Election of Members to the OES Administrative Committee - The IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society

Nominees for the Term 1 January 2021 – 31 December 2023

René Garello, OES Junior Past President

The OES Administrative Committee election closes on 1 July. When you review the below candidates, I think you will agree that OES is truly becoming a major international society of IEEE, that includes participating members from students, Young Professionals to our Senior members. Be sure to cast your vote.

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The photos, bios and statements of our excellent slate of candidates follows. You can see their information on the voting site.

GERARDO ACOSTA (M’97-SM’01) Gerardo Gabriel Acosta was born (1964) in General Roca, Río Negro, Patagonia Argentina. He graduated as Engineer in Electronics from the National University of La Plata, Argentina (1988), and has a Ph.D. in Computer Science, from the University of Valladolid, Spain (1995). He is a Full Professor in Control Systems (Electronic Area) in the Engineering Faculty at National Buenos Aires Province Centre University (UNCPBA), Argentina. He also is Independent Researcher of the Argentinean National Research Council (CONICET), Director of the Research & Development Group “INTELYMEC”, at the Engineering Faculty-UNCPBA, and member of the Directive Council of Center for Research in Physics and Engineering in Buenos Aires Province Centre, CIFICEN-UNCPBA-CICPBA-CONICET.

His working interests include the use of computational intelligence in automatic control, particularly intelligent control techniques in underwater robotics and oceanic technologies. He has more than 170 publications and 2 copyrights in this and related fields. He has been awarded with Scientific Production UNCPBA Award in 1998, an EU Marie Curie grant in 2004, the INNOVAR 2011 second position in Robotics, for the autonomous robot CARPINCHO, and the INNOVAR 2012 first position in Robotics, for the autonomous underwater vehicle ICTIOBOT, both developed at INTELYMEC-UNCPBA.

He became an IEEE Member in 1996, being Senior Member in 2001, Officer in the IEEE Argentina Section since 1999 in different chapters, received the 2010 Outstanding Chapter Award from CIS, and is a founding member and chairman of the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society (OES) Argentinean Chapter, and member of the Administrative Committee of the OES international (2015, 2016 and 2018-2020). He also served as Counsellor of the IEEE Student Branch at UNCPBA (2001-2003). Since 2015 he is volunteering within the EARTHZINE publication as associate editor, with a group of three journalists and science writers of South America. He has been the research leader of more than 15 R+D projects, funded by the Argentinean Government, the Spanish Government and the European Union. He has been invited as a professor of PhD programs in Argentina and Spain, and is the Director of the PhD program at the Engineering Faculty-UNCPBA. He also serves as reviewer and member of the scientific committee of several national and international journals and conferences.

Statement: I have been volunteer of the IEEE for more than 17 years and particularly in OES since 2010. I had the great honour to integrate the OES AdCom (2015, 2016 and 2018-2020). In this last period I have been involved in Chapters Coordination, which is a key link between technical societies like our OES and the regional division of IEEE. I had the great opportunity of helping in the settling of new funding schemes for chapters and to make Chapter’s Chairs to feel part of a great group of colleagues enlarging the scopes and activities of our IEEE OES. I have also participated in the contents and changes of the Earthzine Magazine, facilitating the contribution of many of our members and other people that are active in thinking and working for our oceans and related technology improvement. I feel I still have many things to develop in both previous topics and many others. I consider that the core activities of the Society are their publications and their periodical technical meetings and activities. In both of them I can devote time and effort. Particularly, there are three main tasks that I picked up to work on:

IEEE OES presence in South America supporting with time and work the initiatives of our society there. The “old” ones (Rio Acoustics and the Latin American Symposium), the “new” ones (the Breaking the Surface Symposium South America) and the new ones that may appear in a near future. In addition, I would like to take care of the student branch chapter in Ecuador and the chapter in Argentina, to provide them with all of the information and possibilities to organize local activities. I would like to see new chapters and student branch chapters in other littoral countries like Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Perú, to support and organize technical activities, and to introduce and involve more students in the wonderful topics related to oceans and technology.
Keeping on giving new sights and insights from the south to the Earthzine publication, with articles and coverage of oceans related activities in South America. This is a privilege mean to disseminate and promote our growing knowledge of oceans and the advances in ocean engineering to the great audience.
Coordination of Chapters all over the world to keep OES close to regional sections and councils of IEEE, and serving to generate local activities to give visibility to our society among engineers in different countries. I will work to have a reliable communication channel among chapters, and between chapters and the society, to facilitate the organization of activities, like promoting the Distinguished Lecturers Program, teaching new members about the current funding possibilities, and starting to establish and spread a “best policies and practices” for chapters.

FARHEEN FAUZIYA (GSM’01-M’19)

Educational credentials:

・PhD. Indian Institute of Technology, Underwater Acoustic Communication, February 2020

・M.Tech in Communication System with 75.1% from Manav Rachna International University (MRIU), Faridabad, Haryana in 2014. Thesis: “A Comparative Study of Phoneme Recognition using different methods”

・B. Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering from MACET, Patna in 2010 (75.3%).

Work Experience:

・P Project Associate for one year at IIT Delhi – Worked on Modeling and representation of underwater acoustic noise.

・P Business Developer for one year at Insta Power Ltd., Gurgaon – Responsibilities included design and business development.

