics, monitoring, and inspection, structural dynamic and acoustic systems, smart structures, signal processing, structural health monitoring, and smart materials. Over the last several years, his research has focused on using optical digital image correlation for non-contacting inspection and vibration measurement of wind turbine blades/rotating structures. He was a 2010 recipient of a National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL/National Wind Technology Center) Research Participant Program Fellowship and is the 2018 Roy J. Zuckerberg Endowed Leadership Chair. Funding for his research ($11M+) has been provided through grants from numerous federal and state agencies as well as several industry sponsors.

Research Interest

Dr. Christopher Niezrecki’s primary research includes renewable energy systems, wind turbine dynamics, monitoring, and inspection, structural dynamic and acoustic systems, smart structures, signal processing, structural health monitoring, and smart materials. His goals include expanding the global use of renewable energy, developing technologies that can impact the 1.3 billion people in the world who do not have access to electricity, and advancing sensing technologies to measure and monitor structural systems.