July-August 2010 - Marine Technology Society

Transcription

News from the Marine Technology Society
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 0
VOLUME 33, NO. 4
What’s new
Board Approves
New Student
Sections
Honoring
SeaLab Divers
Page 9
T
Ed Committee’s
Workshop Winner
Page 11
ROV Committee
Awards Scholarships
Page 21
Don’t
Forget
to Vote
Dr. Richard Spinrad (right) gave the first lecture at the Washington, D.C., Section’s
Inaugural Admiral James D. Watkins Honorary Lecture named for retired
Adm. Watkins (left) who also spoke. See the story on page 5.
In this issue:
MTS Conference News
2
Society News
3
Members & Others in the News
6
9
Section News
Professional Committees 11
Business News 15
Science and Technology News 19
Education News 21
Resources News 22
Legislative News 22
Ocean Community Calendar 23
Marine Technology Society, Inc.
5565 Sterrett Place, Suite 108
Columbia, MD 21044
410-884-5330
410-884-9060 Fax
www.mtsociety.org
Ocean Observers Network,
Learn at TechSurge Workshop
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Zdenka Willis,
director of NOAA’s Integrated
Ocean Observing System program,
contributed to this article.]
T
he Deepwater Horizon oil
spill and observable climate
change set the context and
established a sense of urgency
among participants at the MTS
TechSurge Workshop, “Ocean
Observing: Thinking Outside
the Basin,” held in June in
Norfolk, Va.
A highlight of the workshop
was the speakers who came
from outside the ocean community to share their expertise
in areas that might benefit
ocean observing. Dr. Kurt
Schwehr, from the University
of New Hampshire, discussed
unmanned NASA exploratory
platforms like the Mars Rover,
and Dr. Peter Fox, from Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution, drew considerable
interest with his discussion on
ocean informatics.
Representatives from the
Naval Oceanographic Office
described their 3D Gulf of
Mexico modeling capabilities,
the products of which are shared
with the NOAA scientific support
coordinator in the National
See TechSurge on page 4
wo new student sections
have been formed at the University of Houston and the
University of North CarolinaCharlotte, bringing to 13
the number of MTS student
sections. The MTS Board of
Directors approved the petitions during its regular board
meeting at the Offshore Technology Conference in May.
Ten students signed the
petition from the University of
Houston. Raresh Pascali, P.E.,
is one of two new counselors.
He is an instructional associate
professor in the Engineering
Technology department.
Joining him is Chuck Richards
of C.A. Richards & Associates who is chair of both the
Houston Section Scholarships
and the ROV Professional Committee Scholarships programs.
See New Sections on page 23
Three Board
Positions
Up for Election
Six MTS members are
vying to fill three seats on
the MTS Board of Directors.
Complete details of this
important election begin
on page 12.
Currents, published bimonthly,
is a membership benefit of the
Marine Technology Society, the
leading multidisciplinary society for
marine professionals.
Individual membership is $75.
Life membership is a one-time
$1,000.
To join MTS, visit the website
at www.mtsociety.org or e-mail
suzanne.voelker@mtsociety.org.
Send information for Currents to
publications@mtsociety.org.
The deadline to get items in the next
issue of Currents is August 16.
Send address changes to
suzanne.voelker@mtsociety.org
OFFICERS
President
Elizabeth Corbin
ecorbin@dbedt.hawaii.gov
President-Elect
Jerry Boatman
jboatman@psistennis.com
Immediate Past President
Bruce C. Gilman, P.E.
Bruce.gilman@mtsociety.org
VP – Section Affairs
Kevin Hardy
khardy@ucsd.edu
VP – Education and Research
Jill Zande
jzande@mpc.edu
VP – Industry and Technology
Jerry C. Wilson
jwilson@fugro.com
VP – Publications
Karin Lynn
Dklynn2@comcast.net
Treasurer and VP – Budget
and Finance
Debra Kill
debbi.kill@ise.bc.ca
OCEANS’10 MTS/IEEE Seattle
Innerspace: A Global Responsibility
September 20–23 Seattle, Wash.
www.oceans10mtsieeeseattle.org
With nearly 500 paper, poster and tutorial submissions,
OCEANS’10 MTS/IEEE Seattle will be the place to be this
September. The only annual international conference to
gather industry, academia and government policy makers OCEANS’10 MTS/IEEE Seattle Conference Co-chair
Ted Brockett (left) and Chair Bob Spindel have
in one place with a singular focus on ocean science and
technology, OCEANS’10 delivers extra value to participants. been working hard to create a successful
conference with local topics focused on
Presentations running the gamut from acoustics to
Operational Ocean Observing Systems, Renewable
zooplankton (and everything in between) will be held
Energy, Coastal Hazards and Technologies for
throughout the conference. Seattle’s central location in
Ecological Studies of Aquatic Organisms.
the Pacific Northwest has attracted speakers developing
new technologies and methods for marine life ecological
studies appropriate for both resource management and population protection.
But OCEANS’10 is about more than new science and technology. Product and service vendors will
be available in a centrally located 200-both Exhibits Hall. Both MTS and IEEE/OES will host society
luncheons, allowing participants to reconnect with distant colleagues and meet new collaborators.
Networking opportunities will reach fever-pitch at the gala reception to be held at Seattle’s Museum
of Flight. Where else can you chat with an instrument manufacturer, a navy representative and a
meteorologist while exploring President Kennedy’s Air Force One?
Last year’s OCEANS conference included an education component for local teachers (see the story in
Professional Committee News) and the Marine Education Committee plans to take their success to Seattle.
Dynamic Positioning Conference
October 12–13 Houston, Texas www.dynamic-positioning.com
The advance program is available at www.dynamic-positioning.com/program.html. Early registration
closes September 13. Go to www.dynamic-positioning/registration.cfm. Early registration rates are
$450 for MTS members ($525 for non members, which includes a one-year membership to MTS).
If you will require accommodation during the conference, please also make your hotel reservations,
as space at the hotel is limited and fills up fast.
Techno-Ocean 2010: A New Era of the Ocean
October 14–16 Kobe, Japan www.techno-ocean2010.com
This biennial conference is an important networking opportunity for those interested in connecting
with Asian companies and learning about the latest technologies. Two special topics at this year’s
conference will be “Marine Education and Education for Sustainable Development” and “Towards
Sustainable Use and Management of the Oceans.”
Arctic Technology Conference
February 7–9, 2011 Houston, Texas www.arctictechnologyconference.org
VP – Government and Public
Affairs
Justin Manley
jmanley@alum.mit.edu
Underwater Intervention 2011
Executive Director
Richard Lawson
rich.lawson@mtsociety.org
9th International Rope Technology Workshop
Editor-in-Chief
Susan Branting
publications@mtsociety.org
February 22–24, 2011 New Orleans, La. www.underwaterintervention.com
March 2011 Texas A&M University-Galveston
This combination conference and workshop will feature published papers as well as unpublished
presentations. For more information and to offer your services in planning, contact
mts-ropes@att.net.
Currents J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 0
Society News
MTS Hosts Paris Reception for Oceanographic Commission
MTS member Dr. Andrew Clark (middle), Dr. Gustavo Bisbal (U.S. State Department)
and Dr. Susan Avery (WHOI) were the U.S. delegation to the UNESCO IOC Executive
Council Meeting.
T
his June, MTS hosted the
U.S. Reception at the United
Nations Educational Cultural
and Scientific Organization
(UNESCO) Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission (IOC)
meetings at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. MTS Fellow
and Past President (2001–2002)
Dr. Andrew M. Clark served
on the U.S. Delegation at the
IOC Executive Council meeting.
This year marks IOC’s 50th
anniversary meeting.
MTS member Sonardyne,
Ltd., was joined by CSNet
International, Inc., and Guralp
Systems, Ltd., in sponsoring
the anniversary reception. MTS
President-Elect Jerry Boatman,
director of ocean science
technology at QinetiQ North
America, was on hand to represent MTS. U.S. Ambassador
to UNESCO David Killion spoke
on the significance of tech-
nology advancement and information sharing, and cited MTS
as an exemplary model of professionals working together to
advance diverse marine technologies and sciences.
In her message for the
50th anniversary, UNESCO
Director-General Irina Bokova
pointed out that “IOC, in
partnership with other U.N.
agencies and hundreds of
associated oceanographic
and marine research laboratories, is playing a vital role in
addressing some of the major
challenges facing the world.”
These challenges include identifying and protecting marine
biodiversity, monitoring global
climate change and coordinating tsunami warning
systems. “Never has the IOC
been so necessary as today”.
In his opening remarks,
Dr. Clark noted, “MTS shares
many common objectives and
visions with the IOC. The three
pillars of MTS constituency are
academia, government and
industry, and we were essentially established to provide a
forum for these bodies to foster
collaboration and sharing of
vital knowledge to help us to
understand and safely work
in our ‘Planet’s One Ocean.’
The event’s sponsors represented the three legs of the
tsunami detection/warning
system stool: Guralp as the
world leader in technology for
detecting the subsea seismic
event; Sonardyne whose ‘tsunameter’ is capable of recognizing
a tsunami wave and distinguishing it from the chaotic
sea surface; and CSnet providing the network to collect
and disseminate that vital
information to those in harm’s
way with sufficient time to
provide an effective warning.”
The reception provided
an opportunity for some of
the most influential decision
makers from over 140 maritime
countries around the world to
become more familiar with MTS.
Among those who attended
were the ambassadors of Brazil
and China as well as the newly
appointed assistant directorgeneral of natural sciences. n
The MTS Board of Directors
met before the Offshore
Technology Conference
in Houston, one of two
regularly scheduled
meetings each year.
From left, Jill Zande
(VP education and research),
Jerry Boatman (presidentelect), Bruce Gilman (past
president), Liz Corbin
(president), Justin Manley
(VP government and public
affairs), Debbi Kill (treasurer
and VP budget and finance),
Kevin Hardy (VP section
affairs), Karin Lynn
(VP publications) and
Rich Lawson (executive
director). The next official
meeting of the board will
be before OCEANS’10 in
September.
Society News
Education Spending
TechSurge
MTS continues to throw its weight behind the future of marine
technology as overall expenditure on education increased.
A total of $262,177 was reported for the last fiscal year. The
biggest boosts came from new scholarships from the Dynamic
Positioning and the Ropes and Tension Members committees,
the ROV Committee’s funding of a grade school textbook on ROV
building, Puget Sound Section’s more than doubling of donations
to the MATE ROV competition and the home office’s distribution
of the higher education guide.
Scholarship Awards
Education (Tuition)
MTS Home Office MTS Scholarships
50,000
Charles H. Bussmann Scholarships
5,000
John C. Bajus Scholarship
1,000
Paros-Digiquartz Scholarship
2,000
Dieter Family Travel Scholarship
Sections
Houston
34,000
Dynamic Positioning
20,000
Remotely Operated Vehicles
25,000
Ropes and Tension Members
8,283
$145,814
MATE ROV Student Competition
Sections
Houston
4,500
Monterey
100
Puget Sound
16,440
San Diego
200
Committees
ROV Committee
25,000
Total
$46,240
Programs
Donation, Funding, Equivalent
MTS Home Office Membership for NOSB Coaches
5,360
Distribution of Education Guide
7,900
Sections
Houston
Human Powered
Submarine project
Outstanding Ocean
5,500
Engineering Student Award
Travel Expenses for MTS
323
National Event
Summer Internship Program3,840
San Diego
2,000
Science Fair Prizes
1,450
Washington, D.C. Anne Arundel Science Fair
Committees
ROV Committee Publish a grade school
150
textbook on ROV building 35,000
ROV in a Bag
5,000
Student Travel to UI
3,000
Total
600
Student Leadership Meeting at OCEANS
TechSurge Workshop Co-chairs Ray
Toll (above, foreground) and Justin
Manley (right) monitor question-andanswer sessions. Behind Toll are (from
left) Capt. John Cousins, Bob Houtman,
Helmut Portmann and Suzanne Skelley.
531
Committees
Total
continued from page 1
$70,123
Command Center and are made
publicly available via NOAA
at www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/new
NCOM/NCOM_currents.shtml.
MTS member Dr. Rich
Camilli shared impressive pictures and video from his recent
(the previous day!) work in the
Gulf of Mexico to estimate flow
rate at the wellhead.
In other aspects of ocean
observing, Dr. Jim Birch
of Monterey Bay Aquarium
Research Institute described
the MBARI-developed Environmental Sample Processor
(ESP) and its transition to commercial production by a California company, Spyglass. NASA
is also interested in the ESP
sensor for future missions to
discover life on other planets.
MTS members Dr. Ralph
Rayner and retired Vice Adm.
Conrad Lautenbacher, along
with Rear Adm. Dave Titley,
Dr. Jon Delaney, Rear Adm.
Jon White and retired Rear
Adm. Tim McGee, delivered
informative and thought-provoking perspectives on the
roles members of the ocean
observing community have and
must have in advancing the
state of oceanographic science
and in setting public policy.
MTS filmed the entire
workshop and has hired a professional film editor to create
a video of the highlights of
the talks along with pertinent
slides from the PowerPoint
presentations. The film will be
made available to MTS members
in several months.
The technical program for
this second annual TechSurge
Workshop was developed by Cochairs Justin Manley, Liquid
Robotics and MTS VP of government and public relations,
and Ray Toll, NOAA account
manager at SAIC and chair of
the Hampton Roads Section. n
Are you current in Currents?
