2020 Distinguished Service Award

Each year, the Distinguished Service Award of the Oceanic Engineering Society honors a member of the Society for outstanding service in furthering the objectives and activities of the Society.
On behalf of the Society it is an honor to present this year’s Distinguished Service Award to N. Ross Chapman for his service as Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering (2012-2017), Chair of the OES Chapter Victoria BC, Chair the OES Fellow Evaluation Committee (2017), and for his contributions to the governance of the Society as an elected member of the Administrative and Executive Committees.
Ross joined the Editorial Board of the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering in 2005 and was elected Editor in Chief of the Journal in October 2012. During his 5-year-plus tenure as Editor in Chief, Ross expanded the Editorial Board and oversaw an increase in the overall impact of the Journal as quantified by metrics in the Journal Citation Reports (for instance the Impact Factor), placing the Journal well ahead of some of its larger competitors. For reference, the impact factor of the Journal is just above 3 today.
Ross served OES in several other respects, at the local level as Chair of the Victoria British Columbia Chapter, and at the Society Level as Chair of the Fellow Society Evaluation Committee and member of the Administrative and Executive Committees. While serving in such capacities Ross always maintained a high degree of diplomacy and equanimity.
Ross has also mentored many students and young professionals. He is a true educator. He readily shares his experimental data sets, a commendable practice with all too few practitioners, and he encourages others, especially junior colleagues, to use these data while offering valuable advice and guidance.
Past Recipients of the Distinguished Service Award of the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society
2019 | Marinna Martini |
2018 | Jerry Carroll |
2017 | Robert L. Wernli |
2016 | Harumi Sugimatsu |
2015 | Elizabeth Creed |
2014 | Diane DiMassa |
2013 | Robert Bannon |
2012 | Robert Spindel |
2011 | James Barbera |
2010 | Thomas Freud Wiener |
2009 | Christian de Moustier |
2008 | Archie Todd Morrison III |
2007 | Stephen M. Holt |
2006 | Rene Garello |
2005 | Claude P. Brancart |
2004 | William M. Carey |
2003 | Joseph Czika |
2002 | James S. Collins |
2001 | Claude P. Brancart |
2000 | Frederick H. Maltz |
1999 | Pierre Sabathé |
1998 | Norman D. Miller |
1997 | Ferial M. El-Hawary |
1996 | Glen N. Williams |
1995 | David E. Weissman |
1994 | Daniel L. Alspach |
1993 | Edward W. Early |
1992 | Gordon Raisbeck |
1991 | Frederick H. Fisher |
1990 | Anthony I. Eller |
1989 | Eric Herz |
1988 | Harold A. Sabbagh |
1987 | Stanley L. Ehrlich |
1986 | Stanley G. Chamberlain |
1985 | Joseph R. Vadus |
1984 | John C. Redmond |
1983 | Elmer P. Wheaton |
1982 | Arthur S. Westneat |
1981 | Lloyd Z. Maudlin |
1980 | Donald M. Bolle |
1979 | Richard M. Emberson |
1978 | Edward W. Early |
1977 | Calvin T. Swift |
1976 | Frank Snodgrass |
1975 | Arthur S. Westneat |