Achievements and Accolade:

IEEE/OES WIE (Women in Engineering) Liaison for 2019-present.
IEEE WIE Leadership Committee member 2019.
Student Branch Chapter interim Chair of Marine Technology Society in IIT Delhi.
Student Branch Chapter interim Chair of IEEE WIE-IITD student affinity group.
Judge of Student Poster Competition at IEEE/MTS OCEANS’18 Conference, Kobe Japan 2018.
Judge of Student Poster Competition at IEEE/MTS OCEANS’18 Conference, Charleston, USA 2018.
Judge of Student Poster Competition at IEEE/MTS OCEANS’18 Conference, Marseille, France 2019.
Student Social Media Volunteer at IEEE/MTS OCEANS’18 Conference, Kobe Japan and Charleston USA 2018. (https://earthzine.org/oceans-2018-charleston-coverage/)
Session chair at ACM WUWNet 2017, IEEE/MTS OCEANS’17 Conference, Aberdeen, Scotland, IEEE/MTS OCEANS’16 Conference, Monterey, USA.
Student poster accepted in IEEE/OES OCEANS’17. Also awarded travel grant for presenting the work.
Student Volunteer at the workshop on Big Data and Ontology, Delhi 2015 and IEEE NCC Conference, Delhi 2013.
Awarded travel grant IEEE/MTS OCEANS’17 Aberdeen, ACM WUWNet’17 Halifax Canada and IEEE/MTS OCEANS’18 Kobe, Japan to present and attend the conferences.
IIT-Delhi (MHRD) institute fellowship for PhD
Student Member, IEEE, IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society and IEEE Signal Processing Society, IEEE Women in Engineering.
Reviewer for JASA, IEEE Access, DISP’19, TESA’19, IINTEC’17.
TPC member for 2019 ICRAMET, SCS-NCC 2018, WSCAR 2018.

Statement: I have been a very active member of the OES since 2016, and have been a regular at OCEANS conferences. At my first conference I presented my work, increasing the quantum of participation at each subsequent event. Besides, presenting my work at these events, I have participated in multiple activities including regularly chairing sessions, judging student poster completion, social media reporting. Further, for the last one year I have been serving as the OES WIE liaison, and have been actively contributing the cause of women in STEM. As OES WIE liaison, I am a member of the IEEE WIE leadership committee.

My contributions over the said period can broadly be classified in the following areas:

Social Media Reporting: As social media reporter at more the four OES events, I have covered diverse activities at these gatherings. I have also actively contributed to OES Beacon. Currently, I am an Associate editor of IEEE Earthzine.
Volunteering activities at conference: Besides, being an active volunteer for multiple OES activities, I have been an SPC judge for four times running. Some of volunteering contributions include organising panels and informal lunches/breakfast. Before that my work was accepted as an entry to the SPC competition. I have chaired sessions at OCEANS and other conferences multiple times.
IEEE/OES activities in my section: I have been a very active member in my IEEE section. I am the Chair of three students chapters OES, MTS and the IEEE WIE affinity group. I have been a part of the organising committee and member of review committee at multiple conferences organised/sponsored by IEEE.

Other than contributing to IEEE and OES, as a part of my Doctoral work I performed research in the area of underwater acoustic communications. I continue my work in that area. Before PhD I had worked as a research associate in a project on ambient ocean noise modelling. The learning and insights gained in the last five years have made me extremely interested in continuing research in the exciting and challenging area. My research focus is on the theoretical aspects of wireless communications. The practical application of the outcomes of my research is in improving the performance of communication systems in the presence of noise and to exploit the directional diversity afforded by a vector sensor. Wireless communication is often the best option for subsea systems and has a number of advantages such as flexible deployment independent of existing infrastructure, enabling mobility and autonomous vehicles, deployment of distributed sensor networks, and ad-hoc network connectivity. My work has encompasses all of this and has the potential to have a significant positive impact on the ecology of our planet. The eventual objective of my work is to solve this very challenging and pertinent problem.

My doctoral work was on the performance evaluation of vector sensor based acoustic communication systems. A vector sensor has the ability to provide diversity with single sensor. Exploiting this property of a vector sensor, I have proposed a few architectures to build and analyse high performance underwater acoustic communication systems. I am also part of project that aims to develop and deploy underwater communication systems for pollution monitoring and causal analysis. Earlier I had worked on characterization of ambient ocean noise, in which I had used fractal and multi-resolution based techniques for characterizing the noise. This work is also significant because precise noise modeling is the other key element in the design of robust and high performance communication systems. I have three Journal papers and ten conference papers, nine of which are in the prestigious IEEE/MTS OCEANS conferences. Further, one of them was accepted as a student poster competition in OCEANS’17 Aberdeen.

Moving forward, I want to make an even stronger contribution to the IEEE and WIE community. Some of the ideas that I wish to put to practice include the following:

Women in STEM in developing countries: Some ideas that I intend to push include: (i) Enabling work from home post parental leave, (ii) Provision for transferable post-doc positions, and (iii) reaching out to girl students and their guardians. Being from a developing country, who will relocate to a developed country, I bring a unique perspective, which intend to make use of in enabling Women in STEM, especially, in developing countries.
Student participation in OES events: Expanding student activities at OES events, and aligning it with young professional and career extension activities.
Increasing reach to include the underprivileged: Enabling remote participation of students from developing countries. It might also benefit expecting mothers and young mothers. Organising webinars to increase exposure.

I have volunteered many IEEE/MTS OCEANS conference as social media reporter and student representative in the last four years. I have also played a role of session chair in technical program of many IEEE/MTS OCEANS conferences. My contributions in this area have provided me with the opportunity to be part of the team that judges the student posters at IEEE/MTS OCEANS; I was part of that team in the IEEE/MTS OCEANS’18 conference at Kobe, IEEE/MTS OCEANS’18 conference at Charleston, IEEE/MTS OCEANS’19 Marseille and am again a member for the forthcoming conference in IEEE/MTS OCEANS’19 Seattle. Currently, I am IEEE OES WIE Liaison and serving as IEEE WIE Leadership committee member. I am also interim chair of student branch chapter of OES (Oceanic engineering Society), MTS (Marine Technology Society) and IEEE WIE (Women in Engineering) at IIT Delhi.

In conclusion, I would like to submit that not only am I uniquely placed to understand the malady of the talent on the sidelines, I am extremely motivated about this cause. This is clearly evidenced by my strong and sustained participation and contributions to the IEEE and OES activities. I believe, my strong grounding in research is another asset that can be leveraged by our OES society.