See your company’s name in Business News.
Brag about your new hires.
Send your press releases to
publications@mtsociety.org.
Inagural Admiral Watkins Lecture Series a Big Success
E
ighty-seven people
from government,
industry, academia and
non-governmental organizations gathered in May
for the Inaugural Admiral
James D. Watkins Honorary Lecture at the U.S.
Navy Memorial Heritage Center in Washington, D.C. MTS member
Dr. Richard W. Spinrad
was the keynote speaker. D.C. Section members Karen Kohanowich and
The event is the first in
Barry Stamey
an annual series started
by the Washington, D.C.,
Section that will provide a forum for learning, discussion and
networking on challenges facing the oceanographic and marine
technology community. MTS member Adm. James Watkins was
chosen for this eponymous lecture series because he exemplifies commitment and dedication to the future of the oceans
through his distinguished career, which has included chairing
the U.S. Commission
on Ocean Policy,
helping to establish
the Consortium
for Oceanographic
Research and Education, and cochairing the Joint
Ocean Commission
Initiative.
In an opening
speech, Watkins
underlined the
From left: MTS members Amos Bussmann of Sea
Technology magazine, Tim Janaitis with Phoenix
need to reinstate
International Holdings and D.C. Section Vice-Chair
self-restraint and
Brent Evers.
responsibility among
ocean industries
and the need to approach ocean policy through the principle of
ecosystem-based management. He shared a
vision for D.C.-based
organizations, led by
MTS as “the closer,” to
ensure that a comprehensive ocean policy
based on the work of
the Ocean Policy Task
Force is enacted into
law as a priority. He
identified enabling
objectives to achieve
results, including the
From left: D.C. Section Chair Rusty Mirick and past
need for MTS to demand Chair Barry Stamey
leadership; the need for ocean stakeholders to conduct regular
assessments of successes and failures, and to recommend immediate actions where science and technology are part of the solutions; and the need to track annual progress via the Joint Ocean
Commission Initiative’s Report Card. Lastly, Watkins emphasized
the role of MTS in bringing governance to an oversight process.
In his keynote address, Spinrad offered a framework of
analysis—“P3I”: the ocean policy agenda needs the right People,
a meaningful Policy, and sustainable Programs in order to have an
Impact across security, science and society. His remarks included
insights from
his institutional memory,
referring to
various historical events
and policies
such as the
Oceans Act
of 2000 that
established the
Pew Oceans
Commission,
the U.S. Commission on
From left: Bob Gagosian, Consortium for Ocean Leadership
president and CEO, with Rich Lawson, MTS executive
Ocean Policy,
director, and Jerry L. Miller, senior policy analyst in the
and the
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
adoption in
2004 of the
Ocean Action Plan, to name a few he mentioned. He also noted
that despite these successes and the dramatic increase in public
awareness of the critical role of the oceans, MTS is faced with
many challenges:
first and foremost, to
develop a campaign of
leadership, building
congressional support
in the House Oceans
Caucus; to engage Congress to adopt and persuade the president to
pass sound ocean policy;
to engage MTS membership from the private
sector; and to foster
a culture of corporate
social responsibility.
The lecture series
was the brainchild of
From left: Susan Gagosian and Karen Kohanowich
Barry Stamey, past
section chair, and was
(Photos courtesy of Gregory M. Vaughn, Science
accomplished largely
Applications International)
through the direct personal efforts of the D.C.
Section Executive Committee. n
Members and Others in the News
Patrick Byrne (left) accepts the
Innovation in Geomatics category
plaque from George Schlagintweit,
president of the Association of Canada
Lands Surveyors.
Winning Project
Congratulations to MTS
member Fugro Jacques GeoSurveys and project manager
Patrick Byrne for winning a
David Thompson National
Geomatic Award in the category
of Innovation in Geomatics. The winning project,
“Accuracy and Precision in 120
Metres of Water,” highlighted
subsea, spool metrology. The
awards gala dinner was held
in May during the National
Surveyors’ Conference in St.
John’s, Newfoundland.
Makai Lauded
Congratulations to MTS member Makai Ocean Engineering for
being named the Prime Contractor of the Year for the Small
Business Administration’s Western region. The SBA honored
Makai for its work in the federal government contracting arena.
Makai was nominated for its “outstanding performance, innovative solutions in OTEC research and development, professionalism, cost effectiveness and on-time delivery by the federal
agencies that contracted their services.” “OTEC” stands for ocean
thermal energy conversion. Web link: www.makai.com
Williamson Honored
Kudos to MTS member Williamson & Associates of Seattle,
Wash., for receiving the World Trade Center Tacoma 2010 Globe
Award. According to the World Trade Center Tacoma, “Experience,
creativity and commitment to quality have established Williamson
& Associates as a forerunner in applying leading-edge technology to meet increasingly complex client goals in the areas of
seafloor mapping, marine geophysical surveying, geotechnical
sampling and ocean engineering.”
Subsea 7 Awardees
A round of applause for MTS member Subsea 7’s Dr. Stuart N.
Smith, vice president–technology and asset development, and
Dr. James MacGregor, new build vessel project manager, who
were awarded the Medal of Distinction from the Royal Institution of Naval Architects at a ceremony in London in April.
See Members and Others on page 7
Students Benefit from Moulton’s Passion for ROVs
I
f you can’t find MTS member and Education Committee CoChair Erica Moulton up a tree (she’s a certified tree-climbing
instructor), you might find her drilling holes in PVC. Moulton
builds about 200 “ROV in a Bag” kits each year. Each kit contains a basic ROV: three switches wired to three motors, PVC
connections, pipe and flotation material. The ROVs can move
forward, reverse, left, right, and up and down. All the user has
to do is supply power and water.
About 40 of the kits are funded by the MTS ROV Professional Committee and go to teachers, schools, clubs and environmental organizations—anyone who contacts Moulton “from
third grade up to university faculty.” Additionally, she visits
schools, clubs or organizations and conducts an ROV program
that can last from 30 minutes to 4 hours. “We either build a
frame and everything is prewired or we build the box and ROV
from the ground up,” Moulton explained, noting that she is only
one of “a lot of folks who do ROV outreach.”
When she’s not drilling and soldering or giving lectures,
Moulton is the faculty development and Summer Institute coordinator for the MATE (Marine Advanced Technology Education)
Center. The institute hosts college, high school and university
faculty in a program to create awareness of marine research,
exploration and industry; highlight career opportunities; promote
the teaching of higher-level technical, problem-solving, critical
thinking, communication and teamwork skills; and provide
opportunities for educators and employers to interact.
Moulton also hosts and coordinates the MATE Center’s Florida
Regional ROV Competition and provides key support for the
Southeast Regional ROV Competition and the MATE International ROV Competition.
Erica Moulton (far right) helps teachers create ROVs during the OCEANS’09
Educator Professional Development Program. (See the related story in
Professional Committee News.)
“I love ROVs,” she wrote in an e-mail, “and hearing about
former students like James Douberley, a kid who wanted to learn
ROVs so much, he tracked me down at a hotel on my vacation in
Disney World (he lives in Orlando). We talked and worked on an
ROV in a Bag in the hotel lobby. James won the Florida Regional
on his second try, placed second at the MATE international competition in San Diego, and got into MIT because of his ROV
work, and he was a recipient of a MATE Center MTS ROV Committee Scholarship last year!” n
The men, along with Peter van der Hoek from Dutch shipbuilder
IHC Merwede, were awarded the medal in recognition of their
paper “A Family of Offshore Construction Vessels,” which detailed
three of Subsea 7’s latest vessels built by the IHC Merwede
shipyard in The Netherlands: the Seven Oceans and Seven Seas
deepwater pipelay and construction vessels and the Seven
Atlantic diving support vessel. The RINA dinner was attended by
about 500 people in the presence of the Duke of Edinburgh and
other dignitaries.
Subsea 7’s New Office
Subsea 7 has appointed MTS member Stuart Cameron as the
commercial director at the company’s new Kuala Lumpur office in
Malaysia. The new location will initially house 32 personnel with
room to expand. Dick Martin has been named vice president of
business development with Perth, Australia, as a base.
Bennett at SOSI
MTS member Doug Bennett has
joined Sound Ocean Systems, Inc.
(SOSI) of Redmond, Wash., as
senior vice president of business
development. Bennett brings over
30 years of sales, marketing and
management experience, with an
extensive background in technical
sales, application engineering,
and physical and biogeochemical
oceanographic measurement appliDoug Bennett
cations. At SOSI he will be responsible for strategic planning and
global business development focused on ocean observing
systems and related products and services.
Reid Joins RDI
Jerry Reid has joined MTS member Teledyne RD Instruments’
growing sales team. Reid brings more than a decade of sales
experience to his new role as the sales engineer for Teledyne
RDI’s new line of Citadel conductivity, temperature and depth
products. Teledyne RDI is a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of
Teledyne Technologies.
Gulf Involvement
MTS member Vernon Asper, professor of marine science at the
University of Southern Mississippi (USM), spent time aboard the
Pelican research vessel to study various components of the oil
spill as part of a group formed by USM, the University of Mississippi and NOAA to develop and apply new technologies for
undersea research. The crew was scheduled to do mapping, but
its mission was diverted to the Gulf to study the Deepwater
Horizon oil spill. Researchers on the Pelican were the first to discover underwater plumes of oil spewing from the well opening.
Earle Testifies
MTS member Sylvia Earle, a member of the Census of Marine Life
U.S. National Committee, testified in May to the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure of the U.S. House of Representatives on the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on
natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico. Much of her testimony
focused on the possible toxic effects of the dispersant chemicals being used, which she said should not be used because they
could damage the small organisms that are vital to the overall
health of the ocean. She also noted that there was the “need
to establish a data baseline to find out what species were in
the Gulf prior to the oil spill, to help monitor the current situation and assist recovery over many years.” She summarized her
thoughts on possible solutions, including halting the use of
dispersants and deploying sensors to evaluate the subsurface
plumes of oil and their impact on the marine life in the water
column and on the sea floor.
CBC Interviews
The Canadian Broadcasting Company interviewed MTS life
member Phil Nuytten and MTS VP Section Affairs Kevin Hardy,
with DeepSea Power & Light, for a new report on the difficulties
of using technology in deep water in connection with the Gulf
of Mexico oil spill. Nuytten was described as a “Navy deep-sea
pioneer.”
Rosen Gets Grant
MTS member Dirk Rosen of Marine Applied Research and Exploration and his colleague James Lindholm received a grant
through the North Central Coast Marine Protected Area Baseline
Program to conduct ROV surveys of deepwater habitats. Their
research will help lay the foundation for whether and how protected areas are meeting the state of California’s policy goals.
New Magellan Book
MTS emeritus member André Rossfelder, an award-winning writer and
marine geologist, has published In
Pursuit of Longitude: Magellan and
the Antimeridan. With the fifth centennial of Magellan’s voyage rapidly
approaching, Rossfelder intends
to dispel several widely accepted
ideas about Magellan’s voyage and
validates new, important facts.
Rossfelder also employs survivors’
accounts of the Pacific crossing, an
in-depth analysis of the course as
André Rossfelder’s new book
logged by Magellan’s pilot Francisco
Albo, an extensive bibliography and an index to complete the
book. “At the heart of this book is the study of genius and how
one man navigated with amazing confidence and precision to the
far side of the world through storms, intrigues and mutinies and
forever changed maritime history,” Rossfelder said.
New Numbers
The New England Marine Renewable Energy Center has a new
location and telephone number. Details are on the center’s
website. Web link: www.mrec.umassd.edu
See Members and Others on page 8
Hughes at DP Conference
MTS member Joe Hughes, DP consultant at GL Noble Denton,
gave a presentation at the European Dynamic Positioning Conference in May. As he noted in his presentation, “Finding a
Routemap Through DP Guidelines, Rules and Regulations,” the
event was extremely timely, given that guidelines, rules and
regulations for DP are all being either developed—such as by
the U.S. Coast Guard and the Marine Technology Society—or
updated, as is the case with IMCA’s well-known guidelines and
those of the classification societies. “This year is seeing radical
initiatives in the DP sector,” he told delegates, “with all the
main players set to announce or publish new or revised rules,
regulations and guidance.”
Andy Walsh at the 2009 ROV
International Competition
MATE Winner Hired
Andy Walsh, a member of the
Explorer class ROV team from Long
Beach City College that won the
MATE ROV International Competition in 2009, was hired by MTS
member Oceaneering International shortly after the competition and has been working some
of the ROVs that have taken videos
from the ocean floor during the
Gulf of Mexico spill. Long Beach
City College has one of MTS’s 13
student sections. The MTS ROV
Committee is a co-sponsor of the
international competition.
Proposed Director
President Obama has nominated Dr. Subra Suresh to be director
of the National Science Foundation. Suresh is currently dean of
the School of Engineering and the Vannevar Bush Professor of
Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Samson Promotes
Samson has promoted Kris Volpenhein to Asia technical sales
manager. Effective September 1, Volpenhein will provide focused
technical and sales efforts to support Samson’s offshore and
commercial marine markets throughout Asia. Volpenhein has
been part of the Samson research and development department
for the last four years as both an application engineer and technical manager.
