HANS W. Van Sumeren

Senior Director, Ocean Enterprise Initiative
[email protected] 
(202) 864-3077

From 2008, until joining the MTS team in 2024, Hans Van Sumeren served as the Director and Chair of the Great Lakes Water Studies Institute at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) in Traverse City, Michigan. Prior to NMC, he spent 21 years at the University of Michigan where he obtained a bachelors and master’s degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering followed by appointments as a Research Associate with the Ocean Engineering Laboratory and the Associate Director of the Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory at the University of Michigan where he was active in both laboratory and field research programs. While at NMC he developed several new initiatives focused on the blue economy including degrees in Freshwater Studies, Water Quality & Environmental Technology, Marine Technology, and the ADCI Entry Level ROV Pilot Training credential. Hans has been active in endeavors supporting future focused education initiatives with both NMC and MTS including the development and delivery of microcredentials focused on ROV and sonar operations that have been delivered to both academic and professional markets along with international delivery to the Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute in Kaifeng, Henan Province, PRC. Throughout his career, he has led numerous research projects throughout the Great Lakes and US coastal oceans focusing on mapping and exploration of infrastructure, ecosystems and marine archaeology. Hans is the Marine Technology Society - Great Lakes section chair and is also a past trustee at large with the Hydrographic Society of America. He is a Chartered Marine Technologist with the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science, & Technology (IMarEST).

 < Back to MTS HQ Staff