June President's Message

Message from MTS President

As I write this note, the world has converged in Lisbon, Portugal for the UN Ocean Conference. Co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya and Portugal, it is an important event that highlights the importance of the world coming together for global ocean action. MTS has published its second UN Decade focused UN Decade of Ocean Sciences for Sustainable Development which is open access – check it out on the MTS website.

Let me start by echoing Chris’, MTS Executive Director, congratulations for Past President Drew Michel’s OTC Distinguished Achievement Award. A well-deserved honor! Thank you to our MTS Houston section for all their efforts at OTC. It was great to see many folks in person and we look forward to next year as OTC rebounds to pre-pandemic levels.

Earlier this month Chris, Jim Hanlon (VP Industry, Technology and Research and Halifax local) and Justin Manley (President Elect) represented MTS at the H2O Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Including 600+ delegates from more than two dozen nations, the conference highlights the growing and vibrant Canadian marine technology ecosystem and explores cross-cutting technology topics of key interest to the community, including offshore energy, environmental monitoring, and marine transportation. The Ocean Technology Council of Nova Scotia (OTCNS) hosts the annual event; MTS and IEEE/OES are working closely with OTCNS leadership to explore a partnership in the fall of 2024 when OCEANS returns to Halifax.

The marine technology ecosystem in Halifax continues to deliver impact across Atlantic Canada and beyond; anchored by the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE), Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, Dalhousie University, and dozens of companies and non-governmental organizations. MTS members in the region have taken the initial steps to re-activate the Halifax section and we are excited to see the groundswell of interest, from students, early career ocean professionals, and established members of the field in supporting the marine technology ecosystem in Nova Scotia.

Since my last column I would like to welcome the 100+ new students, individuals, and ECOPs from Oceans in Action and OCEANS in Chennai. Also welcome aboard to our new business members:

  • Liquid Robotics (Silver)
  • MITRE (Institutional)
  • Ocean Aero (Small Business)
  • UAM Tec (Small Business)

We will announce our 2022 award winners soon! I sincerely appreciate all of you who took the time to nominate individuals, organizations and companies. We had a robust and strong slate which made it hard for our awards boards – a great challenge to have. We administer three awards boards: MTS Awards board; CAPT Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration– joint board with SUT; and the Walter Munk Scholar Award – joint board with the Water Munk Foundation. We can not run these boards without volunteers and my thanks to all of you who responded positively when we asked you to volunteer. We look for a diverse awards board each year so please let us know if you are interested in serving in 2023. Now looking forward we have a strong slate of events. First up is the next in the Women Leadership in Technology and Science webinar series which will cover Woman’s Issues in the Field – July 13 – Please register here. In September MTS will host two events and participate in a third event. The 14th buoy workshop will take place Sept 19-22, in Wilmington North Carolina, register here. The next Lakebed 2030 conference will be held September 28-30 in Traverse City, Michigan as well as being virtual. Abstracts due: July 1; Sponsorship due: July 1. I have been asked to participate at the U.S. Commercial Service’s business forum, Discover Global Markets: The Blue Economy” September 20 – 22, 2022, in Providence, RI.

In October we will return to Hampton Roads, VA for OCEANS2022. The LOC is working hard to put together a great conference so please pass the word and we hope to see many of the community in October. Join us from 17-20 October.

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