GIS “Father” Honored
Dr. Roger Tomlinson of Ottawa, Ontario, has been given the
Geospatial Information and Technology Association’s 2010
Lifetime Achievement Award. The award, the highest honor the
association can bestow, recognizes an individual’s lifelong contributions and long-standing commitment to the geospatial
industry. Dr. Tomlinson, a native of Cambridge, England, is recognized as the primary originator of the modern computerized
geographic information system (GIS) and has been touted as the
“father of GIS.”
Pappas, Baugh Testify
In June, MTS members James
Pappas, vice president of
technical programs at the
Research Partnership to
Secure Energy for America
(RPSEA), and Dr. Benton
Baugh, president of Radoil,
talked about the Gulf oil spill
James Pappas (far left at table) and
before members of the U.S.
Benton Baugh (second from left)
testifying at the Subcommittee on
House Committee on Science
Energy and Environment.
and Technology’s Subcommittee on Energy and Environment. Baugh also was a member
of a panel of seven experts brought in to advise the Obama
administration on how to address offshore drilling safety after
the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Baugh was one of five panel
members who signed a letter that said Interior Secretary Ken
Salazar falsely implied they supported a six-month drilling moratorium they actually opposed. Baugh is chair of the MTS Deepwater Field Development Technology Committee. His company is
a Houston-based maker of blowout preventer components. RPSEA
is a non-profit corporation of U.S. energy research universities,
industry and independent research organizations.
Moll to Retire
After a decade at the helm of the largest of the nation’s Sea
Grant programs, California Sea Grant Director Dr. Russell A. Moll
has announced his decision to retire by August’s end. California
Sea Grant sponsors marine research, extension services and education activities to support the management, conservation and
enhancement of California’s coastal resources.
Reorganizing MMS
Bob Abbey was appointed acting director of the Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement
(formerly Minerals Management Service) by Secretary of the
Interior Ken Salazar in late May. Abbey has been director of the
Bureau of Land Management. He remains BLM director during
this period but has turned over his daily management duties to
his deputy director.
New at CO-OPS
Richard Edwing has been named the new director of NOAA’s
Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services
(CO-OPS), the nation’s authoritative source for accurate, reliable
and timely water-level and current measurements. In his new
role, he will oversee and continue to improve this 24-hour-a-day
operation to provide mariners, coastal managers and many
other users with real-time data on ocean conditions along the
U.S. coastline.
VIATeC Award
AXYS Technologies has been selected as the recipient of the
2010 VIATeC (Victoria Advanced Technology Council) Technology
Award for Innovative Excellence. AXYS was recognized for
its efforts in the offshore wind power market through its
WindSentinel wind resource assessment buoy. Web link:
www.axystechnologies.com n
Section News
MTS Honors Pioneering USN SeaLab Saturation Divers
A model of SeaLab III found by MTS member Kevin Hardy was on display at the
recent San Diego Section Corporate Appreciation Dinner.
T
he MTS San Diego Section honors the heroes and pioneers of
deep-ocean saturation diving with the construction of a rare
model destined for display at the U.S. Naval Undersea Museum
(NUSM) in Keyport, Wash. The model will join the actual SeaLab
II habitat end bell and educational display describing the
purpose and function of the deep-sea manned habitats.
Many of today’s offshore commercial diving firms were started by
the U.S. Navy SeaLab aquanauts after their formative Navy years.
The U.S. Navy’s Man-in-the-Sea Program, directed by legendary
Capt. George Bond, began with the Genesis Experiments in 1957,
and culminated in the trilogy of SeaLabs: I (1964), II (1965) and
III (1969). Jacques Cousteau’s series of ConShelf undersea habitats
was helped by many lessons from Capt. Bond before their construction. The tales of SeaLab are told in many books, including,
Poppa Topside, Living and Working in the Sea and Blind Man’s Bluff.
MTS VP Section Affairs Kevin Hardy located the rare SeaLab III
model. It was constructed by master modeler Jerome McAuliffe.
Hidden inside the model base will be a plaque signed at the 2009
SeaLab Reunion in San Diego by many of the aquanauts and their
wives who saw what was then a partially assembled model. NUSM
Exhibit Curator Ron Roehmholdt was given the model on behalf of
the Naval Undersea Museum after it was displayed at the MTS San
Diego Corporate Appreciation Dinner in June.
A companion educational project for middle school students,
“SeaLab for Kids,” is being developed by Hardy, together with
middle school teachers Michelle Hardy and Marilyn Sniffen, to
honor the deeds and perpetuate the legacy of SeaLab with a new
generation. The hands-on science projects, distributed at no cost
through the Education Professional Committee, will teach the
history, engineering and physiology of saturation diving through
construction of a series of aquarium-sized, air-filled habitats that
are progressively more complex. The “Atlantis” habitat is a submerged terrarium with sprouts. With lessons learned and experience gained, participants construct a larger “MouseHouse.”
Classes as young as fifth grade have been completely engrossed
and successfully built and operated both habitats. The projects
have been well received at teacher workshops. Copies of the
current curriculum will soon be available for download at www.
materover.org under “Build Your Own Model of an Undersea
Habitat.” An expanded version, complete with corresponding
educational standards, will be available later this year. n
Make a Difference in Our Student Sections
MTS can now boast of 13 Students Sections at universities and
colleges around the coastal U.S. Are you interested in helping
them learn about your profession? Speak at their meetings?
Arrange for them to tour your facility?
“Connecting with the students in your area is a fantastic way
to give back to the community and help to inform and inspire
the next generation of ocean professionals. It’s also a great way to
promote your organization and the work that you do,” noted
Jill Zande, MTS VP of education and research.
Call or e-mail Mike Hall, MTS member groups manager, at
(410) 884-5330 or michael.hall@mtsociety.org for help in
making the connection.
MTS Student Sections, their counselors and the counselors’
contact information are listed on the Student Section home
page at www.mtsociety.org/communities/studentsections.aspx.
Puget Sound Gives Students
Fertile Ground to Succeed
I
Co-chairs Fritz Stahr (right) and Rick Rupan (second from right) present Team Orca
members with their Ranger Class first-place trophy and a travel stipend to assist
with their participation in the international competition in Hawaii.
t is amazing what fertile imaginations can do with salvaged
sailboat bilge pump motors, PVC tubing, an underwater camera,
paraffin wax and a plastic funnel. If those fertile imaginations
belong to the nearly 150 students who participated in the Fifth
Annual Pacific Northwest MATE ROV Challenge, then it is likely
they used some or all these materials to build remotely operated
vehicles to maneuver through the mission tasks of exploring
Hawaii’s newest underwater volcano.
Team Orca, from Sea-Tech 4-H Club in Mt. Vernon, Wash.,
achieved the best combined Ranger Class engineering and pool
mission scores and represented the Pacific Northwest at the
See Puget Sound on page 10
Section News
Puget Sound
international competition in Hilo, Hawaii, at the end of June.
In addition to the 10 Ranger Class teams, the regional challenge hosted 22 Scout Class teams (elementary and middle school
students) and qualified two Explorer Class teams for the international competition.
“I’m pleased at how much this event has grown over five
years,” observed Challenge Co-chair and Puget Sound Section
Chair Fritz Stahr. “With financial support from local marine technology companies, volunteer support from local section members,
and the commitment of students, mentors and parents, we’ve
expanded from 50 to 250 participants (including mentors and
officials) in five short years.”
Challenge Co-chair Rick Rupan also credited the increased
participation to outreach efforts and workshops geared toward
elementary and middle school students. Underwritten by the Puget
Sound Section of MTS and a grant from the National Science Foundation, these workshops helped “kids learn how to design, construct and operate simple ROVs,” explained Rupan. “We really fired
their imaginations to try more sophisticated designs and construction. And they wanted to test their ROVs in pool missions to
learn if their ideas resulted in a good design solution.”
“With the nonstop mention of robot submersibles (ROVs) at
work on the Gulf oil spill, the importance of engaging young minds
in the ROV competition is clear,” agreed Stahr and Rupan. “We
need to make sure the next generation of marine technologists and
scientists are already interested in pursuing this as a career.”
Thanks to constant news coverage of the Gulf oil spill, ROVs
are now part of the popular lexicon. One parent at the Pacific
Northwest regional competition was heard to say, “Thanks to all
the news reports about the Gulf oil spill, I don’t have to explain
what an ROV is anymore.” n
Newfoundland and Labrador
In May, the executive committee of the section held a meeting
to discuss the bylaws and the inaugural meeting for members.
The committee, comprising Chair Bill O’Keefe, Vice-Chair
John Butler, Student Representative Marcel Montrose and
Secretary Randy Gillespie, with Treasurer Darrell O’Neil absent
and Dwight Howse observing, also explored possible events
for the section, and it was agreed that events should target
seven theme areas: fisheries, aquaculture/biotech, transportation, energy, recreation, defense and science. The section’s
first meeting with 25 attendees was held in June at the Marine
Institute, Industry Seminar Centre, St. John’s. Following a light
lunch provided by the Marine Institute, participants enjoyed
a presentation by Dr. Mary Williams and Dr. Chris Williams
entitled, “Technologies for Arctic Ocean Exploration.” Participants were invited by O’Keefe to offer comments regarding the
role and focus of the section. Among the suggestions were to
build on “our collective strength and experience” in harsh
environments, focus on professional and skills development,
and capitalize on the diversity of interests in the section to
connect seagoing professionals with the latest developments
in ocean technology, to name a few. The section has created
10
a blog for the executive committee to communicate with
members: mtsnl.wordpress.com. Minutes from the executive
committee meeting as well as PowerPoints from both meetings
are available there. Chair: Bill O’Keefe, wok@surmount.ca
San Diego
The section held its third Summer Swing Golf Tournament in
June, as well as its Corporate Appreciation Dinner, also an
annual event. Chair: Barbara Fletcher, barbara.fletcher@navy.mil
TAMU-Galveston
The Texas A&M University-Galveston Student Section has a new
counselor. Dr. Frank Warnakulasuriya serves as a senior lecturer in the Department of Marine Engineering Technology. He
joined TAMUG in August 2003. Previously he worked as a design
engineer for major thermo-fluid equipment manufacturers. He
holds B.S., M.S. and Ph.D.s in mechanical engineering, with his
highest degree coming from the University of Illinois-Chicago.
Counselor: Frank Warnakulasuriya, warnakuf@tamug.edu
Washington, D.C.
On June 17, the section held the Inaugural Breakfast Series at
the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel. The session featured remarks by
MTS Executive Director Rich Lawson, D.C. Section Chair Rusty
Mirick, and guest speaker Paul Kirshen, Ph.D., a research leader
at the Battelle Memorial Institute and an expert in adaptation
strategies and planning for climate change impact on the coastal
zone. Attendees included MTS home office staff, D.C. Section
members, industry leaders such as from Battelle and Fugro, and
government experts from NOAA. This was an extremely timely
and well-received event, as well as an opportunity for Dr. Kirshen
to outline the most current thinking on what types of technological developments will be necessary in the short, medium
and longer term in the 21st century to allow us to live with the
impacts of climate change. The Breakfast Series promises to be
an exciting beginning for primarily networking purposes among
the local ocean community. Chair: Rusty Mirick, mirick_robert@
bah.com
The section has set September 16 for its annual OII/MTS
Symposium—Crabfeast—and business meeting. This popular
event will take place at the corporate headquarters of host and
sponsor MTS member Oceaneering International in Hanover,
Md. Join your friends and colleagues for crabs and companionship. Visit the MTS website for more details. Chair: Rusty
Mirick, mirick_robert@bah.com
Webb Institute
Over 20 students from the Webb Institute Student Section
traveled to Verdant Power’s Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy
(RITE) project on Roosevelt Island, N.Y. Hydrodynamic engineer
Jonathan Colby gave a tour of the RITE project facility and
talked about the tidal turbines that were demonstrated in New
York’s East River. Verdant Power was founded in 2000 and specializes in marine renewable energy. There are several projects
that Verdant operates in the U.S. and Canada, all of which are
pre-commercial prototype demonstrations. The RITE project comSee Section News on page 20
Professional Committees
Marine Ed Committee’s First Workshop a Hit with Teachers
I
n 2009, the Marine Education Professional Committee
developed a new Educator Professional Development Program
Series to add an educational outreach component to the society’s fall OCEANS conferences. Hosted by the University of
Southern Mississippi’s Center of Higher Learning, the first
workshop was held at NASA’s Stennis Space Center during
OCEANS’09 MTS/IEEE Biloxi. The content theme was ocean technology and marine science. Twenty educators—secondary,
middle and elementary classroom teachers, informal educators
and a community college faculty member—from three Gulf states
(Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama) and Canada participated.
Workshop goals were:
n To strengthen the capacity of educators to introduce their
students to the exciting fields of ocean technology and ocean
science and to technology-focused careers
n To provide teachers with regionally appropriate ideas and
resources that highlight the relevance of the ocean and ocean
technology in students’ everyday lives and, finally,
n To engage ocean scientists and technologists in educational
efforts so these professionals better understand teachers’
instructional strategies and educational challenges.
During the one-day program facilitated by Marine Education
Chair Dr. Sue Cook, two Gulf of Mexico-focused talks (The Gulf
of Mexico: Understanding America’s Sea and Developing Environmental Stewardship) were coupled with three interactive group
activities (Seeing is Believing – Understanding and Visualizing
Storm Surge and Inundation; ROV in a Bag: An Introduction to the
Remotely Operated Vehicle and DataStreme Ocean Investigations:
Ocean Atmosphere Connections, Seawater Temperature, Ocean Currents). During lunch, educators reviewed instructional materials
and talked with faculty and scientists from the Ocean Engineering
Society (Dr. Milica Stojanovic and Dr. Pamula Hurst) and the
Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence network (Liesl
Hotaling). Oceanic Engineering Society (OES) President Jerry
Carroll attended as an observer and society sponsor.
