UMass Amherst undergraduates - senior, Olivia Pfeiffer, and junior, Ami Khalsa, - defended their honor theses this past Friday. Olivia's work focused on the impact of increasing installed offshore wind capacity on hydro power variation. She found that increasing installed offshore wind capacity would impact hydro variation most in the winter months, but caution should be used in the summer because these are the months with the highest level of fish activity.  Ami's work analyzed the sustainability impact of using Pumped Hydro Energy Storage to transition to a high renewable energy future in the New England region.  Ami found that the real sustainability impact of PHES depends on the mix of power plants used to supply the electricity demand, leading to the conclusion that storage should be an integral part of the energy planning exercise, and not an after thought. Wind Energy Fellow Destenie Nock is their graduate research mentor and Erin Baker, Professor, Associate Dean, and Wind Energy Fellows Director, is their faculty advisor.