MTS Announces Annual Award Winners

The Marine Technology Society is pleased to announce the honors and recognitions it awarded at its Annual Meeting held at OCEANS’13 MTS/IEEE San Diego, CA in September 2013.

The highest accolade a member can receive within the Society is to be designated an MTS Fellow. Two members, Lisa Medeiros and Sumanohar (Suman) Muddusetti, were recognized at the MTS Annual Meeting, joining the 118 honored with this recognition since its inception. Lisa is currently Director of Operations at Geospace Offshore in Houston, TX, serves as a Program Chair for the Offshore Technology Conference and has demonstrated ongoing commitment to the industry and the MTS Houston Section, including serving on the Board. Suman has over 35 years experience in the marine industry. He has served in the Merchant Marine, as Master on dynamic positioning (DP) rigs, and has held numerous positions of successive responsibility, including Principal Consultant DP projects and Director of Business Development. Suman currently works for Shell Oil.

Among the top awards presented were those sponsored by Compass Publications, Lockheed Martin and Ocean News and Technology. The Compass (Publications) Distinguished Achievement Award was presented to Captain Dennis (Mike) Egan (ret), honoring his over four-decade service to both the public and private sectors. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard as a commissioned officer in a wide variety of operations and engineering roles around the world. He is founder of Egan Engineering Support Services, LLC (EESS) and serves as General Manager. EESS provides support in business development, program management, transportation and logistics planning, and supply chain security management. Egan has carried out joint and independent research and has published engineering research articles and reports in topics as varied as the rheology of materials used for synthetic mooring systems, non-destructive testing of graphite epoxy composite materials, ablative coatings for increased propulsion efficiency of river craft and ice breakers, and ballast water treatment systems, anti-ballistic armor for marine law enforcement craft, and the design of improved energy efficient coastal and river marine structures. Rolex Watch, who has been a part of this award for 39 years, presented Egan with a watch in addition to his award.

The Compass (Publications) International Award honored the Ocean Technology Branch—Innovation, Business & Rural Development (IBRD), Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. For over 500 years, the primary natural resource of the region has been the ocean. IBRD developed and launched a strategic plan to accelerate activity among the business and educational communities to further develop applied research and commercialization activities enabling improved offshore safety, advanced simulation and modeling, smarter fishing, and enhanced aquaculture practices. IBRD funded companies, education and research institutions’ programs to understand the global market for ocean technology products and services and then to undertake the research and development to respond. This has proved to be a fundamental driver for the growth of ocean technology in the Province.

The Compass (Publications) Industrial Award recognized Shell Oil Company for their advance research and work on developing a unique application of subsea fiber optic lines for acoustic and temperature sensing. This project is an important step towards developing a viable, continuous and highly sensitive hydrocarbon leak detection capability.

The Lockheed Martin Award for Ocean Science and Engineering was presented to Liesl Hotaling, in recognition of her work demonstrating that, through designing and operating sensor systems, children can learn complex and interrelated concepts. Her pioneering approach, called SENSE IT (Student Enabled Network of Sensors for the Environment using Innovative Technology) provides students the opportunity to discover sensor technology and careers through a hands-on, collaborative process of designing, constructing, programming, testing and deploying a student-implemented water-monitoring network.

The Ocean News and Technology Award recognizes a member of our ‘Next Generation’ who has already demonstrated excellence in their profession and made significant contributions to MTS. The award recognized Ryan Morton, who was also awarded $1000. Ryan serves as Chair of MTS’ Ocean Pollution Technical Committee, contributed significantly to the development of the Society’s Subsea Leak Detection Symposium, served as guest editor of a special edition of the MTS Journal on Ocean Pollution, represented MTS on a panel review at the Washington Academy of Science Conference, and has consistently contributed to OCEANS Conference sessions and/or abstract reviews since 2009. He is also recognized for his outstanding contributions to MTS’ Student Leadership conferences.

Also honored at the Annual Meeting was Mark Bushnell, recognized with the MTS Outstanding Service Award. Mark was a key organizer in establishing both the Hampton Roads, VA MTS Section and developing the Local Organizing Committee that planned the OCEANS’12 MTS/IEEE Hampton Roads Conference. He served

as Technical Chair for the Conference, which attracted over 400 papers from 35 countries.

The MTS Hampton Roads Section was recognized as Outstanding MTS Section for their exceptional OCEANS’12 Conference, organized and coordinated in addition to the Section’s regular activities. A Conference highlight was the support and engagement of Old Dominion University, and the inclusion of a “University Row” on the Exhibition floor. Students were able to participate in all aspects of the Conference, and for the first time participated as assistant chairs for the technical sessions.

The Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland Student Section was recognized with the Outstanding Student Section award. The Section’s enthusiasm was evident from the start, as they presented MTS with an unprecedented 139 names on their organizational petition to the MTS Board.

Since then, the Section has hosted bi-weekly lectures and connected with potential employers within the local and global communities. In addition, the Section has agreed to handle all the social media for the OCEANS’14 MTS/IEEE St. John’s Conference.