The teachers who benefited from the workshop were impressed.
Among the comments: “I especially appreciate the networking
opportunities with the scientists in the field and the opportunity
to learn cutting-edge technology” and “This has been the best
professional development I have attended in terms of new, applicable classroom ideas.”
The workshop was underwritten by MTS and OES. Instructional
expertise was provided by the Center of Higher Learning at the
University of Southern Mississippi (Joe Swaykos), COSEE Central
Gulf of Mexico (Dr. Sharon Walker and Dr. Jessica Kassler), the
American Meteorological Society (Dr. Jim Brey, Claire Waite) and
the Marine Advanced Technology Education Center at Monterey
Peninsula College (Erica Moulton). Three individuals deserve
special thanks for essential logistical support: Laurie Jugan (cochair of the OCEANS’09 local committee), Johnette Bosarge (from
the National Marine Educators Association’s office at USM) and
Tammy Stafford (at USM’s Center of Higher Learning at Stennis).
Participants completed a program-quality survey as well as a
pre- and post-program questionnaire to assess knowledge gained
during the workshop. Content knowledge was higher at the end
of the workshop then at the start (difference significant at the
0.01 percent level). Educators gave high marks to both program
content and format with over 80 percent ranking the overall
content and instructor expertise as of high quality and valuable.
All participants praised the interactive, practical hands-on sections of the program (95 percent rating), and factual materials in
the key note talks were described as valuable and appropriate for
immediate use in the classroom.
Chair Sue Cook and Vice Chair Erica Moulton are pleased to
report that MTS and OES have agreed to continue their support
and fund the second workshop in the MTS/IEEE series at
OCEANS’10 MTS/IEEE Seattle. The workshop will be on Saturday,
September 18 on the University of Washington campus and will
include two 90–120 minute hands-on interactive sessions (one on
ROVs; the second on simple student-built sensors) balanced with
two or three 20–30 minute talks designed to highlight various
perspectives on education (including an industry spokesperson
and a technologically savvy classroom teacher).
During OCEANS’10, the Marine Education Committee is also
planning to set up an Education Resources area adjacent to the
MTS booth. The goal here is to showcase the diversity of educational products and resources developed by MTS members and
organizational affiliates and to provide a location for members
to talk with educators about their work. Marine Education Committee members will also be available to talk with members about
their educational needs and interests and get input on current and
future society educational initiatives.
Please mark your calendars for these activities! Members
interested in contributing an industry or technical professional’s
perspective to the workshop or helping with the Education
Resource area in the exhibit hall should contact Dr. Sue Cook
(scook@teamorca.org) and/or Erica Moulton (emoulton@marine
tech.org). n
Marine Geodetic Information Systems
Two of the committee goals are (1) involving and training coastal
managers in the use of new geodetic technology, models and
tools to measure “true” sea-level rise and its effect along the
coast; and (2) facilitating the flow of ideas, information and
technology related to marine and coastal geodetic information
systems. In support of these two goals, the committee
encourages MTS readers to visit NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey
training site. Users can access training and educational materials
at any time. At www.ngs.noaa.gov/corbin/online_learning.shtml,
you can view online learning modules and past presentations
paired with audio, or access educational links. The committee
would appreciate hearing about other training material information that’s available to constituents. Please feel free to
e-mail your information to David B. Zilkoski, chair, at
davezilkoski@gmail.com.
Correction: The e-mail address for the chair of the Law and Policy
Professional Committee was wrong in the last issue of Currents.
The correct address is montserrat.gorina@verizon.net.
See Professional Committee News on page 15
11
C
Election 2010 Board of Directors Candidates
andidates for three positions on the MTS Board of Directors
are listed below along with their biographies and the answers to
two questions. The two-year positions run from January 1, 2011,
through December 31, 2012.
The election opens August 13 and closes September 10. The
winners will be announced at the OCEANS’10 MTS/IEEE Seattle
Conference Awards Luncheon on September 21.
MTS members with e-mail addresses on record at the society
will be sent an invitation to vote electronically. Those without
e-mail addresses will be mailed paper ballots. Starting August 13,
MTS members may vote electronically by going to the home page
of the MTS website (www.mtsociety.org) and selecting the “Vote”
button. The information below is included in all voting material.
To vote either electronically or on paper, you will need to enter
your MTS member ID number, which was sent to you when you
joined the society. If you do not remember your ID number, either
go online to www.mtsociety.org/sendpassword.aspx?r=%2fhome
.aspx or call (410) 884-5330.
President-Elect
SAIC as NOAA account manager for the earth science thrust
in air, water and climate. He works with NOAA, 17 federal
partners and industry to advance the Ocean Commission’s
thrust for a national integrated ocean observing system at
federal and regional levels. He currently serves on the Gulf
of Mexico Regional Association board and as an SAIC rep to
the Consortium for Ocean Leadership. He has been a member
of the Ocean Resources and Research Advisory Panel, and the
Interagency Working Group for Ocean Observations. In 2006
he formed Hampton Roads’ first MTS section and is leading
OCEANS’12. He holds a B.S. (meteorology); M.S. (oceanography
and meteorology).
1. Chair of the Membership and Sections committees
2. Chair, Nominating Committee
3. Serve on the Budget and Finance Committee Drew Michel
Drew Michel has 44 years of experience in technical and executive positions in the marine technology industry. He is a Fellow in the Marine
Technology Society, a senior member of the
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
and for 18 consecutive years chair of the MTS ROV Committee and
co-chair of the annual Underwater Intervention Conference. He is
on the National Visiting committee (board) of the Marine Advanced
Technology Education Center, served on National Academy of Sciences and various other committees. He is the recipient of the
Lockheed-Martin Award for Ocean Science and Engineering, was
selected by Engineering News Record as an honoree for Outstanding
Engineering Achievement and was inducted in October 2009 into
the Offshore Energy Center Hall of Fame. Michel retired from his
last full-time executive position in early 2001 and now uses his
homes in Houston, Texas, and Belle River, La., as bases from which
he consults on projects worldwide.
1. The most obvious quality that makes me a strong candidate
is 44 years of senior and technical management experience in
the marine technology sector, but that experience is not the
most important thing I would bring to this position: I bring a
sincere desire to interest the next generation in the oceans and
in the education that allows them to explore and pursue careers
in marine technology. Also important is that, while my primary
career has been in industry, I have spent significant time serving
on non-industry-related boards and committees, and interfacing
in other ways with people from government and academia.
2. My key goals over the next two years will be to strengthen ties
within the society between government, academia and industry and
to find more ways to make the Marine Technology Society the place
young people considering an ocean career will turn to for information.
Ray Toll
Ray Toll has worked in marine technology
since the 1970s, including 26 years in Naval
Oceanography in technical/leadership positions such as commanding officer of the Navy’s
Center in San Diego. He currently works for
12
Position Questions:
1. What qualities and experience do you possess that make you
a strong candidate for this position?
2. What are one or two key goals you hope to accomplish in this
board position over the next two years.
1. I have focused on a career in oceanography, meteorology and
climate, pursuing some of our grand challenges, always keyed on
how societal needs and specific user requirements are addressed.
I have had over 30 years’ experience, spanning all aspects of
the earth science community from entry-level enlisted seaman
to command of the Navy Meteorology and Oceanography Center
for the Eastern Pacific Ocean, I have tried to convey leadership
grounded by humility and fierce resolve. I believe people come
first, then understanding the process you are supporting, followed lastly by products.
2. I believe that the oceans are one of the last frontiers, and
it is incumbent that this generation sets the example of stewardship and discovery. We need a national infrastructure for
ocean observations that couples atmospheric observations to
advance such national priorities as marine spatial planning and
to more effectively address catastrophic events. To help the 18
federal partners and industry advance together in this, I believe
MTS can become incredibly important by providing an appropriate venue that is agency/program neutral and focuses on an
operational system that can properly address user/regional/
national/global needs.
Vice President, Sections
1. Responsible to the president for the activities of all society
sections
2. Serve on the Membership and Sections committees described
in Article IV Section 5 of the bylaws
3. Chair three yearly section chair teleconferences
4. Facilitate dialogue and interaction among sections, and
assist in finding speakers and topics to energize local section
meetings
5. Advocate on behalf of the sections for programs and support
6. Perform other responsibilities assigned by the board
7. With the VP, education and research, oversee the development
of the student sections and student section issues
Kevin Hardy
Kevin Hardy is vice-president of DeepSea Power
& Light (San Diego, Calif.). His responsibilities
include technology and market development.
Prior to DeepSea, Hardy was with the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography for 34 years. He
joined MTS in 1975 and was elected a Fellow in 1991. He twice
served as the San Diego Section chair, was Currents editor-inchief for four years and served on more than a dozen national
conference committees, including ROV, UI and OCEANS. He is currently technical program chair for Underwater Intervention 2011.
Hardy is co-editor of the MTS SoCal eNews, with Brock Rosenthal,
a monthly e-news that connects nearly 900 people to regional
MTS events. He is co-chair of OCEANS’13 with Bob Wernli. Hardy
was guest editor of the Winter 2009 MTS Journal celebrating the
Golden Anniversary of the bathyscaph Trieste dive and helped
organize the MTS celebration in San Diego. Hardy writes regularly
for national marine technology publications.
1. My first term in office achieved important results. A new
Canadian Section was born, as were two new student sections.
With help from the Houston Section and a corporate sponsor in
Florida, the Young Professionals Award was brought to the national
level. With help from the Monterey Section, we have brought the
first of many young student outreach projects to the web. With
San Diego, we celebrated our heroes: the submarine veterans of
WWII, the SeaLab aquanauts and the bathyscaphe Trieste teams.
I have served in virtually all section and many national roles,
giving me insight into the common issues of all sections.
2. Communication among section leadership will be the key in
the coming term to expanding MTS. Best practices, including calendar events like plant tours, dinner meetings, seminars, special
events and picnics, student internships, student design competitions, fund raising, local elections, other local events, and
unique organizational adaptations, will be shared among all
our sections. We will plan section officer training and meet-ups
at OCEANS conferences, and recognize professional committee
members at section events. We’ll offer section listservs, websites and other assets through HQ. We will emphasize new officer
recruitment and retention at all levels. We look ahead to MTS’s
50th anniversary in 2013.
Lisa Medeiros
Lisa Medeiros has worked in the offshore and
marine industry for over 15 years and is currently the director of the Offshore Division
of OYO Geospace in Houston. She graduated from the University of Florida with an M.B.A. in marketing, with a minor in journalism. While currently
involved in the offshore sector, Medeiros has always had a love
for marine biology and science and has previously worked across
the marine technology sector in Florida for Ocean News and
Technology and Perry Slingsby. Currents J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 0
1. I have been an active member of MTS for over 15 years and
have served on the MTS Houston Section Board for 6 years.
During that time I served as secretary, vice chair and chair. Key
improvements to the Houston Section during this time included:
growth of scholarships, development of a young professionals
program, new social and fundraising events such as the clay
shoot and continued excellence in the monthly meeting program.
I have had strong connections to MTS headquarters and other
sections through regular attendance at OCEANS, UI, OTC and
meetings of the MTS Council. I am currently serving as co-chair
for the OTC Planning Committee.
2. The VP of section affairs sets the tone for each of the individual
sections and is the public face for all of the sections at Board
of Directors and Council meetings. It is my goal to improve section
coordination through leadership training, shared ideas and communication. Connecting sections to broader MTS initiatives such as
conferences, publications and government/public affairs is also
important. Every MTS section is different but can still benefit
from the support of headquarters and learn from other sections. I look forward to being the facilitator of that exchange, and thus
strengthen both individual sections and our society as a whole.
Treasurer and VP Budget and Finance
1. Responsible for the supervision of society funds
2. Supervise and oversee society investments
3. Have custodial authority of all society funds on deposit in
banks or trust companies designated by the Board of Directors
4. Responsible for financial reporting to the Board
5. Serve on the Publications Committee
6. Serve as chair of the Budget and Finance Committee
7. Have direct responsibility for developing, in concert with the
executive director, the annual national budget
8. Oversee issues as they relate to financial decision-making,
including proposals for funding, scholarships and other programs
9. Interact with MTS conferences and act as financial liaison to
those conferences
Debbi Kill
Debbi Kill is a certified management accountant
with 30+ years financial management experience
in consulting engineering services, shipping
terminal and chemicals manufacturing industries. Her strengths in the areas of financial
management, analysis, planning and reporting are combined
with a solid background in computerized information systems
and general accounting management. Her marine technology
experience began in 2001 when she accepted the position of
controller for International Submarine Engineering. As controller,
Kill provides financial leadership in the day-to-day operations of
the design and build of unmanned submersible technologies to
all members of the organization. Kill is the current MTS treasurer
and vice president of budget and finance, has served as finance
chair for OCEANS’07 MTS/IEEE Vancouver and for the MTS Washington, D.C., Section’s bid to host OCEANS’15. She also provides guidance to future OCEANS conference finance chairs as a
member of the MTS/IEEE Recon Committee.