FAUSTO FERREIRA (GSM’08-M’09-GSM’10-M’15-SM’19) Dr. Fausto Ferreira obtained his Master Degree in Electrotechnical and Computer Engineering, major in Systems, Decision and Control from Instituto Superior Técnico, Technical University of Lisbon, in October 2008. He obtained his PhD in Electronic Engineering, Information Technology, Robotics and Telecommunication from the University of Genoa, Italy in April 2015. He has worked in search and rescue robotics during his Master and holds a patent based on his Master thesis. He has been working in underwater robotics and computer vision since late 2008. From November 2008 until November 2010 he was a Marie Curie Early Stage Researcher (ESR) in the EU FreeSubNet project at the National Research Council of Italy (CNR). During that time, he developed algorithms for motion estimation and mosaicking for underwater vehicles. Since January 2011 until April 2015 he was an Associate Fellow at CNR while enrolled in his PhD at University of Genoa, continuing his research in real-time mosaicking. In 2013, he was a Visiting Scientist at the NATO STO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE), formerly known as NURC. He attended the OCEANS’13 Bergen Student Poster Competition (SPC). He was a J-1 Short-Term Visiting Scholar at University of Miami under a Visiting Scientist Program grant from the Office of Naval Research Global (ONRG) in 2014 working on the fusion of sonar and optical data.

In mid-2014 he joined NATO STO CMRE as a Scientist working on sonar mosaicking and the organization of marine and multi-domain robotics competitions. He has been the co-PI and deputy technical director of several competitions: SAUC-E 2014, euRathlon 2014 and 2015 and European Robotics League (ERL) Emergency 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 editions and the technical director of SAUC-E 2016. He has participated as a judge, invited speaker or organizer in several robotics competitions under the umbrella of the Autonomous Marine Systems (AMS) Technical Committee of IEEE OES (euRathlon, ERL Emergency, SAUVC, RobotX). He was a member of the Local Organizing Committee of the IEEE OES UCOMMS’18 conference and is the Operations Coordinator of IEEE OES UCOMMS’20. He has organized 2 Winter/Summer Schools, 4 Workshops and co-organized 9 sea trials. Fausto currently serves as a member of the IEEE OES Administrative Committee, OCEANS RECON Committee and is also the OES Liaison for OCEANS 2023 Limerick and the OCEANS Tutorials Coordinator. Most recently, in December 2018, he earned a Bachelor in Political Science (International Curriculum) with a thesis on regulatory and liability issues of Autonomous Surface Vehicles. He is currently interested in collision avoidance regulations for unmanned marine vehicles. He serves as an Associate Editor and in the Board of Directors of Earthzine, an IEEE OES publication. He holds over 40 peer-reviewed papers, including a patent and a book chapter. He has served as a reviewer for a total of 14 journals and over 30 conferences including IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, IEEE Sensors and IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L). He has also contributed to 7 editions of the OCEANS SPC as reviewer or judge. His research interests include underwater computer vision, robotics competitions, educational robotics and maritime law for unmanned marine vehicles.

Statement: I have been involved with IEEE OES since OCEANS’09 Bremen. Over the years, I have attended many OCEANS and, since 2015, I have been deputy technical director of marine robotics competitions co-sponsored by IEEE OES. I am part of the Marine Autonomous Systems Competition Committee (MASC2) under the OES TC for Autonomous Marine Systems (AMS).

In 2018, I was selected to be one of the first two members of the OES Young Professionals (YP) BOOST program. This allowed me to observe better how the society works, but in 2019, I could start contributing better by serving in the Administrative Committee. In the past year, I have become the OCEANS Tutorials Coordinator helping the local Tutorial chairs and a member of the OCEANS Reconnaissance (RECON) Committee. As a RECON member, I have made the initial contact that led to OCEANS’23 Limerick for which I am serving as OES Liaison.

In a year, my volunteer activities enlarged and expanded. It is my commitment to do better if I am elected for a 3 years term. My focus will be to analyze current status and propose improvements where is possible as I did in the past for instance, for what regards OCEANS Tutorials.

I believe that, while our society and conferences are of great value, due to intense competition of other conferences, changing business models, and other factors, some challenges are coming up that we need to be ready for. First of all, we need to be relevant to the community, especially to a younger audience if we want to keep attracting new generations. Several initiatives are already in place (including SPC and YP BOOST). However, I would like to implement a couple of new ones such as job speed dating at OCEANS conferences, early career awards and others. Promoting the society and showing our value to our members is vital and I would like to help prepare corporate videos explaining what OES does and the reasons to join us. There are at the same time enormous opportunities that we should leverage on. The involvement of new YPs is bringing new people with new ideas on how to run OES. The recent increase in the number of students and student branches is excellent news. However, we need to make sure these students keep engaged beyond the first year of membership. Members are one of the strongest pillars of our society and I would like to help the Membership Development Committee design initiatives that address not only younger generations but also all members from different geographical regions and genders.

The other strong pillar of OES is our technical activities. High-level single-track conferences co-sponsored by OES or larger events such as OCEANS should attract the best research work around the globe. The model of having special issues of the Journal of Oceanic Engineering (JOE) dedicated to some of these conferences has been working very well. JOE is highly reputed and remains a top journal in the area. However, due to new trends, other models should be evaluated, such as a hybrid model with contemporaneous publishing at a conference and journal. Keeping the technical standard high should be the goal, especially in times of conferences proliferation. If elected, these two pillars will be my main concern besides my current responsibilities related to OCEANS conferences.

MALCOLM HERON (S’71-M’71-SM’93-LS’10-LF’12) was born in New Zealand. He received the B.Sc. degree in physics, the M.Sc. (first class honors) degree in physics, and Ph.D. degree in radio science, all from the University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, 1965, 1967, and 1971, respectively. Between 1971 and 2007, he held several positions in physics in James Cook University, Townsville, Qld. Australia, ranging from Lecturer in Physics to Professor of Physics. He also served a term as Pro-Vice Chancellor for Science and Engineering at James Cook University (1989–1995). He was the Foundation Director of the Australian Ocean Radar Network between 2007 and 2011, and is currently the CEO of PORTMAP Remote Ocean Sensing Pty, Ltd., Queensland, Australia, and an Adjunct Professor at James Cook University. He has published more than 200 articles on radio wave propagation in the environment, physical oceanography, and mesoscale meteorology. Since 1981, his research focus has been on development and application of HF ocean radars. Through the 1990s his research has broadened into oceanographic phenomena which can be studied by remote sensing, including HF radar and salinity mapping from airborne microwave radiometers. Throughout, there have been one-off papers where he has been involved in solving a problem in a cognate area like medical physics, and paleobiogeography. Occasionally, he has diverted into side-tracks like a burst of papers on the effect of bushfires on radio communications. Prof. Heron is a Fellow of Engineers Australia. He has served on multiple committees in the Northern Australia Section of the IEEE and is the Foundation Chair of the Australian Chapter of the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society. He was an Elected Member on the AdCom of OES in 2006–2011 and 2014–2016, and served on several associated committees. He was the Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering (1986–2009), and was a Guest Editor for a Special Issue of the Journal in 2006. He is currently OES VP for Technical Activities (2017-20), member of the OTC Asia Oversight Committee, and member of the IEEE Corporate Innovation Award Committee (2020).

