RADM Tim Gallaudet to Open OCEANS ’15
Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, USN, will be joining Honorary Co-chair Dr. Rick Spinrad as OCEANS ’15 MTS/IEEE Washington, DC, featured Plenary speaker. The conference will be held from 19-22 October 2015 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center. Rear Adm. Gallaudet heads the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command and oversees the collection, processing and exploitation of accurate, relevant and timely oceanographic, meteorological, hydrographic, precise time and astrometric information. In September he will also assume the duties of Oceanographer of the Navy.
The Plenary Session is part of the opening ceremony on Tuesday morning, 20 October, and is open to all registrants. Those not registered for the conference may attend the Plenary and visit the Exhibition Hall at no charge by registering for “Exhibits Only” to get an entrance badge.
Dr. Spinrad is the Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, driving policy and programme direction for science and technology priorities in NOAA. In addition to his extensive government service, he has held faculty appointments at three universities, directed a major national non-profit organization, presided over a private company, and worked as a research scientist.
General Co-chairs Rusty Mirick and Jim Barbera have led a team of volunteers to bring an outstanding programme on behalf of the co-sponsors, the Marine Technology Society (MTS) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Oceanic Engineering Society (IEEE/OES).
The Technical Program Committee accepted 500+ peer-reviewed abstracts focused on the 10 Core Topic areas of interest to MTS and IEEE/OES members, as well as Local Interest Topics, to form the foundation of a solid technical programme. The presentations will be organised in 10-12 concurrent sessions from Tuesday through Thursday. The Proceedings DVD will be provided to full registrants at the conference and available for sale to others.
In addition to the technical sessions, a number of Tutorials and Workshops will be held on Monday, 19 October 2015 as add-ons to the full conference registration or they can be attended separately. The half-day or full-day tutorials are conducted under the auspices of the International Association of Continuing Education and Training. The Workshops provide a format for like-minded individuals to spend an extended period of time discussing a topic of mutual interest.
The Exhibition Hall will showcase 150-200 booths of commercial, academic, government and non-profit organizations featuring state-of-the-art developments in technologies and programmes related to exploring, monitoring, protecting, and wisely using the world’s ocean resources. The finalists in the Student Poster Contest will display their posters and explain their projects in the Exhibition Hall.
Two pre-conference affiliated events are scheduled for people with special interests. The MTS Education Committee is conducting a K-12 Educators Workshop on Saturday, October 17. A Welcome Aboard Golf Tournament will be held at Andrews Air Force Base on Sunday, October 18. Sponsored by the MTS DC Section, proceeds will support STEM education programmes, such as Sea Scouts.
Details on the programme, affiliated events, social functions and a list of Exhibitors can be found on the conference website.