See Election on page 14
13
Welcome New Members
California
Victor Aguilar
Will H. Anderson
Christina Chow
Warren Bartel
Michael Bove
Steve S. Doo
Joanne Ferreira
Karen J. Geisler
Steven D. Gloor
David W. Graham
Kent Headley
Michael Kelley
Julie Luikart
Brett Pickering
Erich Rienecker
Atif Saleem
Don Schultz
Jesse Thomas
Colorado
Matthew Meredith
Connecticut
Joshua Williams
Delaware
Michael Richardson
Florida
Chris Maingot
Heath Martin
Serena Parton
Omar Ramos
Scott Stewart
John L. Sullivan
John Terry
Patrick T. Welsh
Jody Wood-Putnam
Yasmine Yousef
Hawaii
Meng Cai
Alan Hilton
Sean Jungbluth
Douglas S. Luther
Shelley Steele
Dave Strang
Louisiana
Ezzard Charles
Maine
William Putnam
Dennis Scro
Jessica Stinson
Maryland
Judah Goldberg
Chris M. Malzone
Massachusetts
Keith Bradley
James Allen
Richard Camilli
Debbie King
Stephen Smith
Ryan Stirling
Michigan
John Lane
Ronald Muzzi
Caihao Weng
New Jersey
Barbara Boyd
Leslie DempseyMarchese
Heather L. Heenehan
New York
Christopher W. Clark
Lowell A. Dickerson
Alexis Mychajliw
North Carolina
Michael Barrett
Bob Baskervill
Jeffrey Bower
Byron Graves
Steve Hall
Justin Pruss
Josh Pruss
Kevin Simpson
Dave Wells
Oregon
Beth Gienger
Christopher Kemp
Melody Ragsdale
Al Schacher
Pennsylvania
David S. Hammond
Brendan Hoover
Kelly M. Maers
South Carolina
Rutledge P. Lumpkin
Mississippi
Rebecca E. McGuire
Election
1. Serving my first term as treasurer and vice president of
budget and finance for the society has provided invaluable experience. This experience, combined with my formal training in
financial management and my service on various committees
within the society, has culminated into a skill set necessary to
bring solid financial expertise to MTS, expertise that is essential
to the society in meeting its long-range goals and objectives.
2. My goals in serving as MTS treasurer and VP budget and
finance are to (1) Continue the improvement to financial processes and reporting that I began during my first term in office
and, in so doing, improve the financial management of the
society and (2) assess the value proposition for members by evaluating the return on investment members receive for fees paid.
Fred Klein
Fred Klein has been an MTS member since 1971
and a student of the oceans all his life. He has
found successes in coordination and integration
of teams to solve oceanography problems. He
obtained an oceanography degree from the U.S.
Naval Academy in 1971, a joint M.S. in meteorology and oceanography (MetOc) and an M.A. in strategic studies. After serving
on combatant ships, Klein became the commanding officer of the
MetOc center for the southeast U.S. and Caribbean regions from
1989 to 1992 and coordinated the design of regional environ-
14
Texas
John Bittner
Gavin Blockhus
Astrid Carlson
Carroll Cowan
Shaun T. Dyson
Joshua R. Frantz
Allison Gibson
Erik Hansen
Kitty Harvey
Francisco HernandezMartinez
Kim Houlette
Gerrit M. Kroesen
Sofia Martinez
Etta B. McCllellan
Abigail B. Moore
Jim Leavens
Ben Miller
Tim Mournian
Eric Olson
Barrie Parker
Sarah Piwetz
Robert Raye
Maxwell Robach
Jon E. Rosenthal
Christopher Ross
Nelson Sosa
Nagan Srinivasan
John T. Whites
Marc S. Young
Yiwen Zhang
Virginia
Khine Latt
Bruce Parker
Tom Thornhill
Andrew J. Willis
Lisa Wu
Qing Yang
Washington
William Blalock, III
Sam Brockway
Glenn Jansen
James M. Johnson
Jonathan Kellogg
David Murphy
Joel Reiter
Wisconsin
Paul Herder
Robert R. Szewczuk
Australia
Phillip J. de Boer
Andrew D Steven
Canada
Jay Barthelotte
John J. Butler
James S. Collins
Champika Gallage
Manoj T. Issac
Murray Scotney
Mark Wood
China
Yang Chao
Ning Chun lin
Guanlin Wang
Egypt
Eslam Zeid
Germany
Daniel Esser
Mofizur Rahman
Japan
Toru Idai
Korea
Sungjun Kim
Yong-Chul Park
Las Palmas
Carlos Barrera
New Zealand
Ian Milne
Nigera
Christiana C. Anyika
Roselyn U. Samuels
Portugal
Joao C. Menezes
Puerto Rico
Richard E. Brown
Scotland
Colin Griffiths
Turkey
Ufuk Altunkaya
United Kingdom
Richard Norman
Paul G. Provost
mental support to fleet forces. He became the executive director
of the 1998 Oceans Community Conference. At Noblis, Inc., Klein
worked on ocean projects in program management and acquisition for the U.S. government, such as the development of a
NOAA Coastal Data Center. He is currently working part-time on
NOAA ocean requirements, planning and integration analysis.
1. The issues I work gravitate towards moving programs and initiatives ahead through leadership, and teaming while working
within budget constraints. I became more involved in the MTS/
IEEE OCEANS conferences and financial management, and see
the value of integration and energies directed toward bringing
the disciplines of science and policy together to move the “One
Ocean” community forward. At Noblis, I was the co-chair of the
MTS/IEEE’05 OCEANS Washington, D.C., Conference, bringing a
strict budget, more visibility and awareness of MTS to organizations. As co-chair I contributed to the efficient and cost-effectiveness of the conference budget.
2. I will work diligently on financial responsibility while supporting increases of both capability and success. This will be possible through smart fiscal policies while expanding the regional
sections. My experience in working on the oceanographer of the
Navy staff in acquisition and research funding as well as serving
as the chief of staff for the Naval deputy to NOAA participating
in several MTS/IEEE OCEANS Conferences will provide a rich background to execute responsible budgets. I am looking to build on
my success at Navy and NOAA to contribute in growing the MTS
footprint in oceanography through fiscal responsibility. n
Business News
OTC Exhibits Largest in 28 Years
A
ttendance at the May 2010 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC)
in Houston, Texas, reached 72,900. Attendance surpassed the 2009
total of 67,700, and the sold-out exhibition was the largest in 28
years, totaling more than 568,000 square feet, up from 557,000
square feet in 2009. OTC’s expanded exhibition in Reliant Arena
in addition to Reliant Center enabled the exhibition growth.
Although this was a record year for OTC, the drilling accident in
the Gulf of Mexico affected the mood and the tone of the event.
The keynote speaker for the OTC Awards Luncheon, Noble
Energy’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Charles Davidson,
MTS staff Mike Hall (right) and Susan Branting talk to an attendee at the MTS booth
during the Offshore Technology Conference.
Texas City High School students explore marine technology with Sandor Karpathy
during the high school tour at OTC. Karpathy is one of many MTS members who
volunteer at the conference.
Professional Committee News
Marine Minerals
The Marine Minerals Committee is organizing a major annual
committee meeting during the October 4–9 conference titled
“Toward the Sustainable Development of Marine Minerals: Geological, Technological and Economic Aspects.” The conference,
whose theme is “Sustainable Development of Marine Minerals,”
is in Yuzhmorgeologiya, Gelendzhik, Russia. According to committee Chair John Wiltshire, “Our committee members have
requested that we work with some of the major European players
to do this. We have been very fortunate to get sponsorship from
the Russian Academy of Sciences, which has put forward their
Southern Marine Geological Institute (Yuzhmorgeologiya) as
host.” Corporate sponsorship has come from the Underwater
Mining Institute. The Russian Academy of Sciences is also sponsoring a subsidized field trip after the meeting to key sites.
“This is a terrific opportunity for our committee members as well
as any other interested MTS folks,” Wiltshire said. Chair: John
Wiltshire, johnw@soest.hawaii.edu
Ocean Observing Systems
MTS’s TechSurge Workshop on Ocean Observing: Thinking Outside
the Basin was a success. The Program Committee brought
together key federal programs, partners from academia, examples
of cutting-edge technologies transitioning to operations, and
industry partners in oceanography. (See story on page 1.)
opened his remarks with reference to the tragic fire and sinking of
the Deepwater Horizon rig by saying “We’ve got to clean it up…
find out what happened, and fix it so that it never happens again.”
Covering four full days, this year’s technical program offered
sessions on renewable energy sources, including offshore wind and
wave energy. OTC’s Spotlight on New Technology program highlighted 13 innovative technologies that are already making the
industry more effective.
The 2011 OTC takes place May 2–5 at Reliant Park. n
See Business News on page 16
As reported by OOS Committee student member Luz Molina,
the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) has engaged in different projects because of the Gulf oil spill. These include an
oil spill response fund to support the efforts of USM scientists,
a donation drive for collecting items that will be used by local
response organizations and a study on the economic impact
of the spill. Jimmy Buffett has joined USM efforts by donating
shallow-water attention terminal (SWAT) boats for USM’s Gulf
Coast Research Laboratory, while another team from the lab has
been collecting samples of blue fin tuna. MTS member Dr. Vernon
Asper, professor on the Stennis Space Center campus, along with
other researchers and students, has taken core samples close to
Ground Zero and used CTD casts and an iRobot Seaglider to detect
the plume using its CDOM sensor. Because of the aggregate characteristics of the oil slick in the Gulf, these profiles were later
photographed with a (marine) snow camera. For more information
go to www.usm.edu/oilspill/index.php. Chair: Donna Kocak,
dkocak@harris.com
Ocean Pollution
The committee will be heading up a special issue for the first
edition in 2011 of the MTS Journal. The special edition will highlight innovative strategies and technology for assessing and mitigating ocean pollution. The plan is to focus on several subject
areas—marine debris, oil spills, storm water, marine pollution
and shipping risks, to name a few—to highlight the connection
of topics on ocean pollution. To submit a paper, contact the
committee’s chair, Jake Sobin, jacob.sobin@noaa.gov n
15
Business News
Canadian CG Joins
The Canadian Coast Guard has
joined MTS as an institutional
member. Welcome! Established
in 1962, the Canadian Coast
Guard (CCG) owns and operates
the federal government’s
116-vessel civilian fleet, and
provides key maritime services
to Canadians. In addition, the
CCG operates the Canadian
Coast Guard College in Nova
Scotia. Web link: www.dfompo.gc.ca
German Company Joins
Welcome to Controls Systems
and Solutions GmbH, a new
business member of MTS.
Founded in 2006 and established in Kiel, northern
Germany, the company provides sophisticated systems
for applications such as
methane hydrate research,
carbon capture and storage,
ocean acidification, greenhouse gas monitoring, pipeline
inspection and long-term
monitoring systems for subsea
installations, among others.
Web link: www.contros.eu
Names Change
Two MTS member companies
have changed their names.
Pegasus International is now
UniversalPegagus International, Inc. Equipment and
Technical Services, Inc., has
changed its name to DPS
Offshore, Inc. Web links:
www.universalpegasus.com,
www.dps-offshore.com
Subsea 7 & Acergy
In June, the Boards of
Directors for Acergy S.A. and
MTS member Subsea 7 Inc.
agreed to combine
the two companies. The transaction will create a combined
entity with a market value
of $5.4 billion and a global
organization of 12,000 people;
the full spectrum of subsea
16
services include SURF, Conventional and Life-of-Field,
a high-end diversified fleet
and extensive fabrication
and onshore facilities with
expected annual synergies of
at least $100 million. The new
board will have a majority of
independent directors and be
chaired by Subsea 7’s current
Chair Kristian Siem. The new
entity will be named Subsea 7
and be led by an executive
management team comprising
Chief Executive Officer Jean
Cahuzac, Chief Operating
Officer John Evans, and Chief
Financial Officer Simon Crowe.
Converteam Sale
MTS member Converteam
has been awarded a contract
valued in excess of £6 million
for an integrated package of
electrical systems for a newbuild, heavy-lift vessel for offshore oil and gas exploration
and development. The contract is with China Offshore Oil
Engineering, the largest offshore engineering company in
China for integrated services
and a subsidiary of China
National Offshore Oil Company.
The diesel electric propulsion
package of the vessel will
consist of two main propellers
and five maneuvering thrusters
powered by Converteam’s electrical systems. Converteam
will also deliver control
systems based on its C-Series
range. These will include a
DP2 dynamic position control
system as well as an integrated vessel control and
monitoring system. Web link:
www.converteam.com
O&G Ups & Downs
The oil and gas industry witnessed a 7 percent increase
in combined oil and gas production while revenues dipped
36 percent to stand at $122.3
billion in 2009 from $190.2
billion in 2008. According to
Ernst & Young’s third annual
U.S. E&P study, production
costs fell 22 percent in 2009
to stand at $36 billion,
recording the first decrease in
the five-year period studied.
The industry’s after-tax profits
declined to $1.3 billion in
2009, a 97 percent decrease
from $40.6 billion the previous
year. A 5 percent increase was
experienced by the 50 companies included in the U.S. oil
reserves study to stand at 16.2
billion barrels in 2009 from
15.5 billion barrels in 2008 due
to field extensions and discoveries. There was a 10 percent
increase in oil production to
1.3 billion barrels in 2009 from
1.2 billion barrels in 2008.
