Claire Griffin

Claire is from Billings, MT and majored in Engineering with a minor in Latin American Studies. She is interested in renewable energy technologies. This passion was cultivated during her study abroad experience in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Santiago, Chile, specifically, while researching renewable energy development in Chile. During her research, she was particularly interested to learn about how political and economic forces had impacted sustainable development in Chile. “Without the broad outlook I had learned from Wake Engineering’s interdisciplinary approach to engineering, I would not have fully appreciated the importance of political and economic influences in solving what at first glance might appear to be purely technical problems,” she shares. Claire hopes to use her technical skills to contribute to renewable energy policies and highly recommends that all engineering students study abroad at some point in their academic careers.

Claire’s favorite Wake Engineering memories are centered around when everyone would come together to work on projects or to study for an exam. There would often be “food and music, and lots of laughter” and she would come out of those sessions feeling more relaxed about the project/test and closer to the engineering community. Claire has conducted research on a novel solar thermal device at the Wake Forest Nanotech Center under the guidance of Dr. David Carrol and Lindsey Gray. Outside of the classroom, she played the violin in the university orchestra and was a member of Reynolda Strings, a quartet that performs on and off campus. She also taught weekly violin lessons to a sixth grade student through Music Empowerment and is a member of Kappa Delta. Claire was also on the executive board for Women in STEM and Eco Deacs. Claire is currently applying to jobs involving renewable energy technologies and policies.

AUTHOR: ADELA MORALES-SANTANA