News

Prof. Yong Hoon Lee’s article is published in the Applied Energy journal

Prof. Yong Hoon Lee’s article titled “Wind turbine control co-design using dynamic system derivative function surrogate model (DFSM) based on OpenFAST linearization” is published in the Applied Energy journal. Yong Hoon Lee, Saeid Bayat and James T. Allison, “Wind turbine control co-design using dynamic system derivative function surrogate model (DFSM) based on OpenFAST linearization”, Applied Energy, 396, October 2025, pp. 126203. [bibtex] [pdf] [doi] Abstract: This research presents a comprehensive control co-design (CCD) framework for wind turbine systems, integrating nonlinear derivative function surrogate models …

Read More

A team mentored by Prof. Lee won the Best Senior Design Award

A team (Squeaky Clean Crew) mentored by Prof. Yong Hoon Lee won the Best Senior Design Award. The award was announced at the Department of Mechanical Engineering Pi Tau Sigma banquet for class of 2025 graduation ceremony. Team members: Daquala Butler, Karston Salsbury, Nathan Kleiser, Zaid Mohamad. Congratulations for your achievement!

ME students visit TVA Allen Combined Cycle Power Plant

As part of our ongoing commitment to experiential learning, Professor Yong Hoon Lee, in collaboration with Professor Yuan Gao, recently organized an educational site visit to the TVA Allen Combined Cycle Power Plant for our Mechanical Engineering students. The visit provided a unique opportunity to witness advanced energy systems in operation and connect theoretical knowledge with real-world applications. During the comprehensive 4-hour tour, students explored the full power generation cycle: from natural gas combustion in the gas turbine to steam …

Read More

Prof. Lee and his collaborators published an article in the Ocean Engineering

Prof. Yong Hoon Lee and his collaborators published an article titled “Nested control co-design of a spar buoy horizontal-axis floating offshore wind turbine” in the Ocean Engineering, an Elsevier journal. Saeid Bayat, Yong Hoon Lee and James T. Allison, “Nested control co-design of a spar buoy horizontal-axis floating offshore wind turbine”, Ocean Engineering, 328, June 2025, pp. 121037. [bibtex] [pdf] [doi] Abstract: Floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) systems involve several coupled physical analysis disciplines, including aeroelasticity, multi-body structural dynamics, hydrodynamics, and controls. Conventionally, physical structure (plant) and control design decisions are treated as two separate …

Read More

Prof. Yong Hoon Lee’s article is published in the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design

Prof. Yong Hoon Lee’s article titled “Multidisciplinary modeling and control co-design of a floating offshore vertical-axis wind turbine system” is published in the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design. Yong Hoon Lee, Saeid Bayat, James T. Allison, Md Sanower Hossain, D. Todd Griffith, “Multidisciplinary modeling and control co-design of a floating offshore vertical-axis wind turbine system”, Journal of Mechanical Design, 147(6), June 2025, pp. 061702. [bibtex] [doi] Abstract This study investigates the modeling and design of a floating vertical-axis wind turbine (FloatVAWT) system …

Read More

Prof. Yong Hoon Lee attended ARPA-E OCEAN WEEK 2025 Event

Prof. Yong Hoon Lee attended OCEAN WEEK 2024 event annually hosted by the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Research Programs Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). At the event, Prof. Lee and other experts from various research institutes, industry, and professional communities convened to reflect outcomes and collaborations of the ocean-related research projects sponsored by the ARPA-E. Prof. Yong Hoon Lee is actively conducting research on the floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) systems to unlock the clean energy potential of the ocean …

Read More

Prof. Yong Hoon Lee’s paper identified as one of the “Papers of Distinction” from ASME IDETC-CIE: 50th Design Automation Conference

Prof. Yong Hoon Lee’s paper entitled “Modeling and Control Co-Design of a Floating Offshore Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine System” is identified as one of the “Papers of Distinction” from ASME 50th Design Automation Conference. Refer to the announcement from the DAC chair’s welcome letter at https://yonghoonlee.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/papers-of-distinction-2024-idetc.pdf.

Welcoming New Graduate Student: Sunil Tamang

Welcome to Sunil Tamang, who will join my research group in Fall 2024 as a Graduate Research Assistant. He will be primarily working on the multidisciplinary modeling and optimization of floating offshore wind turbines and marine renewable energy systems.

Prof. Yong Hoon Lee attended ARPA-E SYNERGIES Workshop and ARPA-E Energy Innovation SUMMIT 2024 Events

Prof. Yong Hoon Lee attended the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit 2024, an event hosted annually by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). Prior to this, he participated in the ARPA-E SYNERGIES Workshop, where he and other experts from various research institutes, industries, and professional communities exchanged groundbreaking ideas on advancing marine renewable energy generation and utilization beyond the current state-of-the-art. At the ARPA-E Summit, Prof. Lee, along with industry partners, discussed the latest research outcomes and …

Read More

Lee Research Group partnering with Ecobee, a leading smart thermostat company, to leverage the world’s most extensive energy utilization dataset

Ecobee, a leading smart thermostat company, gathered and organized a substantial dataset on energy utilization voluntary contributions from their smart thermostat customers. Through this partnership, we anticipate that our energy system optimization research, utilizing models based on real-world data, will have a significant impact in combatting climate change by effectively addressing real-life energy consumption patterns. We are grateful to Ecobee for generously sharing their invaluable database with us.