Statement: The Oceanic Engineering Society has done well with its Strategic Planning and Implementation over recent years and the new Strategic Goals for 2020-2022 will confirm those solid directions. My role if elected would be to support the implementation of that plan. In particular, I would work with the incoming VPTA to provide a clean and supportive handover. The participation of OES in the Decade of Ocean Science and joint activities with other societies needs work in the next few years. This is linked to the strategic need to create operational collaborations across the Technology Committees in running workshops/symposia. At the moment this falls across VPTA and VPWS areas. For long-term viability it is important to have AdCom members actively supporting the OTC series in Houston, Asia, and South America. OES needs to recruit more of its members into active and supportive roles in OTC. Each and every member of AdCom should have a clearly define role in OES with reporting lines through the VPs. This may seem simple and intuitive, but the reality is that ex officio members of AdCom (being Chairs of Committees etc) have defined roles but this is not mandated for elected members. This is a problem for the dynamics of OES.

KATSUYOSHI KAWAGUCHI (M’96) was borne 1964 in Tokyo JAPAN. He took a Ph. D from Tokai University in 1993. He is currently a director of Engineering Department JAMSTEC and visiting faculty member of Center for Integrated Underwater Observation Technology, Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo. As the OES activity, He served as vice Chair of OES Japan Chapter 2014-2015 and has been Chair of OES Japan Chapter since 2016 to present. During this period, he acts as a TPC Co-Chairs at several international conferences co-hosted by the IEEE OES such as Techno-Ocean 2014, Techno-Ocean 2016 and OCEANS’18 MTS/IEEE Kobe / Techno-Ocean 2018 (OTO’18). His devoted promotion, mainly in Asian region, made the OTO’18 a great success, gathering the largest participants and papers in the history of the OCEANS conference. As for the activity to be done in the future, he will be hosted International Symposium on Underwater Technology scheduled to be held in Tokyo in 2021 (UT21) as General Co-Chairs. His research interest is real-time seafloor observatory development. He has served as an engineering director of DONET during the past for 15 years. DONET is a submarine cabled observatory development program for megathrust earthquake disaster mitigation started from 2006. His team developed cabled observation system and carried out the construction using ROV with special modifications. The program spends a decade to construct two backbone cabled systems, 51 earthquake and tsunami observatories, and two bore hole observatories. The development stage of DONET was completed March 2016 and change over to practical use. The information from the seafloor is utilized for an earthquake early warning system and tsunami forecast of the Japan Meteorological Agency. Based on these research activities, he is conducting UT piggybacked international symposiums called Scientific use of Submarine Cables and related technologies (SSC) to enhance international cooperation in this field. Such activities have led to the use of OES as an international venue for discussing the scientific use of submarine cables

In 2016, He formed a Shell Ocean discovery X-prize competition (AUV competition) team “team KUROSHIO” as an advisory board member and led the team to the second place in final round 2018. The team consists mainly of young researchers from research institutes, universities and companies in Japan, and its core members belong to OES/OES Japan Chapter. Taking this opportunity, He designed a system in OES Japan Chapter to support young members in the chapter participate in the competition. Such efforts are expected to be effective in motivating society activities by young researchers.

Statement: Since becoming a member in 1995, I have used OES as a point of contact for international information sharing on ocean research and development. I am very favorable to the society’s policy of discussing engineering to support the scientific research of the oceans. I will stand for the candidate to pass on this benefit from the OES to the new generation in a new way.

If I become a committee member, I would like to recommend the following:

1) Building a strong framework for international corroboration of scientific use of submarine cable and related technologies.

Several national projects have been held around the world for observations using submarine cables technologies, which are my background, but it is expected that international utilization will expand in the future, both technical point of view and the perspective of data utilization. In order to fully utilize the basic capabilities of the submarine telecom cable system, a system that connects countries, I want to create a team where stake holders from each country can participate and discuss international standardization and research collaboration.

2) Responding to environmental changes surrounding OCEANS conference in Japan.

Over the last decade, I feel that the general value standards of conference and exhibition have changed. OTO18 was a success but I think it will be difficult to hold OCEANS conferences in the same format as last time in Japan in the future. To thinking of holding a OCEANS conference again in Japan. I would like to discuss the creation of added value through reorganization of conference management, such as digitizing conference materials, holding workshops, town hall meetings, and clear handling of peer review papers and technical materials to fit for local manner to creating an environment where domestic stakeholders can participate.

3) Improving motivation for society activities.

In order to secure young society members, we need to increase the value of membership in a visible way. Competition support program in Japan Chapter is first step of the approach. I would like to expand these initiatives not only to robot competitions, but also to the measurement accuracy of instruments, proposals for solutions to problems and so on. I will consider services that young researchers find attractive at the society level and how to distribute such information. Focusing on these three items, I would like to proceed with the discussion so that OES can be the most attractive society in oceanic engineering.

MICHAEL LAMOUREUX (S’95-M’99-SM’09) is Spend Matters Consulting Lead Analyst on Strategic Procurement Technologies and Advanced Technology Applications. As an expert in Algorithms, Analytics, and Optimization for Global Supply Chains, he’s primed to evaluate, and advise on, the most advanced and innovative software applications on the market today. He’s also a scholar, researcher, solution engineer, optimization guru, writer, vagabond, leader, futurist, anti-prophet, and “the doctor” of Sourcing Innovation – one of only two blogs that has been covering the Sourcing and Procurement Supply Chain subspace for over a decade!

