This week we welcomed Curtis Romanchok to the Absolar team.
Curtis, who is from Connecticut in the US, is pursuing a MSc in Applied GIS and Remote Sensing at the University of Southampton and joins us as an Intern.
We caught up with him, to find out more about his interests and what he's looking forward to most about working with Absolar.
What are your main academic interests within your field of study?
Applying geospatial analysis to solve problems with maps, since a picture paints a thousand words.
What are your interests/ hobbies outside of your studies/ work?
In my free time I enjoy going for hikes, running, and exploring the surrounding area to see what adventures can be found. There is still a lot more for me to explore in the UK.
Why did you choose an internship at Absolar?
I wanted the opportunity to see how GIS was used with high resolution satellite imagery and LiDAR to create 3-D models of the terrain. Not every company uses LiDAR, let alone on a country scale, while also applying machine learning.
What are you most looking forward to about working as an Intern at Absolar?
I look forward to being a fly on the wall and trying to absorb as much information as possible.
From seeing how machine learning is applied to calculate the orientation and the angle of roofs, to the surrounding area to determine if there are any trees or buildings blocking the solar radiation.
All of this with the end goal of reducing carbon emissions, by promoting solar as a source of energy, from residential homes to commercial buildings; which is only going to become even more important in the near future.
How do you hope that this internship will support your personal, professional, and academic development?
Even within my first week I have been able to apply what I learned as part of my MSc and work with large datasets to identify buildings in Southampton and Eastleigh where solar panels could be installed.
I wouldn’t have predicted that solar energy could be used in the UK, but getting a glimpse into the world of solar engineering has also shown me how far solar has come and how economically feasible it is for so many people.
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