End-of-year gas reserves stood
at 156.6 trillion cubic feet in
2009, representing 4 percent
growth from 2008, while gas
production rose 6 percent in
2009 to 11.9 trillion cubic
feet, the study said.
OceanGate Gold
In June MTS member
OceanGate helped a team of
nautical archaeologists successfully create a 3D image of
an historical shipwreck using
innovative new sonar technology. The AJ Goddard is a
perfectly preserved Klondike
Gold Rush steamer that sank
in 1901 in Lake Labarge in the
Yukon Territory of Canada. For
the past two years, a team
of nautical archaeologists
backed by National Geographic
through funding provided by
the Waitt Institute for Discovery have been studying,
mapping and cataloging this
historically significant wreck.
OceanGate organized one of
its “citizen scientist” expeditions to give the team access
to the new BV-5000 3D microbathymetry scanning system
from BlueView Technologies,
an OceanGate partner. Using
a handful of volunteer divers
over just two days, the team
completed a dozen scans to
collect the data sets that will
be combined to create a fully
navigable, highly accurate 3D
map of the wreck. When the
final result is presented in
July, it could revolutionize the
way shipwrecks are mapped
and catalogued, according to
a company spokesperson. Web
link: www.opentheoceans.com
Williamson Activity
This year, MTS member
Williamson & Associates has
completed the cable route
survey for the National Science
Foundation and University of
Washington RSN underwater
observatory off Oregon, located the Australian hospital
ship Centaur, which was sunk
in World War II off Brisbane,
and constructed a deep ocean
wireline coring drill for the
Indian government. Also, Williamson recently completed
the Unity cable route survey
from California to Japan,
located the WWII wrecks submarine USS Grunion and Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney,
and delivered two rock coring
drills to Japan. Williamson is a
geophysical services and ocean
engineering firm based in
Seattle, Wash. Web link:
www.wassoc.com
Remus 100 Sale
MTS member Hydroid has
received multiple delivery
orders under an existing U.S.
Navy contract to provide
three additional MK 18 Mod 1
Swordfish variants of the
Remus 100 to the Naval Oceanography Mine Warfare Command
(NOMWC) headquartered at
Stennis Space Center, Miss.,
in partnership with PMS 408.
According to MTS member
Christopher von Alt, president of Hydroid, “REMUS is
the only combat-proven AUV
and was used by Mine Counter
Measures forces during OperSee Business News on page 17
Business News
ation Iraqi Freedom. Now
our understanding is that
these systems will be used
to help safeguard vital U.S.
ports and harbors against
maritime terrorist threats.”
NOMWC operates unmanned
underwater vehicles (UUV) in
support of the Navy’s operational Mine Warfare force.
These new systems will provide
NOMWC’s UUV Platoon an expeditionary capability to measure
physical characteristics of the
underwater environment and
identify submerged objects,
primarily in confined harbors
and restricted waterways. Web
link: www.hydroidinc.com
Simulation in Russia
The office of Kongsberg
Maritime Tech LLC, the new
wholly-owned company of MTS
member Kongsberg Maritime,
was officially opened in St.
Petersburg, Russia, in March.
The new Kongsberg Maritime
company has been established to further strengthen
Kongsberg Maritime Simulation
and Training technology, and
the 15-strong team will have
a special focus on advanced
simulation technologies,
development and hydrodynamic modeling. Kongsberg
Maritime has received an order
from Offshore Geo-Surveys Sdn
Bhd (OGS), the seismic survey
division of Offshore Works
group, Malaysia, for a Hugin
1000 autonomous underwater
vehicle. The Hugin 1000 AUV,
delivered during the second
quarter 2010, demonstrates
the need for survey capacity
in Asia. Web link: www.
km.kongsberg.com
BioSonics Echosounders
Scientists from Seattlebased MTS member BioSonics
traveled to the Gulf of Mexico
in June where, working with
National Response Corpo-
Currents ration, BioSonics staff used
echosounders, typically used
for fish population and stock
assessment, in an unconventional application—the
detection of submerged oil.
“This represents an exciting
new arena for BioSonics, and
we are proud to associate
our company with the spill
response efforts in the Gulf,”
stated BioSonics President
Timothy Acker. Tests for the
U.S. Coast Guard Research and
Development Center recently
demonstrated that BioSonics
sonar systems are effective at
locating submerged oil. Web
link: www.biosonicsinc.com
worked for Petrobras/CENPES
for six years as an equipment
engineer conducting research
and development of optical
products and production in
well engineering technology.
To better serve the demanding
needs of the subsea connector
industry, the company has
formed Precision Subsea AS,
a Norwegian engineering and
manufacturing facility, to continue and expand the scope
and capacity of SEA CON’s connector and component capability, introducing a number
of new cabling and connector
solutions. Web link: www.
seacon-usa.com
DMT Sapphire Sold
MTS member Oceaneering
International was the high
bidder to acquire the DMT Sapphire from an affiliate of Deep
Marine Technology (DMT)
under a bankruptcy-sponsored
auction proceeding. The bid
was $16.5 million. The U.S.
flagged and built DMT Sapphire
was commissioned in 2002,
is 237 feet long, and will be
delivered to Oceaneering at
a Louisiana shipyard. Oceaneering intends to make an
additional investment to
upgrade DMT Sapphire. The
vessel will have an Oceaneering saturation diving
system permanently installed
onboard and be outfitted with
a new crane and with telecommunications, video and survey
equipment. It will be renamed
at a later date. Web link:
www.oceaneering.com
Horizon Marine Helps
In support of NOAA’s monitoring and forecasting of the
oil spill from BP’s Macondo
well site, MTS member Horizon
Marine has deployed additional Far Horizon Drifting
GPS buoys to track the dispersion of the oil in the Gulf
of Mexico. At NOAA’s request,
six buoys were deployed
from an aircraft on the spill’s
perimeter, two buoys were
deployed into the slick and
two buoys between the slick
and the fast-flowing Loop
Current. Before those, Horizon
deployed three buoys in the
region just after the accident.
In addition, BP has contracted
FAST Eddy, Horizon Marine’s
vessel-mounted, ocean current
surveying system. The system
is mounted on Tidewater’s War
Admiral and measures ocean
current speed and direction
in real time from just below
the keel of the vessel to 450
meters below the sea surface.
Web link: www.horizonmarine
.com
New at SEA CON
MTS member SEA CON
Brantner & Associates of San
Diego, Calif., has opened a new
sales office in Brazil. SEACON
Products and Services, located
in Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro,
will be managed by Renata
Mercante Born, an oceanic
engineer with a master of
science degree who previously
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 0
SeeTrack CoPilot
MTS member Perry Slingsby
Systems of the Triton Group
in partnership with SeeByte
and BlueView Technologies has
recently carried out the inte-
gration and demonstration of
SeeTrack CoPilot with a Triton
XLX ROV equipped with a
BlueView P900 sonar. Through
the demonstration, the ROV
was made to follow waypoints
in a chart of Perry Slingsby
System’s Florida water tank
using the SeeTrack CoPilot
interface. The ROV traveled to
each waypoint in sequence,
and the operator was able to
start and stop the mission and
select new waypoints at the
touch of a button. At the same
time, the BlueView sonar data
was overlaid on the chart in
real time so that it was easy
to contrast the sensor information with the chart data.
In the demonstration, the ROV
was also made to orbit and
transit relative to a vertical
pipe that was being observed
by the BlueView sonar using
SeeTrack CoPilot’s automatic
control algorithms. Web link:
www.perryslingsbysystems.com
Subsea 7 Contracts
MTS member Subsea 7 has
been awarded a contract in
the U.K. sector of the North
Sea valued in excess of $75
million. The work scope is to
engineer, fabricate, install
and commission a pipeline
bundle consisting of production, gas lift, methanol and
heating pipelines and controls
umbilical. Offshore installation
of the bundle is scheduled for
early 2011. As part of Subsea
7’s ongoing investment in
assets and technology, and
following a two-year trial in
conjunction with SeeByte,
the two companies will collaborate further to bring the
first commercially available
autonomous inspection vehicle
to market. Designed by Subsea
7, the vehicle incorporates
key SeeByte technologies
and will be in service during
2011. The company has comSee Business News on page 18
17
Business News
pleted the Gulf of Mexico Marathon Droshky project—the
first project to be delivered
using its new North American
spoolbase at Port Isabel,
Texas. The company has been
awarded an engineering,
procurement, installation
and commissioning contract
by BP Exploration Operating
Company for the Andrew
Area Development Project in
the U.K. sector of the North
Sea. The contract is valued
in excess of $135 million.
Subsea 7, through its i-Tech
division, has received the
largest single contract award
to i-Tech since the formation
of the division in January
2006. The award from Petroléo
Brasileiro S/A (Petrobras) is
for the provision of ROV and
intervention tooling services
onboard a minimum of
20 and a maximum of 30
offshore drilling units. The contract value is estimated at a minimum of
$25 million. Web link:
www.subsea7.com
Seadog First
Independent Natural
Resources, which makes the
Seadog water pump, has
received a permit for a wave
power generation facility off
the coast of Freeport, Texas,
in the Gulf of Mexico. The
company says it is the first to
receive a section 10 permit
(a permit designed to control
obstruction or alteration of
navigable waters in the U.S.)
from the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers to operate a wave
generator in the U.S. The
facility, which the company
hopes to put into the water
by the end of the year, will
be a platform with 18 wave
pumps underneath it. Each
pump, which is about 7 feet in
diameter, will send water up
through three water wheels
18
connected to a generator.
The electricity from the generator will be used to power
a standard reverse osmosis
desalination machine. Web
link: www.inri.us
Firebrand Search
MTS member Odyssey Marine
Exploration and its associated company OVH have
executed agreements to
provide project research and
shipwreck search and survey
services for a project codenamed Firebrand to client
companies of Robert Fraser &
Partners. Odyssey will provide
a research vessel, equipment
and crew to search for the
shipwreck. After the Firebrand
is located, Odyssey will enter
into additional agreements for
the archaeological excavation,
and conservation and documentation of the cargo and
artifacts recovered. Odyssey
will also have exclusive rights
to market the recovered
cargo. Odyssey expects to
execute agreements for an
additional shipwreck project,
Shantaram, with clients of
Robert Fraser & Partners.
Web link: www.shipwreck.net
Tyco Project
Main One Cable Company
and its system supplier, MTS
member Tyco Electronics
Subsea Communications
(SubCom), announced the onschedule completion of the
main lay program by the C.S.
Tyco Resolute. Phase 1 of the
Main One Cable System spans
6,800 kilometers and will
provide much-needed capacity
between the West Coast of
Africa and Portugal. The dual
fiber pair, 1.92 Terabit per
second, Dense Wave Division
Multiplex project will first
connect Lagos, Nigeria;
Accra, Ghana; and Seixal,
Portugal with onward connectivity to Europe, Asia and
the Americas. Phase 2 of the
project is expected to extend
to South Africa. Web link:
www.tycotelecom.com/tyco
.aspx
Fluorometer Help
Turner Designs, which makes
fluorometers, was featured in
several stories about the Gulf
oil spill, including NBC and
CBS News and the Discovery
Channel. Turner’s devices, such
as fluorometers, are being
used mainly to help track the
flow of oil. Web link: www.
turnerdesigns.com
OTEC Fiberglass Pipes
Fiberglass manufacturer
Owens Corning is providing its
XStrand high-strength glass
fiber for pipes that will reach
thousands of feet below the
ocean surface in an ocean
thermal energy conversion
demonstration project being
developed by Lockheed Martin.
Owens Corning said the fabrication and installation of
large-diameter pipes able to
withstand the forces from the
water would be one of the
largest technical challenges for
the entire project. Web link:
www.owenscorning.com
CapRock Sale
Harris Corporation, an international communications
and information technology
company, has entered into
a definitive agreement to
acquire CapRock Communications, a global provider of
managed satellite communications solutions for the
energy, government and maritime industries. Under the
terms of the agreement,
Harris will purchase privately
held CapRock for $525 million
in cash, subject to postclosing adjustments. Web
link: www.harris.com
Samson Fiber
Samson has provided Seaway
Heavy Lifting with the first
very-large-diameter synthetic
rope slings certified by Lloyd’s
for offshore installations.
The two lifting systems,
made from 144-milimeterdiameter AmSteel®-Blue and
Samson’s rope made with 100
percent and Dyneema® highmodulus polyethylene fiber,
are currently assisting in the
installation of 140-turbine
foundation monopiles as a
part of the North Sea’s Greater
Gabbard project, the largest
wind farm currently under
construction. Web link:
www.samsonrope.com
Tsunami Buoy
Science Applications International Corporation has been
awarded a contract for the
production and delivery of
an SAIC Tsunami Buoy (STB)
system by the Far Eastern
Ecological Center, YuzhnoSakhalinsk, for the Far Eastern
Regional Hydrometeorological Research Institute,
Vladivostok, Russia. The STB
system will be one of the
key sensors monitored by the
Tsunami Warning Center in
the Russian Far East, and will
serve as the ocean segment
of the Russian Federation
tsunami warning system
network currently in development. Once implemented,
the Russian Federation
tsunami warning network will
become one of the key providers of tsunami information
to Pacific Rim countries.
