SeaState: The ON&T Podcast

In this month's episode of SeaState, we sit down with Dawn F. Massa Stancavish, President, CEO and Chief Innovation Officer, and discover how a commitment to building long-term relationships has shaped the Massa Products Corporation's unique history, and how a focus on developing “fit-for-mission technologies” has kept the company at the forefront of sonar and ultrasonic sensor engineering for over 75 years.

Erin Daily Donahue is a Trade Commissioner responsible for defense, aerospace, and ocean technologies at the Canadian Consulate General in Boston.   Since joining the Canadian Consulate team in 2005, Erin has held a variety of positions within both the Consular and International Business Development divisions.  Prior to taking on responsibility for the defense and ocean technologies file, Erin was responsible for seafood and aquaculture technology sectors.  As part of the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, she provides strategic market information and market access solutions for Canadian companies looking to export, invest abroad, or develop innovation and R&D partnerships in the U.S. She also assists U.S. companies planning to establish or expand their operations in Canada.  A Massachusetts native, Erin graduated from Clark University with a BA in Government and International Relations. Before joining the Trade Commissioner Service, she worked abroad at the Université de Versailles in France. 

In this episode of SeaState, Rhonda Moniz talks with the executive director of the Regional Wildlife Science Collaborative for Offshore Wind, RWSC, Emily Shumchenia. It is the mission of RWSC to conduct and coordinate relevant, credible, and efficient regional monitoring and research of wildlife and marine ecosystems that supports the advancement of environmentally responsible and cost-efficient offshore wind power development activities in U.S. Atlantic waters collaboratively and effectively. Happy listening! 

“If we look back at the history of oceanology and marine science, there's always been this legacy of the need to push the boundaries of technology, but what's changed in the last couple of decades is that previously this meant putting people in harm's way—people on ships, into storms, and difficult conditions—but now we can transfer some of that risk onto robots.”Listen to this and other fascinating insights from Dr. Art Trembanis, an expert oceanographer and professor at the University of Delaware (UD), in the latest episode of ON&T's SeaState podcast, in which we explore the growing utility of underwater drones in the marine domain. Art is also the deputy director of UD's Center for Autonomous and Robotic Systems (CARS), a collaborative group of researchers focused on integrating real-world solutions by fusing systems control technology with artificial intelligence, so the ideal guest with which to contemplate the recent advances in uncrewed assets for ocean exploration.

In our final episode for season 3, SeaState is talking to Chris Ostrander about Innovation and Marine Technology. Chris is an oceanographer and business development executive with extensive experience in building and leading complex organizations, advancing mission-driven partnerships, and guiding durable growth for a range of academic, government, and private organizations.  Prior to joining the Marine Technology Society, Chris served in a range of leadership roles at the University of Utah spanning technology licensing and commercialization, industry partnerships, foundation & corporate philanthropy, and research administration. Happy listening! 

"We're running gliders every year since 2013 from the Bering Strait all the way up to Barrow Alaska, that's like this 1800 km transect, just developing this time-series of acoustics. It's like we're eavesdropping on climate change because the marine mammals are incredible integrators of the ecosystem and now, we've got an incredible time-series to investigate how they respond." Hank Statscewich, Researcher at College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences Institute of Marine Science in Alaska. 

Walt Musial is a principal engineer and leads the offshore wind research platform at NREL, where he has worked for 31 years. In 2003, he initiated the offshore wind energy research program, which focuses on a range of industry needs and critical technology challenges. Walt also developed and ran NREL's full-scale blade and drivetrain testing facilities for 15 years. Earlier, Walt worked as a test engineer for five years in the commercial wind energy industry in California. He has authored more than 100 publications and holds two patents. Enjoy another episode of SeaState.

Welcome to a new episode of ON&T's Podcast. We are talking to Isabel Rivera-Collazo, Assistant Professor on Biological, Ecological and Human Adaptations to Climate Change at the Department of Anthropology at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and directs the SIO Human Ecology Laboratory. Her work combines earth sciences, archaeology, and marine ecology to understand social vulnerability to climate and environmental change, through food and habitat security in coastal and marine areas. Through geoarchaeology and archaeomalacology, Prof. Rivera-Collazo works to identify lessons from the past that are relevant to communities in the present. Enjoy another great episode of SeaState!

