KINGSTON, R.I. – May 7, 2025 – It’s reasonable to surmise that many students majoring in ocean engineering possess some connection to at least one of the seven seas. As Captain Nemo put it, “The sea is everything. It’s an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides.” This sentiment may resonate with many students in the Department of Ocean Engineering at the University of Rhode Island. But not for one student. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. 

Ryan Cassin is preparing to graduate this month with a degree in ocean engineering. Given his interest in offshore wind energy, you might think the New Hampshire native grew up in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, or Salisbury, Massachusetts–somewhere with sand dunes and coastal bluffs. But Cassin hails from Derry, which he describes as being nestled in the woods.

It was URI’s ocean engineering program that captivated him. Although the state university in New Hampshire offers an ocean engineering program, it was URI’s nationally recognized program that attracted the kid from the Granite State to the Ocean State.

“The ocean engineering program here offers a lot of opportunities to figure yourself out,” says Cassin. “There are eight or so different tracks that you can go down in the ocean engineering program here.”

Tracks range from naval architecture to renewable energy to robotics. Cassin took the renewable energy track. But it wasn’t just the prestigious department of ocean engineering, the research vessel Endeavor, or the Bay Campus that influenced Cassin, it was also the community of Kingston that played a significant role.

“I think what I’ve experienced here is that it’s a very welcoming community,” says Cassin. “I had a feeling going here that I would find a community and a group of people that wanted me to be successful and created opportunities for me.”

Like many college students, he faced some hurdles his first year. He took pre-calculus in high school and jumped straight into college level calculus, while most of his peers had already taken calculus in high school. Proficiency in mathematics is a prerequisite for aspiring engineering majors. 

Despite his struggles, an opportunity emerged.

The young man who grew up amid the timber in New Hampshire had the chance to experience the ocean’s tides aboard the Endeavor. He built a planktoscope—a camera used to take images of plankton—as part of an undergraduate research grant program. It allowed Cassin to get exposed to oceanographic instrumentation development as a freshman. 

“I got to take that out on the Endeavor for a couple of days, which was awesome,” says Cassin. “I kind of fell in love with the idea of research and learned what I could gain from it out of that experience.”

His time on the Endeavor left a lasting impression. Cassin even underwent sea survival training during a summer internship with Boskalis, a Dutch offshore construction company. The training included first aid, fire prevention on ships, and helicopter egress training, which involved simulating a helicopter crash and learning how to escape the cockpit if submerged in water.

Though Cassin is pursuing the renewable energy track in ocean engineering, that wasn’t always the plan. He began his journey in the College of Engineering thinking he would study underwater robotics. 

Cassin served as co-captain of the hydrobotics team his sophomore year. The student-run club caters to those interested in marine science and competes in various competitions. But Cassin stepped down from his leadership role with the club. He wanted to make a change and decided to go the renewable energy route.

“Part of my reason for coming here was I thought I could make a major pivot and that the department would make it accessible for me to figure it out my own way,” said Cassin.

“Ryan’s dedication to the wind industry is unmatched,” says Laura Creamer, a coordinator for career services and employer relations at URI. “He started his foray into the wind by convincing a Rutgers University professor to change the scope of the Research Experiences of Undergraduates program he had been accepted to and make it more wind-focused.”

Cassin spoke about URI providing him the opportunity to transition from robotics to renewables. He is passionate about sharing this experience with others.

“I want to be an ambassador because I had such a great experience when I came and toured URI on a Welcome Day with the college,” said Cassin.

He’s been a college ambassador for the College of Engineering for the last three years and has made it his mission to make other prospective students feel just as welcome as he felt.

Cassin said it was important for him to share his experience and how it could potentially impact students’ decisions on where they choose to go to school. During a Welcome Day, he was working the hydrobotics table in the Ryan Center and struck up a conversation with a potential student who was interested in the ocean engineering program. Later that day, the student returned and Cassin learned that the student had “rung the bell,” signifying that they’d decided to enroll.

He’s described his three years as an ambassador as highly fulfilling.

“Ryan is easily one of the most motivated, service and research-oriented OCE undergraduates that I’ve seen at URI in my 13 years as a professor,” said Jason Dahl, professor and department chair of ocean engineering. “As a student ambassador, he devotes countless hours to helping with recruitment and engaging prospective students.”

Cassin will continue to be a beacon for other students as he prepares next fall to pursue his master’s at URI in mechanical engineering. But before then he’ll continue his passion interning at the renewable energy company Ørsted in Providence, where he’ll work with a team involved in permitting and environmental compliance.

“I think what URI does a good job at is giving you the opportunities to figure out how to think like and collaborate as an engineer in addition to making decisions like an engineer,” said Cassin.