Brandy Armstrong, Executive Vice President
Offshore Technology Conference Houston
Every year IEEE OES is one of 13 sponsoring academic, scientific, and professional organizations dedicated to the advancement and diffusion of scientific and technological knowledge of offshore resources and related environmental matters at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas. Our members receive a discounted registration and income from this event is invested back into IEEE OES programs. This year attendance and exhibits crept back towards pre-pandemic numbers with exciting new sessions that included energy transition, offshore wind, autonomous vehicles, advanced robotics and autonomy. The exhibition floor was impressive and the technical program was excellent and well attended.
Executive Committee Session
This year IEEE OES held our Executive Session just prior to OTC to encourage more participation and cooperation with the local Houston Section and IEEE OES Chapter. Executive session included continuing strategic planning efforts focused on big opportunities and delving into the topics regarding how to advance the Society with regard to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Career Networking Exhibition Tours Initiative
Current YP BOOST Laureate Amy Deeb worked with Houston IEEE Section volunteers Christopher Sanderson and Cheryl Windom and Chapter volunteers Michael Romer and In Chul Jang to organize the inaugural Career Networking Exhibition Tours and recruit student attendees. The tours were successful with 15 students signed up, 9 student participants who showed up, and 4 guides (3 of them local) including Christopher Sanderson, Cheryl Windom, Arvind Bahrdwaj and IEEE OES WIE Liaison and Administrative Committee member Farheen Fauziya. Check out Arvind’s post on LinkedIn detailing his experience as a guide.
All of the students who attended made career networking connections and several of them were able to take advantage of job, internship and business opportunities while on the tour. After a provided lunch and discussion, students stayed for the remainder of the day to take advantage of their new networking skills. It was gratifying to see the students traversing the floor on their own following the program and making more connections. Students will receive a brief survey to summarize their experiences and a guide will be written to help port this program to future IEEE OES events, such as OCEANS.
IEEE OES Chapter Event
Liz Creed worked with the local chapter to set up a chapter event Tuesday evening where Molly Iliffe of Baringa spoke on Hydrogen: a game changing opportunity for Texas and the offshore sector. The new IEEE OES Houston Chapter chair, Rami Jabari, was present and several new faces showed up to be introduced to the chapter for the first time. One of the new faces was Xingpeng Li, PhD, named one of OTC’s emerging leaders of 2023.
IEEE OES OTC Technical Program Committee Luncheon
IEEE OES sponsored a luncheon Thursday with the IEEE OES OTC Technical Program Committee (TPC) and IEEE OES leadership. This is the second year for this meeting with plans to continue as a regular event at OTC. The TPC is growing with several remote (to Houston) IEEE OES members joining. As new members of the TPC this year, Bharath Kalyan and Manu Ignatius chaired sessions on advanced robotics, autonomy, and digital transformation. Technical Program Committee Chair Michael Romer discussed Topics for next year’s sessions and interviewed with each committee member to record lessons learned and ideas gleaned from this year’s sessions. With exciting topics like Transforming Offshore Energy with Advanced Robotics and Autonomy and ROV/AUV Technologies and the Link to Oceanic Engineering this year’s sessions were well attended, even those held on Thursday, which is usually the lowest attendance day of the conference.
New Members
New members were signing up during OTC and coming back to the booth to tell us about it. Our booth volunteer energy, diversity, and enthusiasm is attracting new members from all over the world. Speaking with potential members at OTC has also given us new ideas for how to highlight membership benefits that OTC attendees are most interested in, such as corporate membership and involvement in developing IEEE standards.
Are YOU missing out on OTC Houston?
If you are interested in getting involved with IEEE OES efforts at OTC Houston, please reach out to OES leadership at https://ieeeoes.org/contact-us/ .