He’s been leading innovation in web technologies, e-Commerce, e-Procurement, Optimization, Analytics, and even AI for the last two decades in various roles which have included Chief Architect, Chief Research Scientist, CTO, Assistant Professor, Blogger, and Technology Analyst. His PhD in Computer Science combined with his deep industry background and extensive knowledge about Supply Management gives him unique insights into not only what is driving innovation today but what will be driving innovation tomorrow, which have allowed him to write foundational white papers on the core technologies in his area, usability, and AI.

He currently lives on the east coast of the Great White North (which is what is officially called Canada), in a place call Halifax that sits smack dab in between the West Coast of the US and the UK (and lives in a time zone that seems to be foreign to the rest of the world that thinks time jumps from North American Eastern Time to Greenwich Mean Time).

Statement: We all know that when it comes to volunteer support, societies have gotten the short end of the stick for decades in IEEE. I want to change that. As a volunteer who fought for years for better tools to support unit operations, guided their creation when I finally got the chance, and who has deep insight as Past MGA Vice Chair IT, I know that now that we have some relatively modern platforms in place, with the right support, we can do better for everyone, not just sections and regions.

As a professional who is also very interested in the advancement of key disciplines relevant to my work — mathematical modelling (for finance chains), information science (for information chains), and, most importantly, oceanic science (as the vast majority of supply chains are powered by the oceans) — it’s imperative that our societies be able to operate as efficiently as possible so we can spend less time on overhead and more on the advancement of sustainable oceanic science below and above the surface. [And very few societies are in the position to build their own solutions.] My goal is to capture the operational needs of the Oceanic Engineering Society [which is a prime example of a key, but under-supported society] from an IEEE perspective, determine how existing IEEE processes and platforms could be improved to support (rather than impede) them. I will work with TAB, MGA, and IT to not only convey these needs but see that they are addressed, with the appropriate priority and funding, over time. And in doing so allow the rest of the Oceanic AdCom and ExCom to focus on growing the society, having great conferences, and advancing new initiatives without being held back in IEEE operational drudgery.

ANDREAS MAROUCHOS (M’10) Andreas is a Principal Research Engineer and Research Group Leader in the Engineering and Technology Program in the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Oceans and Atmosphere (O&A) business unit. He provides engineering and technical support to scientists and industry working the marine and atmospheric domains. In addition to providing technical guidance in the deployment of projects, Andreas and his group specialise in the design of bespoke science systems and platforms. This includes the design and manufacture of ship-based systems and instrumentation, autonomous platforms, and oceanographic moorings. In addition, Andreas is involved the development of novel technologies and methods to meet present and future engineering challenges. The Engineering and Technology program has a strong track record for delivering technical solutions to address challenging science problems in the field. Andreas also leads domestic and international collaborative efforts on technology development with a variety of research partners specifically targeted towards addressing fundamental technical and operational challenges in the advancement of ocean observing science platforms. The fields of study include ocean science and monitoring, mooring development, advanced materials, system autonomy and environmental technology to support aquaculture science and industry.

Andreas’ technical background includes a broad range of engineering fields including aerospace, aerostructures, technologies for the environment, audio-visual engineering, optics, ocean engineering, autonomous systems and engineering systems modelling and simulation. Andreas has worked with a wide range of research and industry institutions including the University of Toronto, Boeing Aerospace, IMAX and CSIRO.

Andreas is active in both the IEEE Ocean Engineering Society and the Marine Technology Society. Andreas is the Tasmanian sub-section chair in the Australian Chapter of the IEEE Ocean Engineering Society and actively engages the extensive marine technology community in Tasmania with talks and supporting visits from field experts. Andreas is also the Chair of the OES Polar Oceans Technical committee and has been active in the planning and execution in a series of technical workshops on polar technology development. The third event in the series, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Forum for Science and Technology (ASOF-Fest) workshop is scheduled for August 2020 and will bring together researchers across both science and technology domains to discuss emerging challenges in conducting southern-ocean research. Over his ten years working in the marine industry Andreas has also regularly attended and presented papers at IEEE Oceans conferences (over 16 in 10 years).

Statement: As we move into the next decade designated by the UN as the Decade of the Oceans we are poised to see significant change in the method and technologies being deployed in our oceans. The operational challenges of localisation, persistence and scale faced by the marine sector will become more acute as operations of all sorts venture into more remote regions, deeper waters and further off-shore. Autonomy is the future of ocean operations. Advanced unmanned platforms working both at the surface of the oceans and below, combined with advances in machine learning and sensor technology will change the way ocean operations are conducted in support of both research and commercial activities. These technology drivers will demand new engineering skills, legal and regularity frameworks, business models and standards and the next generation of marine and ocean engineers will need to embrace a new set of skills to succeed.

The Ocean Engineering Society (OES) has the opportunity to play a central role in helping enable and lead this change but not without challenge. Engineering activities in the sector will become increasingly multidisciplinary and requiring a more diverse set of skills. Interactions between disciplines are also likely to become more nuanced and require the creation of new sub-disciplines in engineering curricula. This presents an opportunity for OES is to help engage with students and emerging engineers in the field helping to provide a framework (and subsequently a home) for new members who may increasingly find their new skills at odds with traditional marine engineering curricula. Continued investment in student engagement though workshop and conferences is critical in this regard.

As part of the IEEE, OES in in the unique opportunity to provide guidance on setting of standards and contribute to the development of best practice and subsequent discussions informing regulatory frameworks. This is particularly necessary in the context of autonomous or unmanned systems. Outside of the engineering discipline, OES has an opportunity to engage with the broader science community to create strong working groups around key science theme areas; helping break free the constraints of siloed expertise in particular domain areas and encourage interaction and idea sharing across disciplines. An example of this is the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Forum which mixed science presentations with engineering discussions around the challenges faced by conducting science operations in the Southern Ocean. Is it envisioned that along with its sister conference (the Arctic and Northern Ocean Forum) that bridges could be formed by specialist groups working at opposite poles to address often similar technical challenges.

