Compass Distinguished Achievement Award

OCEAN NEWS & TECHNOLOGY EARLY CAREER OCEAN PROFESSIONAL AWARD

Presented to an individual within 10 years of their last degree or designation, who has shown leadership in MTS, and who works in a professional capacity in management, engineering, or research and development in a marine technology field. 

2025 RECIPIENT - Dr. Katherine Skinner

Dr. Katherine A. Skinner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Robotics at the University of Michigan. Her research spans robotics, computer vision, and machine learning with a focus on enabling autonomy for marine robotics. She holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. Prior to this appointment, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology. She received an M.S. and Ph.D. from the Robotics Institute at the University of Michigan, and a B.S.E. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering with a Certificate in Applications of Computing from Princeton University. She is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, ONR Young Investigator Award, and IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters Best Paper Award. 



PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS OF THE OCEAN NEWS & TECHNOLOGY EARLY CAREER OCEAN PROFESSIONAL AWARD

  • 2024: Megan Cook
  • 2023: Cordielyn Goodrich
  • 2022: Cassidy Gonzalez-Morabito
  • 2021: Mathew Biddle
  • 2020: Hannah Toerner
  • 2019: Joshua Baghdady
  • 2018: Travis Miles
  • 2017: Dr. Ruth Louise Perry, Ph.D
  • 2016: Jeremy Stuhr
  • 2015: Arnold Hechanova
  • 2014: Michael Lombardi
  • 2013: Ryan Morton
  • 2012: Jeremy Childress
  • 2011: Jacob Sobin
  • 2011: Evan Zimmerman
  • 2010: Stephen Faleye
  • 2010: Marcel Montrose