MEET The Team

Center Leadership

James VanZwieten

Center Director and Associate Professor

Dr. James H. VanZwieten Jr. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering at Florida Atlantic University and Director of the Southeast Marine Energy Center (SMEC) since 2025, where he focuses on marine renewable energy, numerical simulation, autonomous controls, and oceanographic measurements. He holds a Ph.D. in Ocean Engineering from FAU and has led and contributed to research projects advancing the understanding and modeling of ocean current energy systems, including turbine performance and resource assessment for marine energy extraction. At SMEC, Dr. Van Zwieten applies his expertise in modeling and engineering to support the development of technologies for harnessing energy from ocean currents and mentors students in related research.

Gabriel Alsenas

Associate Director

Gabriel Alsenas serves as an Associate Director of the Southeast Marine Energy Center (SMEC) at Florida Atlantic University, where he leads technology development and testing, industry relationships, and economic development initiatives. He joined SMEC in 2007 after earning his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Ocean and Systems Engineering from FAU. He served as Director from 2015-2025 where, under his leadership, the center established itself as a regional, national, and global leader in marine energy. Mr. Alsenas also serves as the IEC TC114 Chair, USNC-IECRE Treasurer, and IECRE Treasurer, helping to move forward standardization of marine energy technologies and their acceleration to commercial markets.

Yufei Tang

Associate Director and Associate Professor

Dr. Yufei Tang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University, an Associate Director of the Southeast Marine Energy Center (SMEC), and directs FAU’s Florida Power & Light Center for Intelligent Energy Technologies (InETech) at FAU's College of Engineering and Computer Science. His research focuses on artificial intelligence, physics-informed machine learning, and data-driven modeling for complex engineering systems, with applications in marine renewable energy, including wave and marine current energy technologies.