FREDERIC MAUSSANG (M’08-SM’19) is an Associate Professor of Mathematics and Signal Processing at IMT Atlantique, a French College of Engineering in Brest, since 2007. His research interests include signal and image processing for detection and recognition in oceanic environment. In 2005, he received his Ph.D. from Grenoble Alpes University in Signal, Image, Speech, and Telecom for his work in image processing and data fusion on underwater acoustical images to detect buried objects in the seabed. He obtained in 2002 a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Grenoble INP, France.

His activities at IEEE OES have been continuously growing since his membership in 2009, firstly as a reviewer for the Journal of Oceanic Engineering and for OCEANS conferences, then for OCEANS Student Posters selection, and as member of IEEE/OES conferences organizing committees. He served, for example, as Tutorials Chair for OCEANS 2019 Marseille.

His involvement took on another dimension when he became OES Young Professionals Rep. in 2015. He organized YP meetings at OCEANS conferences. He established the YP-BOOST program in 2017 allowing OES YP members to be involved in the OES organization. Since its creation, 8 YPs benefited from this program and participated actively, and freely, to the OCEANS conferences (Students Posters competitions jury, organization…), and 2 of them continue to be active as members of the AdCom.

Statement: As described above, I’ve been actively involved with various IEEE and OES activities. I’ve particularly observed the interest these societies can bring to students and young professionals during my activities for Student Poster competitions and YP representation. However, even if OES recruits relatively easily among these people, there are difficulties to keep them for a longer period of time, particularly when they find changes in their job and life.

The goal of the YP-BOOST program is to answer, partially, this problem, by including YPs in the OES activities, with the hope they continue to contribute to the OES afterward. Even if this program is too young to have real conclusion, we have observed an increase in YP membership.

In the future, we need to go further on this subject allowing developing member’s loyalty. For that, I propose to involve YP-BOOST laureates, former laureates, and other student and/or particularly active YP OES members in a mentorship program aimed to new student and YP members. This program could include online courses, vlog (video blog)… and a more precise monitoring for new members to inform them of OES activities or opportunities to encourage them to renew their membership. This mentorship needs to be made also, in order to balance membership into IEEE regions and to increase the number of female members for a better gender equality.

SULEMAN MAZHAR (S’08-M’10-SM’14) is an IEEE senior member and earned his PhD from Tokyo University (2009) and a postdoctorate from Georgetown University (2010). Currently he is working as faculty member at CS department, Information Technology University, Lahore. His research interests are in ICT based solutions for environmental and development related challenges, especially in a developing world context. He has worked on a number of projects as principle investigator of BiSMiL Lab. Currently, he works on conservation of Indus river dolphin and environmental monitoring of dolphin habitat and has previously worked on humpback whales and the bottlenose dolphins. He is alumni of Japanese Monbukagakusho program and US State Alumni (NIH fellow and a Fulbright grantee). He has got an extensive experience in mentoring both undergraduate and graduates students as a faculty member at famous technology universities in Pakistan and as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tokyo (Japan) and the Georgetown University (DC).

IEEE ACTIVITIES:

IEEE senior member
Member of Ocean Engineering Society and Signal Processing Society
Social media activities volunteer at IEEE Oceans, Kobe 2018
Conference publications at IEEE Oceans (2018, 2008, 2007), IEEE ISBI 2018, IEEE VTC 2018, IEEE IPSN 2018, IEEE Sensors 2015, IEEE PerCom 2019

ACTIVITIES IN OTHER PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:

Acoustical Society of America (2014 till to-date)

QUALIFICATIONS & Academics Experience:

PhD, Environmental & Ocean Engineering, the University of Tokyo

Postdoc. Fellow, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA

Assistant Professor, GIK Institute, Topi, KP, Pakistan

Currently: Assistant Professor, CS Department, Information Technology University, Lahore, Pakistan

Statement: I have been a member of IEEE for the past 13 years and a senior member since 2013. Since 2006, I have been participating in society activities through annual IEEE OES conference and lately through student activity committee. During my PhD at Tokyo University, I happened to observe active participation of my advisor (Professor Ura) and lab colleagues (Sugimatsu san and Prof. Asada) in OES activities. During this period, I got excellent learning opportunities from the platform of IEEE OES and also happened to serve in my humble capacity. I have participated in a number of Oceans conferences as an author and a technical paper reviewer.

If elected as a member of AdCom, I would like to expand our activities in young professionals and students, to increase our membership. I shall be interested in contributing to social media and website related activities of the society so that we can effectively use these tools to attract a diverse and broader international audience and to expand our outreach and public activities. Currently, as a researcher, I am studying Indus river dolphins and initiating a new bio-acoustics monitoring program in coastal zone of Arabian Sea. In my capacity as PI and Co-PI of different relevant projects in this area, I am administering a cumulative grant of more than 180,000 USD (funded by grant organizations in Pakistan, Germany and China). In this capacity, I can also help in extending presence of IEEE OES in China, Germany, South Asia and Middle-East region. In particular, as I shall be visiting Harbin Engineering University and Jacobs University Bremen, as a visiting researcher, during the next year, I look forward to actively engage student and faculty body at both places, in IEEE OES activities.

As someone who happened to witness endeavours by OES team for encouraging young professionals and students, while participating in the social media coverage activities at Oceans 2018 (Kobe), I feel excited to join the OES administrative committee to play an active role in society representation and activities at large. I hope that proposed nomination in AdCom will enable me to contribute in day to day business of the society. I hope that given my academic background and working experience of the East (Asia) and the West (Europe & USA), I shall be able to bridge between different kinds of poles within which our society operates (students & professionals, developing and developed countries, experienced ones and the YPs).

