PRESIDENT'S LETTER - SEPTEMBER CURRENTS

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PRESIDENT'S LETTER

The common phrase in OCEANS 2021 San Diego – Porto – “It’s great to see folks in 3D” and it was!  It was such a pleasure to connect, communicate and collaborate - in person and online. It was great to connect with so many of our members who visited our booth, attended the sessions, and grabbed a bite to eat at one of the networking receptions.  

We are grateful to the San Diego and Porto local organizing committees and all their volunteers, MCI-USA and Veraprise that made the virtual and in-person components to the meeting fluid and seamless. MTS volunteers worked hard to find solutions to both protect the health and safety of our members while still serving the marine technology community with programs designed to expand your horizons.  We thank the exhibitors and sponsors for their support. Thank you to the Office of Naval Research for their grant that allows us to fund the Student Poster Competition competitors.

At OCEANS  2021 San Diego-Porto, MTS, IEEE-OES and the Schmidt Institute of Oceanography announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for collaboration.  MTS and OES thanks Schmidt for their generous sponsorship of the Student Poster Conference prize money.

Congrats to this year’s MTS award winners and we welcome Debbie Kill as the new VP for Budget and Finance.  Dick Crout will return for a second term as VP for Sections. Thank you and Bravo Zulu to Mike Pinto our outgoing VP of Budget and Finance. Read more below.

Now we turn our attention to OCEANS 2022 Chennai, February 21-24 INSPIRE – INNOVATE – SUSTAIN.  OCEANS 2022 Chennai will be both an in person and virtual event. Mark your calendars.

Today I had the pleasure of moderating the MTS Technology Forum, led by the MTS DC Section in partnership with Oceaneering. The panel titled Intelligence and Observations: The Nexus of Undersea Technology included VADM Jeff Trussler, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare, Director of Naval Intelligence; Mr. Craig McLean NOAA’s Acting Chief Scientist, and Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and Dr. Leigh McCue Association Professor and Interim Chair of the George Mason University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.  What amazing panel, that once again made the point on the importance of ocean measurement to every aspect of our lives. Working together we need to lower the cost of the measurements, increase the abundance of reliable observations and create that market opportunity to confront the impacts of climate change and propel a thriving Blue Economy. If you missed this exciting webinar, the recording will be posted on the MTS website.  

Two upcoming events to highlight:

·      Blue Economy Webinar 6 October if focused on work force needs in the Blue Economy 

·      Women Leadership in Technology and Science – first webinar – 13 October, “We don’t need Allies, We Need Champions"

 Finally, I will be at OCEAN Business so reach out if you will be there to connect.  

 We also would like to give a warm welcome to our newest MTS Corporate and Life Members:

Sea-Bird Scientific (Gold member)
AquaGoat Finance (Small Business)
Frederik Simons (Life Member)
                     

- Zdenka Willis, MTS President

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