As we return from summer break, and parents send their children back to school, we have to wonder – what hasn’t changed? Everything looks a little different this year, whether it’s remote work, masking in schools, social distancing in public places, or reaching for hand sanitizer every time we come home. Our world is a far different place in 2021 than it was in 2019 and getting back to “normal” may take more time than any of us had anticipated.

February 21, 2021

At the close of this, our first virtual GLOBAL OCEANS conference, I am overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude and relief. As many of our members may know, planning the OCEANS conference is a multi-year process, involving partners and contractors from around the globe. With only a sense of professional pride for payment, volunteers commit thousands of hours to assembling the conference. Little did our volunteers know that this year, the global pandemic would derail their efforts to produce an in-person conference. But with courage and determination, our conference Co-Chairs, Tom Wissing, Venu Pallayil, Craig Peterson, and Chia Chin Swee, along with their combined Local Organizing Committee (LOC), Honorary Government Co-Chairs Quah Ley Hoon (CEO, Marine Port Authority, Singapore), the Command for Naval Meteorology and Oceanography (CNMOC), and Chan Eng Soon (CEO, TCOMS, Singapore), and Honorary Corporate Co-Chair Leidos leapt to replace our in-person conference with a high-tech and successful virtual conference.