MESM 2023
Pronouns: he/him
Bio
Marco Palombo is a Mechanical Engineer with an interest in renewable energy sources, specifically offshore wind. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2015 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Marco has a broad engineering background with experience in both the aerospace industry and the artificial wave machine industry. He worked as a Mechanical Engineer and Senior Manufacturing Engineer for Raytheon, where he developed and built thermal cameras. At the Kelly Slater Wave Company, Marco led portions of the Surf Ranch 2.0 wave machine project. He then started the on-site Engineering team, making the Surf Ranch reliable enough for paying guests and live broadcast events. Initially drawn to the wave machine industry by a love for surfing and the ocean, Marco struggled with the environmental impacts of building and operating the SurfRanch and decided to change career paths. Now Marco hopes to combine his engineering background with the MESM program’s Energy and Climate and Coastal Marine Resources Management foci to work on the deployment of offshore wind power systems.