{"id":5034,"date":"2026-05-13T15:09:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/?post_type=profiles&#038;p=5034"},"modified":"2026-10-08T17:56:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T21:56:36","slug":"ethan-chow","status":"publish","type":"profiles","link":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/profiles\/ethan-chow\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethan Chow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Chow-Ethan-e1791496564461.jpg\" alt=\"Chow, Ethan\" class=\"wp-image-5582\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Chow-Ethan-e1791496564461.jpg 400w, https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Chow-Ethan-e1791496564461-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Chow-Ethan-e1791496564461-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-container-content-69bc4bdf wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MIT Department: <\/strong><br>Civil and Environmental Engineering<br><br><strong>Faculty Mentor<\/strong>: <br>Michael Howland<br><br><strong>Research Supervisor: <\/strong><br>Ilan Upfal<br><br><strong>Undergraduate Institution:<\/strong><br>Chabot College<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Biography<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ethan Chow grew up in the California Bay Area and is a rising junior transferring to UC San Diego to study electrical engineering. He is researching the joint influence of inflow conditions and pitch angle on power production of wind turbines with the Howland Lab at MIT as an MSRP 2026 intern. He spent four years at a California community college to discover his passion, from robotics to 3D modeling until sustainability workshops turned his interest in supporting the environment into a career direction. In summer 2025, he interned at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, where he developed molecular dynamics simulations to model the thermal response of tungsten in fusion environments. This sparked his excitement about nuclear fusion\u2019s potential. He believes investing in others and the environment is key to a fulfilling life, and he hopes to pursue a career advancing fusion energy. He enjoys practicing piano, making glass paintings, and cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><br>C<strong>haracterizing the joint influence of atmospheric conditions and control setpoints<br>on wind turbine power production using field measurements<\/strong><br>Ethan M. Chow<sup>1<\/sup>, Ilan M. L. Upfal<sup>2<\/sup>, Alex Clerc<sup>3<\/sup>, and Michael F. Howland<sup>2<\/sup><br><sup>1<\/sup>Department of Engineering, Chabot College<br><sup>2<\/sup>Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br><sup>3<\/sup>Renewable Energy Systems (RES) Group, United Kingdom<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\"><br>As demand for low-cost clean energy increases, improving the efficiency of wind farms is becoming increasingly important. Currently, the control strategy of wind turbines, including the rotational speed of the rotor and the pitch angle of the blades, is designed to maximize power production assuming simplified inflow conditions. However, in realistic atmospheric boundary layers, wind turbines experience complex inflow conditions in which the wind speed and direction both change with height, known as wind speed shear and direction shear, respectively. Recent studies have revealed that turbine power production depends significantly on the inflow wind profile. Furthermore, current control strategies may no longer maximize power generation for these realistic inflow conditions. In this project, we seek to understand how the blade pitch angle affects power production under different complex inflow conditions. We analyze a six month dataset collected at a commercial wind farm in Northern Ireland. The inflow wind profiles are characterized using LiDAR measurements to determine the degree of wind speed and direction shear. The objective of the investigation is to determine how the power-maximizing pitch angle depends on the inflow wind profile. These findings can inform future turbine control strategies which adapt to complex inflow conditions, increasing power production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5582,"template":"","profile_category":[25],"class_list":["post-5034","profiles","type-profiles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","profile_category-2026-interns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profiles"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5949,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5034\/revisions\/5949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"profile_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_category?post=5034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}