About

Blake Cole is a doctoral candidate in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Applied Ocean Science and Engineering. He is a member of the Laboratory for Autonomous Marine Sensing Systems (LAMSS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, coadvised by Peter Traykovski and Henrik Schmidt. His research interests include marine vehicle autonomy, hydrodynamics, and feedback control systems. Specifically, he is interested in developing economical, robust, long-range autonomous surface vehicles, capable of collecting meteorological and oceanographic data over extended periods of time.

Interests

  • Marine Vehicle Autonomy
  • Hydrodynamics
  • Autonomous Sailing

Education

  • PhD in Applied Ocean Science & Engineering, 2017-present

    MIT-WHOI Joint Program

  • MS in Civil & Environmental Engineering, 2015

    Stanford University

  • BSc in Environmental Engineering, 2013

    University of California, San Diego

Experience

 
 
 
 
 

Marine Engineer

Virgin Hyperloop One

Sep 2015 – Feb 2018 Los Angeles, California

Led the marine research program, which was responsible for assessing the feasibility of constructing subsea hyperloop transportation systems contained within submerged floating tunnels (SFTs).

Responsibilities:

  • Hydrodynamic modeling
  • Statistical analysis and extreme event prediction
  • Strucutural finite element analysis
  • Non-linear heat transfer model development
 
 
 
 
 

Hydrodynamic Modeling Scientist

United States Geological Survey

Jun 2015 – Feb 2016 Santa Cruz, California
Assisted in the development of a model integrating longshore and cross-shore processes for predicting long-term shoreline response to climate change (CoSMoS).
 
 
 
 
 

Environmental Engineer

Naval Information Warfare Center - Pacific

Jun 2012 – Sep 2013 San Diego, California

Responsibilities:

  • Testing & development of handheld contaminant sensor
  • CFD simulation of sediment transport processes
  • Field deployment of benthic microbial fuel cell

Programming Languages

C++

MATLAB

Python

Publications

Vitousek, S., P. L. Barnard, P. Limber, L. Erikson, and B. Cole (2017) A model integrating longshore and cross-shore processes for predicting long-term shoreline response to climate change, J. Geophys. Res. Earth Surf., 122, 782–806, doi: 10.1002/2016JF004065.

Cole, B., M. R. Benjamin, and S. Randeni (2021) AIS-Based Collision Avoidance in MOOS-IvP using a Geodetic Unscented Kalman Filter, OCEANS 2021: San Diego – Porto, 2021, pp. 1-10, doi: 10.23919/OCEANS44145.2021.9705900.

Cole, B. and G. Schamberg (2022) Unscented Kalman filter for long-distance vessel tracking in geodetic coordinates, Applied Ocean Research, 124, doi: 10.1016/j.apor.2022.103205

Blog

Leveraging the ADCIRC Model to Plan a Long-Distance, Open-Water Swim from Woods Hole to Martha's Vineyard

Preamble At 5:58am on the morning of July 30th 2022, a small group of swimmers dove into the shallow waters off Woods Hole, …
Aug 8, 2022 23 min read

Hello World + Bio

Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog. In case you skipped over the About section, my name is Blake, and I am currently a doctoral candidate …
Aug 8, 2022 3 min read

Contact

  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 86 Water Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA