A New Frontier

September 2010

As an alternative energy proponent, Hannah Abend is driven by the excitement and challenge that comes from entering a new frontier. “It’s an incredibly rewarding field when it works, because you get to feel like you’re a pioneer—but for every pioneer-success you have, you also have about three hundred failures that nobody ever remembers down the road.”  She shrugs off the expected obstacles that come with developing green technology by reminding herself of the possibilities she has the chance to invent.

Hannah channels this creativity and enthusiasm into her role as a geophysicist with Verdant Power’s Roosevelt Tidal Energy Project. This innovative venture involved rigging underwater turbines to generate an electric current, which has powered a supermarket and parking garage on Roosevelt Island in New York City. Part of Hannah’s job was to assess how the maximum amount of energy could be produced without disrupting marine life.

In 2008, the team’s testing of a new generation of turbine failed in front of potential investors and the media. Although it was disappointing, the team addressed the problem and forged forward. And despite the trial-and-error nature of her career, Hannah looks at things optimistically. “In my opinion, this is truly one of the last areas of science research that has hope. I mean there’s really a true sense that you can impact the world—that you can really make things better for the next generation.”

While growing up, Hannah aspired to be a nurse since she believed that was the only scientific route open to women. Although science always intrigued her, Hannah was also motivated by her desire to prove that girls could also be mathematically or scientifically talented. Her interest peaked thanks to an inspiring female chemistry teacher. “She was somebody who kind of opened up the world of molecules, and an understanding of the intricacies of the sub-atomic universe. I took her class for two years when I was in high school, and I decided then that I was going to be an astrophysicist, because that was the most difficult thing I could think of at the time,” Hannah recalls. While her interest in astronomy has shifted towards more earthly matters, her appreciation for the world of opportunities that science presents remains central in all of her “pioneer-success” endeavors.