Happy New Year!  I have so many exciting things to share with our membership.  MTS has welcomed our first Chartered Marine Technologists; the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development has kicked off; and we are in the process of electing our first MTS Vice President of Early Career Ocean Professionals. 

Chartered Marine Technologists (CMarTech)

Chartered Marine Technologists are professionals, who harness, exploit, manage, use or apply marine technology in the pursuit of wealth creation and/or the provision of services in the marine sector. They are characterized by their ability to deal with complex issues, both systematically and creatively and can make sound judgments in the absence of complete data to develop solutions to problems and communicate their conclusions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences.  In 2020, the Marine Technology Society and the Society for Underwater Technology (SUT), entered into a pilot program to offer the CMarTech credential.  We congratulate our inaugural members:

• Tom Bennetts: Sonardyne, Manager of the Applications Group
• Matt Lombardi: Lombardi Undersea LLC, a diving technology research and consulting firm
• John Houlder: Sonardyne, Product Manager for Marine Robotics
• David Person: Terradepth, Lead Systems Engineer
• Joseph Pratt: Technical Lead for Canada’s Ocean Tracking Network
• André Rose: International Marine Contractors Association, Technical Advisor

I would also like to extend my appreciate for those that work very hard to conduct this pilot project, including Registrars, Richard Spinrad and Ralph Rayner; and our Assessors, Justin Manley, Vitad Pradith, Hans van Sumeren, Paul Jubinski, Stephen Hall, Colin Grant, and David Saul; our certification partner, the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science, and Technology (IMarEST), which has a Royal Charter from the United Kingdom, to award suitably qualified and experienced applicants the title of Chartered Marine Technologists; and to Katie Herndon, MTS ED for putting together the administration of the program.  MTS and SUT empaneled individuals to conduct a review of the pilot and provide their recommendation to the MTS Board and SUT Council as to whether to launch CMarTech as a full program.  The MTS Board and SUT will consider the panel’s recommendation in at their respective Board meetings in late January and early February. 

United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development

The kick-off event of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development will take place in Berlin, Germany, from the 31st of May to the 2nd of June 2021. It will be hosted by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany.  MTS a registered partner of the IOC Decade Community and a NEXUS organization for the United States in support of the United States National Committee for the Decade.   To achieve the Ocean Decade vision, there will be calls for programs, projects and activities.  While the first call for programs is about to close, there will be many more calls.  Within the United States, the National Committee has made its call for “Ocean Shots” and will hold a launch meeting on February 3-4.   There are many ways for MTS members and our Society to engage.  We encourage all our United States members to submit an Ocean Shot, or all members to respond to calls from the IOC.  For members outside of the United States, as member nations set up national committees please coordinate with Donna Kocak, our overall Decade representative, and Katie Herndon to get MTS involved.  At headquarters we are in dialog with the IOC to host Decade related webinars.  MTS will also be represented on the Decade ECOP working group by supporting a representative to that effort. 

Events to be on the lookout for:

• VP ECOP election opened January 20, 2021 and will close February 19, 2021.
• Nominations for annual awards are due by 31 May 2021. Are you interested in serving on the Awards committee this year? We are looking for a diverse panel, please let Katie or me know if you are interested in serving on this committee.
• Board Positions:  VP for Budget and Finance and VP for Sections.  I am happy to chat with anyone who is interested in being nominated for either one of these two positions.
• Conferences:
  • OCEANS 2021:  Due to COVID-19, OCEANS 2021 Porto, Portugal has been canceled.  We are still on track to hold OCEANS 2021 San Diego as an in-person event in September.  We are evaluating how to host a virtual component for that conference.  Be on the look out for the call for papers!
  • OTC: OTC Houston has been moved to 16-19 August and will be a combination of in-person and hybrid.  Check here for updates.

I am always happy to engage with our members. You can reach me by email at [email protected].

Best Regards,
Zdenka

Zdenka Willis
President, MTS