ROSMIWATI MOHD-MOKHTAR (S’03-GSM’06-M’08-SM’14)

Age: 45-years old
B.Eng. (Hons) Electrical & Electronic Engineering (USM); M.Sc. Electrical & Electronic Engineering (USM); Ph.D. Electrical Engineering (RMIT)
P.Eng. Electronic (Board of Engineers Malaysia, BEM); C.Eng. Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET), UK; Member (MIEM) Inst. of Engineers Malaysia
Universiti Sains Malaysia (2008-Current)
- Associate Professor at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
- Mechatronic Programme Chairman at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia. (2016-2021)
- Published more than 80 papers in journals and conference proceedings.
- Research interest in system modelling & identification, control system design, robotics, mechatronics application, underwater system modelling and control
- Advisor of IEEE USM Student Branch Women in Engineering Affinity Group (Since 2017)
- Counsellor of IEEE USM Student Branch (2013-2016)
- Coordinator for Underwater Control Robotics Research Group (UCRG) (Since 2014)
Secretary IEEE Malaysia Section (2019-2020)
Executive Committee, IEEE Malaysia Section (2017)
Executive Committee, IEEE Control System Society Malaysia Chapter (2013-2014), 2016, 2018- 2020.
Secretary, IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society (OES) Malaysia Chapter (2015-2018)
Vice Chair, IEEE Women in Engineering Malaysia Section (2018)
Chair, IEEE Women in Engineering Malaysia Section (2019-2020)
During tenure as counsellor and advisor to IEEE USM SB & IEEE USM WIE AG, I have successfully brought the team in achieving

Best Student Branch Award (Small Category) – IEEE Malaysia Section (2013)
2nd Best Student Branch Award (Large Category) – IEEE Malaysia Section (2014)
Outstanding Branch Counsellor Award – IEEE (2014)
Silver Darrel Chong Award – For “Techmentor – Arduino Volunteer Teaching”, IEEE (2015)
Outstanding Student Branch Award – IEEE Malaysia Section (2015)
1st Place IEEE Student Branch Website Competition – IEEE Region 10 (2015)
3rd Place IEEE Student Branch Website Competition – IEEE Global (2015)
Gold Darrel Chong Award – For “Tech Mentor Project”, IEEE (2016)
1st Place IEEE Malaysia Infographic Competition – IEEE Malaysia Section (2016)
IEEE Region 10 Educational Activities Outstanding Volunteer Award – IEEE Region 10 (2017)
R10 Women in Engineering Outstanding Student Branch Affinity Group Award – IEEE Region 10 (2019)

Organizing Committee (Secretariat for National Technical Seminar on Underwater System Technology (2010-2011, 2013)
Organizing Committee (Secretariat) for Int. Conf. on Underwater System Technology: Theory & Applications (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016-2018)
I undertake to attend standing committee meetings if I am elected.
I accept responsibility for the full accuracy of the particulars stated above and agree that the validity of my nomination shall depend upon the accuracy of such particulars.

Statement: IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society is a very exclusive society concentrating on man who involved themselves in the field of interest related to water, the system and the technology. In comparison to other established society under the IEEE, this society may have fewer number of members in due to the nature of very specific focus area of interest. Involved during the establishment of the IEEE OES Malaysia Chapter back in 2015, below are the challenges that we faced with the society.

Not many members involved in the field of oceanic engineering in Malaysia
They have already subscribed to few other societies already (which is more general and wider scope).
Retaining the member. Only those who are committee members dare to renew. If they are not, then they won’t renew the membership.
Financial constraints of paying the registration fees.
Despite the challenges as mentioned, there are still room for opportunities that we can consider and help to instill the same vision to others.
The research and activities within this area is very challenging and there are a lot more to discover. Engagement with people within this area will give a lot of advantages.
Conference, competition event etc. with special fees rate for OES members will attract more people to register and become member.
Communication and information are now at finger tips. Thus, re-strategize to be more approachable and known to others must be made.

“Life is about accepting the challenges along the way, choosing to keep moving forward, and savouring the journey.” Roy T. Bennett

The quote is really meaningful and inspiring for us to face the challenges, no defeat and no surrender, keep looking for opportunities and continue on treasuring the journey in this life. With that, there are several steps that can be taken by the IEEE OES as to advance the society.

Provide more activities where benefits and discount be given to those registered as IEEE OES member/student member. Currently most event give privilege to IEEE member only, which means they have to register as IEEE member only without need to register for the technical society.
Improve visibility of the IEEE OES to the world. Find platform where many people will read it and showcase who we are.
Based on the member that registered to IEEE OES, identify potential member of every country and appoint them as sub-committee (ambassador) to expand and make a progress in their country.

VENUGOPALAN PALLAYIL (S’90-A’99-M’99-SM’04) has a post graduate degree in physics (1981) and a PhD in Microwave Electronics (1992), both from Cochin University of Science & Technology, India. Ironically, he ended up working in the field underwater acoustics and marine technology for the past 33 years. He spent about 11 years as an R&D Scientist at the Defence Research and Development Organisation in India before moving to Singapore in 1998. He currently works as a Senior Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

He made major contributions to the field of air-borne ASW sensor systems such as active sonobuoys and helicopter sonars, while working in DRDO. In Acoustic Research Laboratory (ARL), NUS, he has been responsible for the successful completion of many projects, and one of the projects, ROMANIS, won the prestigious Singapore Defence Technology Prize in 2004 for the best Group Project. Currently he is leading the research activities on the development of lightweight towed arrays for underwater applications using AUV and USV platforms. His research work on thin line towed arrays has resulted in many collaborative experiments with internationally reputed organizations such as Scripps Institute of Oceanography (USA), CMRE (Italy), DRDO (India), ATLAS Electronik (Germany), University of Texas (Austin) and lately with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), USA. As part of these collaborations he also made many scientific cruises. Apart from intense research activities, he also supports the lab as a Deputy Head, helping out the head of the lab on many fronts such as research staff recruitments and project management. He served as the Manager for Operations for the Tropical Marine Science Institute, for 5years, and in this capacity he had been helping out the Director of the Institute on the administrative matters related to finance and facility management. He has also been a reviewer for many reputed journals like JoE (IEEE OES), Ocean Engineering (Elsievier), JASA and nearly half-a-dozen international conferences.

