Summer Intern Energizes the Wind Energy Technologies Office

Greetings, Wendell. Tell us about yourself.

My name is C. Wendell Grinton, Jr., and I’m from Harmony, North Carolina—a small town located just over an hour north of Charlotte, North Carolina. I’ve always been passionate about helping others, challenging myself, and using my creativity and critical thinking skills within the field of civil engineering to further develop the infrastructure we use daily to make it understandable and equitable for everyone. I graduated from North Carolina A&T State University with my bachelor's degree in civil engineering and continued my academic journey on to Virginia Tech, where I received my master’s degree in civil engineering and am pursuing my Ph.D. in civil engineering.

In a more personal light, I’m passionate about healthy cooking; watching and playing sports, such as basketball and football; drawing; traveling; binge-watching TV shows, mainly superhero shows or anything to do with comedy or cooking competitions; spending quality time with my loved ones (girlfriend, family, friends, and my goldendoodle puppy, Winston); but most importantly, I’m passionate about my faith.

What brings you to WETO? What made you accept the offer to intern with us?

I applied and received an offer through the Minority Educational Institution Student Partnership Program to intern with WETO for the summer mainly to utilize my technical writing and reviewing skills to contribute to the 2023 market reports. I accepted the offer with WETO because I’m interested in working federally and I wanted to gain experience working for a government organization to see if that was a potential career route, but also, I wanted to see energy generation from a different perspective.

Though my research isn’t directly related to wind energy, overlap occurs in specific incidents. I wanted to apply this new perspective of wind energy and how it’s communicated to my dissertation research, which seeks to improve the way information about civil infrastructure is communicated to the public. So far, it has helped tremendously. I also accepted the offer with WETO to further advance my technical reading and writing skills, as well as network with an amazing group of energy professionals!

You have been thrown into the whirlwind world of our annual wind energy market reports, which provide the public with vital up-to-date data on the wind energy industry. Have you learned anything surprising?

In my short time with WETO, I’ve learned many surprising things. Until now, I never realized how much energy can be generated from harvesting wind. Hearing and reading about the benefits of wind energy and its recent growth makes me hopeful that we can continue the push for 100% clean energy.

We, at WETO, really appreciate all you’ve done to support us, especially during such a busy time of year. Hopefully you have learned from us, but equally important is that we learn from you. What’s something you think we should remember to be the best office we can be? What can all organizations learn from their interns?

Never forget why you’re doing this work because someone is always watching. You never know who you may inspire.

All right, fun question time. You must choose a TV show, film, or book to live in. What’s it going to be and why?

If I were to choose a TV show, film, or book to live in, it would have to be Black Panther. The technological capabilities, the culture, and the opportunity to live alongside a superhero like Black Panther (or the man who played him in the films, Chadwick Boseman) would be phenomenal.