Web link: www.saic.com
Zentech, KEH Sign
Houston-based Zentech has
signed an agreement with
Knud E. Hansen of Elsinore,
Denmark, that will enable the
two companies to work more
closely on projects in the offshore wind farm and offshore oil and gas industries as
well as the general maritime
industry. Web links: www.
zentech-usa.com n
Science & Technology News
Spatial System Updated
NOAA’s National Geodetic
Survey is undergoing a modernization effort that takes
into account advances in GPS
and other technologies. The
modernized National Spatial
Reference System will take
even greater advantage of
newer technologies and better
track changes in position and
elevation over time to improve
and update digital maps. The
proposed changes will affect
any entity that has adopted
the National Spatial Reference System. “The reference
frame in the past was hampered by being held static in
time on an Earth that is constantly changing,” says Juliana
Blackwell, director of NOAA’s
National Geodetic Survey. “The
new methodologies better
capture changes, such as subsidence or sea level rise, and
the improved points of reference benefit everyone using
positioning data for the foundation of their work.” A modernized reference system will
allow users to easily calculate
accurate positions using a
survey-grade GPS receiver in
conjunction with a scientific
model of Earth’s gravity field.
Web link: www.ngs.noaa.gov
Sound Bullets
Caltech researchers have built
a nonlinear acoustic lens
that produces highly focused,
high-amplitude acoustic
signals—sound bullets—that
have “the potential to revolutionize applications from
medical imaging and therapy
to the nondestructive evaluation of materials and engineering systems.” A paper in
the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences describes
the development. The chains of
particles in the new acoustic
lens are like a longer version of
a Newton’s cradle. In the lens,
a pulse is excited at one end
by an impact with a striker,
Currents and nonlinear waves are generated within each chain.
These chains, according to one
of the authors, “are the simplest representation of highly
nonlinear acoustic waveguides,
which exploit the properties
of particle contacts to tune
the shapes of the traveling
acoustic signals and their
speed of propagation, creating compact acoustic pulses
known as solitary waves. The
solitary waves always maintain
the same spatial wavelength in
a given system and can have
very high amplitude without
undergoing any distortion
within the lens, unlike the
signals produced by currently
available technology.”
Ocean Temperatures
Science Daily published two
stories on temperature change
in the upper layer of the
ocean. One story reported on
a study that said the upper
layer of the world’s ocean has
warmed since 1993, indicating
a strong climate change, while
the second story discussed a
study that said the average
temperature of the water near
the top of the Earth’s oceans
has significantly cooled since
2003. Josh Willis, a co-author
of the second study at NASA’s
Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., said, “This
cooling is probably natural
climate variability. The oceans
today are still warmer than
they were during the 1980s,
and most scientists expect the
oceans will eventually continue
to warm in response to humaninduced climate change.”
Missing Heat
Existing observational tools
are not adequate to measure
a significant portion of heat
that is believed to have built
up on Earth in recent years,
and this “missing” heat may
affect future climate change.
According to scientists at the
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 0
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
in Boulder, Colo., satellite
sensors, ocean floats and other
instruments cannot track this
missing heat, which may be
building up in the deep oceans
or elsewhere in the climate
system. Lead author and NCAR
scientist Kevin Trenberth said,
“The heat will come back to
haunt us sooner or later.”
Gold Boosts Microlens
Researchers from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute have
developed a new nanotechnology-based “microlens”
that uses gold to boost the
strength of infrared imaging
and could lead to a new generation of ultra-powerful satellite cameras and night-vision
devices. By leveraging the
unique properties of nanoscale
gold to “squeeze” light into
tiny holes in the surface of the
device, the researchers have
doubled the detectivity of a
quantum dot-based infrared
detector. With some refinements, the researchers expect
this new technology should be
able to enhance detectivity
by up to 20 times. This study
is the first in more than a
decade to demonstrate success
in enhancing the signal of an
infrared detector without also
increasing the noise.
Hydrophobic Ferns
The hairs on the surface of
water ferns could allow ships
to have a 10 percent decrease
in fuel consumption. The plant
has the rare ability to put on a
gauzy skirt of air under water.
Researchers at the University
of Bonn, Rostock and Karlsruhe
show in the journal Advanced
Materials how the fern does
this. The surface of the fern’s
leaves have tiny whisk-like
hairs that keep water at a distance, but the outermost tips
of these whisks love water and
See Science & Tech on page 20
Predoctoral Research Fellowships in
OCEAN ENGINEERING AND
INSTRUMENTATION
The Link Foundation will award
several $25,000 predoctoral
research fellowships per year to
doctoral candidates enrolled in
academic institutions in either
the United States or Canada.
The application, in the form of
a research proposal, must be
received by January 17, 2011.
For additional information, please contact:
Dr. George A. Maul, Administrator
Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation Fellowship
Florida Institute of Technology
Department of Marine and Environmental Systems
150 West University Boulevard
Melbourne, Florida 32901 USA
(321) 674-7453
EN-311-410
http://coe.fit.edu/dmes/link • gmaul@fit.edu
19
Science & Technology News
basically staple the water to
the plant at regular intervals.
The air layer beneath the water
cannot easily escape. The new
insight could be used for the
construction of new kinds of
hulls with reduced friction.
Ocean Volume
Researcher have used satellite
measurements to determine
the volume of the ocean. They
report in the journal Oceanography that the world’s total
ocean volume is less than the
most recent estimates by a
volume equivalent to about
five times the Gulf of Mexico,
or 500 times the Great Lakes.
While that might seem a lot
at first glance, it is only about
0.3 percent lower than the
estimates of 30 years ago.
Largest “River”
The world’s largest “river” is
an ocean current found near
Antarctica carrying nearly
40 times the water in the
Amazon. The Australian and
Japanese researchers who discovered the 3-kilometer-deep
current say it plays a vital
role in the climate cycle as
it carries water across to the
Indian and Pacific oceans.
Korean Robots
Korea is striving to develop
versatile aquatic robots, which
can swim as well as crawl on
the seabed at a depth of 6 kilometers by 2016. The director
of the Ministry of Land, Transportation and Maritime Affairs
said that the robot “must be
able to swim at a speed of 18
meters per minute and walk 30
meters per minute.
ESA Satellite
The European Space Agency’s
Soil Moisture and Ocean
Salinity (SMOS) satellite formally began operational life
in June after its six-month
20
commissioning program. This
mission will provide global
images of soil moisture and
ocean salinity to improve
understanding of the water
cycle. SMOS employs a novel
interferometric radiometer
that operates in the L-band
microwave range to capture
“brightness temperature”
images. These images are
used to produce global maps
of soil moisture every 3 days
and maps of ocean salinity
averaged over 30 days.
Kite Generator
An underwater kite aimed at
generating electricity from
tidal currents has received
€2 million of private funding
to further its development.
Designed by Saab spin-out,
Minesto, the system claims
to be able to increase the
potential energy generated
from the global tidal market
by up to 80 percent. The kite,
known as Deep Green, consists
of a 12-meter wing, turbine,
generator and rudder. Tethered
100 meters above the seabed,
it flies in a figure eight using
the kinetic energy from the
waves combined with an automatic steering system. While
a full-scale model is yet to
be developed, each unit is
expected to be able to generate up to 500 kilowatts
of electricity, which will be
transmitted onshore from the
generators through a power
cable inside the tether. Web
link: Minesto.com
New Ways with Wind
The University of Maine’s AEWC
Advanced Structures and Composites Center is working on
new ways to capture wind
energy and has developed a
physical model of a floating
deepwater wind farm that will
test digital models from the
National Renewable Energy
Laboratory. The information
from these tests will accel-
erate the development of
floating offshore wind turbine
platforms near U.S. population
centers on the East and West
coasts. The AEWC is funded
through NSF’s Partnerships for
Innovation program.
Fish & Wind Turbines
A fluid dynamics expert in the
U.S. has demonstrated a way
to optimize energy from vertical wind turbines by taking
advantage of constructive
hydrodynamic interference.
In observing schools of fish,
John Dabiri, head of the California Institute of Technology
Biological Propulsion Laboratory, and his students noted
that some vortices left behind
by fish swimming in schools
rotated clockwise, while others
rotated counter-clockwise. He
also observed that the vortices
formed a staircase pattern.
The results suggest that vertical wind turbines might be
made to work more efficiently
by staggering their locations
(rather than lining them up as
is done now) and alternating
their rotation. Computer
models predicted that the
wind energy extracted from a
parcel of land using this staggered placement approach
would be several times that of
conventional wind farms using
horizontal-axis turbines.
Wood Turbine Blades
A Norwegian company has
begun installing a 1.5 megawatt prototype tidal-energy
plant featuring turbines constructed with wooden blades.
Hydra Tidal will moor the
floating power plant—known
as Morild—to the seabed
of Gimsøystraumen marine
channel in Nordland County.
The turbine blades, which are
made of laminated pine, are a
novelty for a modern turbineblade design as wood has not
been used for such an application for decades. Hydra Tidal
extols the use of wood for this
application because it is naturally porous and homogenous
material, so it has better
mechanical and hydrological
characteristics than current
conventional materials, such
as composites and steel. The
major challenge for Hydra Tidal
has been the assembly process,
but the company claims
to have found a solution.
The Morild power plant will
be assembled on land and
then towed to its operating
See Science & Tech on page 21
Section News
pleted its demonstration period in 2008, and Colby said it was
ready for commercial deployment. Since the demonstration period
had been completed, there were no turbines in the water. Webb
students visited the control center, where all of the electrical and
fish-monitoring equipment are located. Most students were surprised to learn that fish-monitoring was such a large focus, but
Colby assured the group that no fish were struck by the turbines
during the two-year deployment. The reason for the extensive
fish monitoring was to demonstrate that the turbine field would
not harm local marine life. Following the visit, the Webbies dispersed into Roosevelt Island and Manhattan in search of food.
Counselor: Matthew Werner, mwerner@webb-institute.edu n
Networking Opportunity!
Connect with other marine technology professionals on the
MTS LinkedIn page at www.linkedin.com.
Look for the Marine Technology Society group.
Education News
MTS Club Gets New Name
The MTS Club for students has
been rechristened thanks to MTS
member Jason Goldberg who
came up with the new name after
a search by the Education Professional Committee. By coming
up with “MTS Ocean Explorers,”
Goldberg won an ROV in a Bag,
which he donated to the Consortium for Ocean Leadership to
donate either to one of the schools
Jason Goldberg
in the National Ocean Science Bowl
or one of the Washington, D.C.-area NOSB competitions.
Goldberg is a member of the D.C. Section. n
MTS Honors Winning NOSB Coaches
D
efending champions Marshfield High School of Marshfield, Wis., once again won the
National Ocean Science Bowl,
beating the 25 high schools
that competed in the bowl
hosted by the University of
South Florida-St. Petersburg
and the university’s College
of Marine Science the last
weekend of April. The winning
high school included the five
members who won in 2009.
With the 2010 victory, the
Marshfield High team won
a week aboard the 125-foot
schooner Westward, which
will depart from Boston. Each
student will receive a $1,000
scholarship to Hood College’s
Coastal Studies program and
a set of FishFlips fish identification books.
In recognition of the
accomplishment of the eight
top-ranking teams, MTS has
given their coaches a year’s
membership in the society,
something it does every year
for winning NOSB coaches.
This year’s new members
and their schools are Paul
Herder, Marshfield High School
(1st Place) in Spencer, Wis.;
Barbara Boyd, MAST Academy
(2nd Place) in Rumson, N.J.;
Julie Luikart, Mission San
Jose High School (3rd Place)
Currents in Livermore, Calif.; David
James, La Jolla High School
(4th Place) in San Diego, Calif.;
Dave Strang, Punhaou High
School (5th Place) in Honolulu,
Hawaii; Beth Gienger, NeahKah-Nie High School (6th Place)
in Rockaway Beach, Ore.; Lisa
Wu, Thomas Jefferson High
School for Science and Technology (7th Place) in Arlington,
Va.; and Christina Chow,
Arcadia High School (8th place)
in Pasadena, Calif. n
Artists Onboard
This summer, an international team of six educators
and illustrators will work
side-by-side with scientists
during IODP’s Juan de Fuca
Ridge Hydrogeology expedition, which is taking place
from July 5–September 4. Deep
Earth Academy is coordinating
this opportunity onboard the
JOIDES Resolution, where the
team will work together to
create learning and teaching
tools designed to facilitate the
communication of scientific
drilling results to broad audiences. Along with four Americans, the group includes two
teachers from the Normandy
region of France. n
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 0
ROV Committee Awards 7 Scholarships
Z
achary Miller, Camille
Pagniello, Robert Lister and
Zachary Harris have been
selected as recipients of the
2010 ROV Committee Scholarships. In addition Eduardo
Moreno, Steven Roberts
and Kendall Samuel-Jakubos
received MTS ROV Committee
MATE Center Scholarships.
Miller, who will attend the
Florida Institute of Technology,
was awarded $10,000; Pagniello, who will attend Hawaii
Pacific University, received
$7,500. Lister, who will attend
Embry Riddle, and Harris, who
will attend Webb Institute,
each received $5,000.
As winners of the MTS
ROV Committee MATE (Marine
Advanced Technology Edu-
cation) Center Scholarships, Eduardo Moreno, who
will attend the University of
Arizona, was awarded $7,500,
Steven Roberts, who is undecided as to which university
he will attend, received $3,000
and Kendall Samuel-Jakubos,
who will attend the University
of Rhode Island, received
$2,000. All will be recognized
during the Awards Presentations at Underwater Intervention ’11 in New Orleans,
La., next February.