Our guest for the latest episode of SeaState is Dr. Shirley Pomponi, a professor and marine biotechnologist, at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution at Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Pomponi leads the sponge biotechnology lab where they develop methods for in vitro production of bioactive compounds as a supply of chemically complex natural products. Find out more about marine sponges and their potential use for the pharmaceutical industry and restoring habitats.

In this episode of SeaState, we talk to Mark Jollymore, President of Innovasea Systems, and Tim Stone, GM & VP of Product Development Aquaculture-Intelligence at Innovasea. Innovasea provides aquatic solutions that hold up in the most challenging conditions. This requires more than just delivering the world's most advanced aquatic technologies. It means continuously applying knowledge in science and engineering, fish tracking, and farm operations to develop the ideal systems for each site. It means working shoulder-to-shoulder with customers to cultivate and protect fish populations. And it means consciously designing products and services to give back more to nature than we take. Innovasea is driven by a commitment to make our ocean and freshwater ecosystems sustainable for future generations. A pioneer in developing end-to-end solutions for aquatic ecosystems, Innovasea is intent on leading and feeding innovation.

“Ocean Data” is the topic of the latest edition of ON&T's podcast SeaState. We are talking to Joe Wolfel, Co-Founder of Terradepth. The company's vision is to be the foremost influencer on human interaction with the ocean. By creating the first-ever scalable autonomous deep-ocean data collection system, Terradepth will help humanity understand the behavior of our planet. Enjoy this interesting episode and visit our website for upcoming topics of SeaState. https://www.oceannews.com/seastate

SeaState met with Jack Rowley, CTO or MARTAC, to discuss unmanned technology used for defense and security. Jack Rowley is an experienced and accomplished multi-disciplined engineering project and program management professional with over 35 years of project/program management of complex ocean, electrical and mechanical engineering systems design. As a retired U.S. Navy Surface Warfare and Engineering Duty Officer, his experience base includes both Government and commercial sectors.

In this episode of SeaState, we chat with Delia Warren and Jeff Tingley of Xodus, a global energy consultancy headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland with over 350 staff in theUS, UK, Australia, the Middle East, and Asia. Tune in for a discussion about the future of the windfarm workforce and what is happening with the first US offshore wind farm in New England. 

In this episode of SeaState we chat with the husband and wife team of SeaTrac. Tune in to hear about their system that is designed to tackle a wide range of missions. SeaTrac offers a platform that is a complete system for autonomous observations, data collection, and reconnaissance. The unmanned system is designed to operate in a wide range of conditions, from shallow embayments with significant current, out to the open ocean. The base package includes a variety of built-in sensors, and the system is designed to support a wide range of customer payload sensors. If you would like to be a guest or sponsor an episode of SeaState reach out to our host Rhonda Moniz at seastate@oceannews.com

Brennan T. Phillips, Phd specializes in the development and application of novel instrumentation for oceanographic research. His current research topics include low-light imaging of deep-sea biology and bioluminescence, soft robotic manipulators, hydraulic systems, distributed sensing, and low-cost, lightweight methods for ocean exploration.

In this year's final episode of SeaState, we are talking to Thomas Gray about Satellite Telemetry and Marine Animal Tracking. Thomas joined the Environmental Monitoring team at the Woods Hole Group (WHGRP) in 2016 where he is responsible for business development with satellite telemetry systems primarily for wildlife and oceanographic applications. Prior to joining the team at the WHGRP he worked for an underwater electronics manufacturer, Desert Star Systems where he helped design, market, and sell underwater technologies including tracking systems, acoustic releases, and Argos satellite tags. Enjoy the latest episode sponsored by Sofar Ocean Technologies.

SeaState chats with the team from SEAmagine and Hydrospace Group. SEAmagine is a leading designer and manufacturer of small 2 to 9 people personal submarines and submersibles for yachts and professionals with over twelve thousand dives accumulated by its existing fleet. Hydrospace Group deploys precision engineering and technological innovation for underwater vehicles. Let's take a dive and explore the ocean in the latest episode of SeaState.   

