Blake Boren

Blake Boren serves as a Researcher IV in Model Engineering at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), working within the Center for Energy Conversion and Storage Systems and the water power program. His research focuses on converting ocean energy into electricity and desalinated water through innovative engineering solutions.

Education:

• PhD in Robotics from Oregon State University
• Master's degree from Oregon State University
• Bachelor's degree from Oregon State University

Dr. Boren specializes in Marine Renewable Energy systems, with expertise spanning wave and tidal energy conversion, distributed embedded energy technologies (DEEC-Tec), and robotics applications. His work integrates dynamics, controls, embedded systems, and machine learning to develop transducer-based energy harvesting solutions, emphasizing empirical prototyping and instrumentation. Key research fingerprints include Power Converter Engineering (100%), Embedded Energy Engineering (55%), and Wave Energy Engineering (45%).

Recent publications (2023-2024) reveal a concentrated focus on hyperelastic transducers and adaptive structures for marine energy conversion, demonstrating advancements in DEEC-Tec architectures and HASEL transducer applications. These works consistently address energy density optimization, fluid-structure interactions, and scalability challenges in ocean environments.

Dr. Boren has no documented scientific awards. His collaborative research shows no formal advisee relationships, though he frequently partners with colleagues like Chamot and Niffenegger on NREL projects.

He operates within NREL's water power program, contributing to the Center for Energy Conversion and Storage Systems through experimental validation of novel energy conversion concepts and transducer technologies for marine renewable energy applications.