NOPP Holds Roundtable Discussions at Oceans ’09 Conference

NOPP attended the Oceans ’09 conference in Biloxi, Mississippi from 26-29 October.

The conference was hosted by the Marine Technology Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The theme of the conference was, Marine Technology for our Future: Global and Local Challenges. Global issues such as operational oceanography, coastal restoration, ocean observing systems and hurricanes were some of the discussed topics. NOPP held three roundtable discussions on increasing industry involvement in NOPP, emerging technologies and marine spatial planning (MSP). The goal of the roundtable discussion on emerging technologies was to facilitate an information exchange between industry and technical manufacturers. Approximately two dozen companies participated and the idea of beginning a registry of small businesses and emerging technologies was discussed. The roundtable discussion on MSP, co-hosted with the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), was especially well attended and Texas A&M University has requested that a similar forum be repeated at one of their future workshops in 2010. For a summary of the three NOPP roundtable discussions, please click here: Summary of NOPP Roundtable Discussions.

The plenary speakers of the Oceans ’09 conference included Dr. Jerry Miller, Senior Scientist for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Mr. Ed Gough, Technical Director of the Commander at the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, and Dr. John Delaney, Profesor of Oceanography at the University of Washington. Mississippi was a great location to have the conference due to the location on the Gulf of Mexico and the importance of marine technology, ocean sciences and oceanic engineering.