Dr. Roger Hanlon is a diving biologist who studies rapid adaptive coloration incephalopods (squid, cuttlefish, octopus) and fishes. Learning the mechanics and functions of color changes has led to collaborations with materials scientists and engineers to develop new classes of materials that change appearance based on the pigments and reflectors in cephalopod skin. Don't miss the latest episode of SeaState “Cephalopods and their Possible Applications for Technology.”

In the most recent episode of SeaState, we are talking to Dr. Scott Parazynski, a highly decorated physician, astronaut, and tech CEO, who was recently inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame. In 1992 he was selected to join NASA's Astronaut Corps and eventually flew 5 Space Shuttle missions and conducted 7 spacewalks. Mission highlights include a global ozone mapping flight; leading the first joint US-Russian spacewalk while docked to the Russian space station Mir; serving as Senator John Glenn's crewmate and "personal physician", and assembly of the Canadian-built space station robotic arm. Enjoy the latest episode NASA & Ocean Exploration.

Don't miss episode six of SeaState when we talk with Dr. Robin R. Murphy about robotics and disaster response! Dr. Murphy is the Raytheon Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, and an IEEE and ACM Fellow. She helped create the fields of disaster robotics and human-robot interaction, deploying robots to 29 disasters in five countries including the 9/11 World Trade Center.

In our May episode of SeaState, we chat about ocean observation with the new Executive Director of Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS) Dr. Jake Kritzer, and Dr. John Trowbridge who is Principal Investigator of the Ocean Observatories Initiative. The Ocean Observatories Initiative is funded by the US National Science Foundation and operated and maintained by a partnership of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the University of Washington, Oregon State University, and Rutgers University.

In our April episode of SeaState, we chat with Dr. Chris German, a marine geoscientist with 30+ years' experience studying the Earth's oceans and who has spent more than 3 years of his life at sea spread across more than 60 deep-sea expeditions.  He has dived to the seafloor using research submersibles in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans and used robots to investigate submarine hot springs from the Arctic to Antarctic.  Don't miss it and listen today. 

In the next episode of SeaState we talk with David Walsh from Woods Hole Group. Mr. Walsh uses field and laboratory data to resolve and evaluate oceanographic and geologic processes within coastal, estuarine, and oceanic environments.  He has extensive experience in the design, implementation, and management of marine data collection programs for site characterization – whether through instrumentation moorings or sample collection.

This year, MASSA Products Corporation celebrates its 75th Anniversary in business and we talk to the father and daughter team at the helm of the company. Donald P. Massa is the co-founder and is recognized as a leader in the field of Electroacoustics. Don was trained by Frank Massa, his father, who is known as the “Father of Modern Sonar Transducers.” Don has advanced the field of Electroacoustics and has expanded the company beyond transducer design and fabrication to include the innovation and production of electroacoustic electronic systems.Don's daughter Dawn F. Massa Stancavis is both the Chief Innovation Officer and the Chief Operating Officer. She is in charge of all New Product Development, Innovation, Marketing & Sales, and is the liaison between industry/consumer and the technical development team at MASSA. Dawn serves on the Sanctuary Advisory Council (SAC) for NOAA, and the Board of Trustees, Overseers' Leadership Council & Governance Committee for the South Shore Conservatory. She also works closely with Northeastern University in Boston to bring in new COOP students to MASSA.

Dr. Jyotika Virmani is the first Executive Director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute, a philanthropic organization dedicated to advancing oceanographic research and exploration. Prior to this, she was the Executive Director of Planet & Environment at XPRIZE, where she led the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE to spur innovations in remote and autonomous, rapid, high-resolution sea floor mapping technologies, which included a Bonus Prize from NOAA for technology that could detect an underwater biological or chemical signal and autonomously track it to its source. Dr. Virmani joined XPRIZE in 2014 as the Technical Director for the Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE, a competition for pH sensor development to measure ocean acidification. Before joining XPRIZE, Dr. Virmani was the Associate Director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography, a Senior Scientist at the UK Met Office, and Executive Director of the Florida Coastal Ocean Observing System.   She has a Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography from the University of South Florida. As a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar, she earned a M.S. in Atmospheric Science from SUNY at Stony Brook. She also has a B.Sc. in Physics from Imperial College London and is an Associate of the Royal College of Science. 