Drew Michel, chair of the
ROV Committee, initiated the
scholarship program in 1994.
Since then it has awarded
almost $200,000 to deserving
students who have an interest
in remotely operated vehicles. n
Science & Tech
the Arctic Pacific Environment”
mission, or ICESCAPE, is investigating the impacts of climate
change on the ecology and biogeochemistry of the Chukchi
and Beaufort seas. A key focus
is how changes in the Arctic
may be altering the ocean’s
ability to absorb carbon from
the atmosphere.
location for installation. Later,
when maintenance is needed,
it can be detached and floated
to the surface for repair.
29 New MPAs
After two nomination processes, 29 sites have been
added to the List of National
System Marine Protected Areas
(MPAs). The term “MPA” refers
only to the marine portion of a
site (below the mean high tide
mark), which may include both
terrestrial and marine components. Visit the MPA website
for a list of new sites and the
rationale behind MPAs. Web
link: mpa.gov
Arctic Campaign
NASA’s first dedicated oceanographic field campaign set sale
in June on the U.S. Coast Guard
Cutter Healy, the United States’
newest and most technologically advanced polar icebreaker.
The “Impacts of Climate on
Ecosystems and Chemistry of
Shark Nostrils
Combined with the ability to
detect underwater vibrations,
sharks are able to zero in on
the location of their prey by
smelling in stereo, according to
a new study by researchers at
the University of South Florida
(USF) and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. When they
catch a whiff of a potential
meal, sharks determine which
nostril caught the scent
first and then move in that
direction. Sharks turn toward
the side stimulated first, even
when the other nostril detects
a higher odor concentration,
notes lead author Jayne Gardiner, of USF’s Department of
Integrative Biology. n
21
Resources News
Oil Spill Map
A new federal website gathers
real-time information about
the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
into one customizable, interactive map. The site integrates the latest data on the
oil spill’s trajectory, fishery
closed areas, wildlife data
and place-based Gulf Coast
resources and also includes
data from Homeland Security,
the Coast Guard, the Fish and
Wildlife Service, EPA, NASA,
U.S. Geological Survey and the
Gulf states. Web link: www
.geoplatform.gov/gulfresponse
More Spill News
Duke University’s Nicholas
School of the Environment
has launched a new website
to provide reporters, policymakers and concerned citizens with the latest news and
images of the spill, along with
links to a list of researchers
from Duke and North Carolina
Sea Grant who can provide
timely commentary on spillrelated science, economics
and policy. Web link: www.
nicholas.duke.edu/oilspill
Oil Spill Task Force
The Oil Spill Academic Task
Force is a consortium of scientists and scholars from institutions in the Florida state
university system and four of
Florida’s private universities
working in collaboration with
the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection to
assist the state of Florida and
the Gulf region in preparing
for and responding to the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Web link: oilspill.fsu.edu
Scripps Library Online
As part of a partnership among
Google, the University of California and the University of
California-San Diego Libraries,
the 100,000 volumes in the
Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library, the world’s
largest oceanography library,
have been digitized and are
being made accessible to the
public. Web link: libraries.
ucsd.edu/locations/sio
Canadian Careers
The Canadian Coast Guard,
an MTS member, has launched
a Careers webpage. The site
introduces distinct job types:
seagoing, shore-based and
students. It focuses on ships’
crew, ships’ officers, marine
engineers, electronics technicians and MCTS officers. Web
link: www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/eng/
ccg/careers
Climate Reports
The National Academy of Sciences released three reports
from the America’s Climate
Choices studies: “Advancing
the Science of Climate Change,”
“Limiting the Magnitude of
Future Climate Change” and
“Adapting to the Impacts of
Climate Change.” Web link:
americasclimatechoices.org
PORTS® Info
Mariners can now get free realtime information on water
level, wind, and weather conditions for the Sabine-Neches
Waterway of Beaumont and
Port Arthur, Texas, from a new
NOAA ocean observing system,
the Physical Oceanographic
Real-Time System (PORTS®)
at Sabine-Neches. Web link:
tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/
ports.html
R&D Funding Levels
An NSF report, “Federal Funds
for Research and Development: Fiscal Years 200709,” is the result of a survey
that was sent in April 2008
to all federal agencies identified as conducting R&D programs. Twenty seven agencies
reported R&D funding levels
as of the second quarter of
FY 2007. Web link: www.nsf.
gov/statistics/nsf10305/?WT.
mc_id=USNSF_178
Climate Networks
The Washington, D.C.-based
nonprofit Climate Lab has
founded a new collaborative
network to syndicate its
climate change content. The
launch of Climate Lab Networks marks the first time
a public site has attempted
to syndicate open-sourced
climate change content across
multiple websites. Web link:
climatelab.org/Climate_Lab/
Climate_Lab_Networks n
Legislative News
Acid Resolution Fails
In June a resolution on ocean acidification (H.Res.989) failed
to get the two-thirds majority necessary under suspension of
the rules to pass the U.S. House. The debate surrounded climate
change and cap-and-trade legislation, rather than the resolution
which expressed the sense of the House that the U.S. should
adopt national policies to prevent ocean acidification, and study
the impacts and address the effects on marine ecosystems and
coastal economies.
More Requirements
The acting director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,
Regulation and Enforcement (formerly Minerals Management
Service), Bob Abbey, announced in June that before drilling new
oil and gas wells on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), operators
will be required to submit additional information about potential
risks and safety considerations in their plans for exploration or
development. Exploration plans and development plans that have
already been approved by the bureau, including those that were
approved using “categorical exclusions” under the National Environmental Policy Act, will need to be resubmitted before any
22
drilling of new wells. The Department of the Interior issued a
directive to oil and gas lessees and operators on the OCS implementing stronger safety requirements that Secretary of the
Interior Ken Salazar recommended in his 30-day safety report
to President Obama. The Notice to Lessees focusing on safety
measures issued applies to both deepwater and shallow-water
operations. n
Do you know a teacher?
MTS still has copies of the Guide
to Marine Science and Technology
Programs in Higher Education.
For the cost of shipping ($5),
you can provide a teacher or
school counselor with this
comprehensive book.
Call (410) 884-5330 to order
your copy, or order online at
www.mtsociety.org/shop.
Ocean Community Calendar
AUGUST 18–19
Aquaculture Engineering Society Issues
Forum
Roanoke, Va.
www.recircaqua.com/aesforum.html
SEPTEMBER 29–30
EnergyOcean Pacific Conference &
Exhibition
Portland, Ore.
www.energyoceanpacific.com
AUGUST 20–22
Eighth International Conference on
Recirculating Aquaculture
Roanoke, Va.
www.recircaqua.com/icra.html
OCTOBER 4–9
Underwater Mining Institute: Toward
the Sustainable Development of Marine
Minerals: Geological, Technological
and Economic Aspects
Gelendzhik, Russia
www.underwatermining.org
AUGUST 24–27
Office of Naval Research Naval S&T
Partnership Conference
Arlington, Va.
www.navalengineers.org/onr
AUGUST 24–27
AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems North
America 2010
Denver, Colo.
symposium.auvsi.org/auvsi10/public/
enter.aspx
OCTOBER 5–8
Aquaculture Europe 2010
Porto, Portugal
www.easonline.org
OCTOBER 12–13
Dynamic Positioning Conference
Houston, Texas
www.dynamic-positioning.com/next_
conference.html
SEPTEMBER 1–3
Submarine Networks World 2010
Singapore
www.terrapinn.com/2010/submarine
OCTOBER 14–16
Techno-Ocean 2010
Kobe, Japan
www.techno-ocean2010.com
SEPTEMBER 1–3
IEEE-OES Autonomous Underwater
Vehicle Conference 2010
Monterey, Calif.
www.auv2010.org
OCTOBER 17–20
Ocean Innovations: Underwater
Vehicles
St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador
www.oceaninnovation.ca/Themes/2010/
Content
SEPTEMBER 7–8
Undersea Defence Technology Asia
2010
Singapore
www.udt-asia.com
SEPTEMBER 12–16
21st World Energy Congress
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
www.wecmontreal2010.ca
SEPTEMBER 20–23
OCEANS’10 MTS/IEEE Seattle
Conference
Seattle, Wash.
www.oceans10mtsieeeseattle.org
SEPTEMBER 20–23
IceTech
Anchorage, Alaska
www.icetech10.org
SEPTEMBER 26–28
Experiments with Portable Ocean
Bottom Seismographs Workshop
Snowbird Resort, Utah
www.iris.edu/hq/obs_workshop
Currents OCTOBER 25–27
Sixth Conference of the Advisory Board
on the Law of the Sea: Contentious
Issues in UNCLOS - Surely Not?
Monaco
www.gmat.unsw.edu.au/ablos/
#ABLOS10
NOVEMBER 1–2
Third International Conference on
Underwater System Technology: Theory
and Applications 2010
Putrajaya, Malaysia
urrg.eng.usm.my/usys10
NOVEMBER 2
2nd Annual New England Marine
Renewable Energy Center Technical
Conference
Cambridge, Massachusetts
www.mrec.umassd.edu/
2010technicalconference.php
NOVEMBER 2–4
Offshore Communications 2010
Houston, Texas
www.offshorecoms.com
J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 1 0
NOVEMBER 2–5
Hydro 2010
Warnemunde, Germany
www.hydro2010.com
NOVEMBER 3–5
WaterSide Security 2010
Marina di Carrara, Italy
www.wss2010.org
NOVEMBER 3–4
6th Conference on Clean Energy
Boston, Mass.
www.mrec.umassd.edu/
2010technicalconference.php
NOVEMBER 9–11
Subsea Survey IRM
Galveston, Texas
www.subseasurvey.com
NOVEMBER 3–5
SNAME Annual Meeting and Expo
Seattle/Bellevue, Wash.
www.sname.org/SNAME/AM/Home
NOVEMBER 3–5
Sustainable Ocean Energy and the
Marine Environment
Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
www.ces.fau.edu/conferences/coet
New Sections
Pascali became familiar with
MTS and met Chuck Richards
while teaching at Texas A&M
University-Galveston. When
he moved to UH, he met students through his courses who
were interested in robotics and
he reconnected with Richards,
who told him that the MTS
Houston Section was interested in starting a section at
the university. “As MTS has the
local knowledge and is very
supportive of the educational
system, the students decided
to start a chapter,” he wrote in
an e-mail. He noted that he,
too, was interested in starting
a section and described various
outreach efforts by the university to all education levels
in Houston and indicated
that they believed MTS is “the
ideal organization” to partner
with for some of these efforts.
“With diminishing support from
the state for higher education
and imminent “Crew Change”
(retirement of older work
force), the creation of this
student section is an example
of the collaboration between
industry and universities. We
are looking forward to having
FEBRUARY 7–9, 2011
Arctic Technology Conference
Houston, Texas
www.arctictechnologyconference.org
FEBRUARY 22–24, 2011
Underwater Intervention 2011
New Orleans, La.
www.underwaterinterventioin.com
MTS members mentor students
so they can be immediately
productive when they join the
industry.”
James (Jim) Conrad,
Ph.D., P.E., P.M.P., associate department chair and
associate professor in the
Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering at UNCCharlotte, joined 20 students
in signing a petition to create
a student section in that
school. According to Conrad,
Jesse Bikman and Zach
Miller were the main drivers
of the new MTS student
section. Bikman saw an MTS
sticker in his goody bag at a
MATE ROV international competition and looked up MTS
online. He and Miller talked
to other students at the Charlotte Area Robotics (CAR) Club
(of which he is president)
and the momentum soon had
them signing the petition.
According to Conrad, the CAR
club will help the fledgling
MTS Student Section with its
activities. Already the section
has been active: Conrad
arranged a visit from MTS
member iRobot. According to
Bikman, the MATE ROV competition is the focus of most
section members’ interest. n
23
Marine Technology Society, Inc.
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
BALTIMORE, MD
Permit No. 7499
5565 Sterrett Place, Suite 108
Columbia, MD 21044
Change Services Requested
The international, interdisciplinary society devoted to ocean and marine engineering, science, and policy.
Journal
The Internation
al, Inderdiscip
linary Society Devo
ted to Ocean and
Marine Engineerin
g, Science, and
Policy
Volume 44 Numb
er 3 May/June
2010
Sustainable U.
S. Marine
Aquaculture Ex
pansion
in the 21st Cent
ury
Sustainable U.S. Marine Aquaculture
Expansion in the 21st Century
May/June 2010, Volume 44, Number 3
Experts in the field address key topics concerning marine aquaculture development,
with emphasis on potential for EEZ use for sustainable farming. Papers in this issue
reflect the recent national dialogue over large-scale farming of the ocean environment, including current status of aquaculture science and practice, where the
industry needs to go in the next 20 years, and major issues and obstacles that need
to be resolved to promote sustainable and successful aquaculture in the future.
Future issues:
Online
Now!
July/August: Best of MTS Conferences
September/October: General Issue
November/December: United States Integrated Ocean Observing System: Our Eyes on our Ocean’s Coasts and Great Lakes
Guest Editors: Zdenka Willis, Integrated Ocean Observing System Program, NOAA; Justin Manley, Liquid Robotics, Inc.
Deadline for manuscripts is August 2. For comments, suggestions or requests, please send e-mail to Zdenka Willis at
zdenka.s.willis@noaa.gov.

July-August 2010 - Marine Technology Society

Transcription

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