IEEE OES and other professional engagement: Venu has been a member of IEEE for the past 23 years and was elevated to Senior Member grade in 2004. He played a key role in setting up the IEEE OES Singapore Chapter in 2002 and served in various capacities such as its Chair, Vice-Chair and Treasurer. He continue to volunteer as an Executive member and mostly in an advisory role. He served on the organising committee for OCEANS’06 Singapore as Chair for Finance. He served as the Co-Chair and Chair for sponsorship for the first ever Singapore AUV competition (SAUVC 2013) and served as General Chair for the SAUVC 2014 event. Since 2013, he generates about $40K on average every year through sponsorships for the smooth running of the SAUVC competition. This competition has now become one of the leading events in the Asia, attracting over 300 students every year. He served on the committee for Marine Autonomous Systems Competitions Coordination (MASC2) that is working globally to standardize student AUV Competitions. Volunteered as the IEEE OES Sub-Committee member for the OTC-Asia 2014 and OTC-2016 and also as chair for the IEEE OES programme sub-committee, OTC Asia 2018. He first served on the IEEE OES AdCom in 2016 and supported the membership development programme. He has also been serving as an AdCom member for the period 2018-2020 and is now seeking a re-election for 2021-23. He is a contributing editor for the BEACONS Newsletter and regularly contributes articles. At present he is spending most of his volunteer time for the organisation of OCEANS 2020 Singapore. As member of the JOAB, he extensively participates in its (offline) meetings and discussions and offer valuable inputs on the conference operational matters. As a Liaison for the OCEANS 2022 India, he regularly works with the LOC in India organising meetings and site visits to alternative conference venues and reports to JOAB. As a recognition of his services to the Society, Venu received the IEEE OES Presidential Award in 2018. He has a presence in other local and international scientific organisations such as Society of Acoustics, Singapore, International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV), USA and Marine Technology Society, USA. He served as Chair for exhibition for the Western Pacific Acoustic Conference (WESPAC) held in Dec 2015 and organised by the Society of Acoustics, Singapore. He also organised and chaired an underwater acoustics session for WESPAC 2015. He supports various OES sponsored conferences such as UT and USYS as reviewer, session chair and also as keynote speaker.

Statement: 23 years of my association with IEEE and OES has provided me ample opportunities to volunteer and contribute to the objectives of the Society. The various activities listed above speaks about my dedication and commitment as an IEEE OES volunteer. Being an AdCom member has provided me great opportunity to work closely with the society leadership and gain support for various OES initiatives such as the SAUVC. The SAUVC events have helped to grow the membership, member engagement as well as to reach out to the students in a better way. I am also proud to see that many young members from Singapore Chapter has come to the forefront to serve the Society in various leadership roles such as Young Professionals, web development and Earthzine editor roles. I can claim that I have played a part in this development and believe that engaging them in the organisational matters of the society would be a key to build a better future for the Society and its activities. I propose to work with the chapters in the region to promote and jointly organise events. If elected for the class of 2021-23, it would provide continuity to my mission and generate better results. I believe with the valuable experience and knowledge that I have gained over the past three years as an AdCom member, I could contribute more to the AdCom to fulfil its obligations. I am also willing to take up more organisational roles, if there is an opportunity.

GEORGIOS SKLIVANITIS (GSM’11-M’16) received the Diploma degree in electronic and computer engineering from the Technical University of Crete, Greece, in 2010, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from The State University of New York at Buffalo in 2018. He is currently a Research Assistant Professor with the Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Florida Atlantic University. His research interests span the areas of signal processing, software-defined wireless communications and networking, cognitive radio, and underwater acoustic communications. In 2014, he was the first finalist and was a recipient of the 2014 Nutaq Software-Defined Radio Academic U.S. National Contest and in 2015 the 10th ACM International Conference on Underwater Networks and Systems Best Demo Award. He was also a recipient of the 2015 SUNY Buffalo Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching, the 2016 SUNY Buffalo Student Entrepreneur Fellowship, and the 2017 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence.

Statement: I am very interested in participating and actively engaging with the leadership of the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society by getting involved with technology committees on Underwater Communication, Navigation and Positioning, Autonomous Maritime Systems (AMS) and standing committees on Membership Development, Workshops and Symposia, and Technology Committee.

In particular, I look forward to supporting VPTA’s efforts to increase activity in the Underwater Communication, Navigation and Positioning, Autonomous Maritime Systems Technology Committees by organizing special sessions and tutorials in upcoming OES-sponsored conferences (e.g. UComms, OCEANS, UACE, and the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle symposium) and supporting Special Issues of the OES Journal of Oceanic Engineering on cognitive localization for underwater acoustic networks and communication-based navigation methods for swarms of low-cost autonomous underwater vehicles. If given the opportunity, I would be delighted to be part of VPTA’s effort to take action and lead OES activities for contributing to science-informed policy responses to global ocean change as part of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). In parallel, I look forward to engaging, at any capacity, with the members of the AMS technology committee to integrate the role of underwater wireless communications and networking into existing educational activities of AMS (e.g. European Robotics League, Student AUV, Singapore AUV Challenge).

As an AdCom member, I would be delighted to contribute to OES membership development for the next three years and help with the organization of student poster/paper competitions and other technical as well as new entrepreneurship-related activities (e.g. with the organization of small 2-day hackathons, lightning talks and 3minute pitch competitions in upcoming OES-sponsored conference venues). I am confident that getting involved with OES workshops and symposia will give me the opportunity to get exposed to a significant body of research work as well as connect and receive feedback from fellow colleagues that lead the ocean engineering and oceanographic communities.

I strongly believe that creating and growing an evidence-driven community of underwater wireless and autonomous systems experimenters with a shared culture and high standards starting from undergraduate and graduate students will be imperative for the future of oceanic engineering and undersea seafloor science. As a result, I look forward to actively participating in ongoing activities and current developments for underwater acoustics standards as well as getting involved with the OES interoperability standards initiative for the marine environment.

In summary, I believe that serving to the AdCom Class of 2021 will be an important catalyst for my professional career as an oceanic engineer and benefit my research progress over the next three years.

Written by Matthew Gelis