2020 Distinguished Technical Achievement Award

Each year, the Distinguished Technical Achievement Award of the Oceanic Engineering Society honors one OES member for an outstanding fundamental or applied technical contribution to oceanic engineering. The award recognizes a single major invention or scientific contribution, or a distinguished series of contributions over a long period of time.
On behalf of the Society it is an honor to present this year’s Distinguished Technical Achievement Award to Mandar A. Chitre for development of robust high-performance algorithms for wireless underwater communication and in-situ sensing networks.
Mandar is recognized for his contributions to underwater communication and networking in non-Gaussian or impulsive noise environments where many traditional modems fail to perform to their specifications. He demonstrated that propagation delay, which is usually considered a major challenge in underwater networks, is in fact an opportunity to improve network performance. This is particularly relevant for underwater communication and networking in shallow tropical waters, where snapping shrimp cacophony often drowns out communications with autonomous underwater vehicles.
Mandar is a leading innovator of practical systems for underwater acoustic communications. He founded Subnero Pte. Ltd. Singapore, a private limited (Pte Ltd) company that manufactures and distributes worldwide software-defined underwater modems based on the algorithms and protocols that he has developed in his research.
He is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at the National University of Singapore, where he serves as Head of the Acoustic Research Laboratory in the Tropical Marine Science Institute. In addition Mandar currently serves as Editor in Chief of the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering.
Past Recipients of the Distinguished Technical Achievement Award
2019 | William (Bill) Kirkwood |
2018 | Martin Klein |
2017 | Peter N. Mikhalevsky |
2016 | John E. Ehrenberg |
2015 | Milica Stojanovic |
2014 | Christian de Moustier |
2013 | Gwyn Griffiths |
2012 | Joseph Vadus |
2011 | Christopher von Alt |
2010 | Tamaki Ura |
2009 | Robert T. Bannon |
2008 | Thomas B. Sanford |
2007 | Donald E. Barrick |
2006 | Fred Noel Spiess |
2005 | Douglas C. Webb |
2004 | John P. Craven |
2003 | Georges Bienvenu |
2002 | James Candy |
2001 | Werner R. Alpers |
2000 | Albert J. Williams 3rd |
1999 | William M. Carey |
1998 | Burton G. Hurdle |
1997 | Newell Booth |
1996 | Frederick H. Fisher |
1995 | Mack O’Brien |
1994 | Edmund J. Sullivan |
1993 | William J. Plant |
1992 | Arthur B. Baggeroer |
1991 | Henry Cox |
1990 | Robert C. Spindel |
1989 | Victor C. Anderson |
1988 | Chester M. McKinney |
1987 | James R. McFarlane |
1986 | Robert J. Urick |
1985 | William N. Nierenberg |
1984 | John B. Hersey |
1983 | Alan Berman |
1982 | Ira Dyer |
1981 | No Award |
1980 | Neil Brown |
1979 | David W. Hyde |
1978 | Richard K. Moore |
1977 | Howard A. Wilcox |
1976 | Werner Kroebel |
1975 | Robert A. Frosh |