Join the next episode of SeaState with our guest Brian Skerry, a photojournalist specializing in marine wildlife and underwater environments. Since 1998 he has been a contract photographer for National Geographic Magazine covering a wide range of subjects and stories, from the harp seal's struggle to survive in frozen waters, to the alarming decrease in the world's fisheries, to dolphin intelligence, and more. In 2014 he was one of five photographers named as a National Geographic Photography Fellow. In 2017 he was named a National Geographic Society Storytelling Fellow and in June 2017 he was awarded the title of Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year.

Join us on the next episode of SeaState when we talk to Graham Hine about platforms, sensors and data acquisition. Graham is the Chief Executive Officer for Liquid Robotics, the manufacture of the Wave Glider, an autonomous unmanned surface vehicle (USV) that operates individually or in fleets and is designed to support a wide range of sensors and payloads. As one of the founders, Graham's expertise in business, technology, and operations has played a major role helping to transform Liquid Robotics from a small start-up to an industry leader of autonomous ocean robots.

In the next episode of SeaState we talk with Stockton Rush. Stockton is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder (2009) of OceanGate Inc. As CEO, Rush is responsible for OceanGate's financial and engineering leadership, shaping the company's strategic direction with a clear vision focused on developing the next generation of manned submersible solutions for subsea operations in the commercial and defense sectors. 

In episode 4 of SeaState we talk with Dr. Larry Mayer who has participated in more than 90 cruises (over 70 months at sea!) during the last 35 years, and has been chief or co-chief scientist of numerous expeditions, including two legs of the Ocean Drilling Program and eight mapping expeditions in the ice covered regions of the high Arctic. Dr. Larry Mayer is the recipient of the Keen Medal for Marine Geology and has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Stockholm. He was a member of the President's Panel on Ocean Exploration, National Science Foundation's Advisory Committee for the Geosciences, and chaired a National Academy of Science Committee on national needs for coastal mapping and charting as well as the National Academies report on the impact of the Deepwater Horizon Spill on ecosystem services in the Gulf of Mexico. Further, Dr. Larry Mayer was the co-chair of the NOAA's Ocean Exploration Advisory Working Group, and the Vice-Chair of the Consortium of Ocean Leadership's Board of Trustees, and is currently the Chair of the National Academies of Science's Oceans Studies Board, a member of the State Dept.'s Extended Continental Shelf Task Force and the Navy's SCICEX Advisory Committee. In 2016, Dr. Larry Mayer was appointed by President Obama to be a member of the Arctic Research Commission, in 2017 he was elected to the Hydrographic Society of America Hall of Fame, in 2018, he was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and in 2019 he was elected as a foreign member in the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 

Join us for the next episode of season 1 on SeaState: The Marine Technology Sector - A Perspective. In this episode we talk with Justin Manley and get his thoughts on our industry during these unprecedented times. Justin is an innovative technologist and executive with experience in startup, public corporation, academic, and public sectors. He is a recognized leader in unmanned systems development and operations. Mr. Manley has been working with marine technology and robotics since 1990. Mr. Manley founded Just Innovation Inc. in mid-2015. He supports clients from startups to multi-national corporations with core technical specializations in unmanned vehicles, robotics, sensors, and undersea systems. Mr. Manley offers clients support with strategy and innovation, business and product development, evangelism, and marketing. Hear his take on the state of the marine technology sector and where we need to look to the future of the industry. Listen in to a thoughtful discussion on where we have been, where we are and where we are headed. Do not miss season 1, episode 3 of SeaState!

Join us for season 1: episode 2 on SeaState while we talk with the Father of side scan sonar, Marty Klein. Listen in as he talks about the evolution of the technology and his part in pioneering that technology. Hear about the history of side scan sonar and its impact on ocean exploration. From the labs at MIT to the Lochs of Scotland, don't miss this chat with a true trailblazer. Sit back, stay tuned, and jump in on SeaState!  

Join us for season 1: episode 1 on SeaState while we talk with world-renowned autonomous underwater vehicle pioneer, Dr. James Bellingham. Listen in as he talks about the use of underwater autonomous vehicles to explore the world's ocean depths. Hear about how the technology is being used in the race to collect data beneath massive glaciers that are melting at record rates, and explore with us the future of these tools in our expansion to use this expertise on other worlds. Sit back, stay tuned, and jump in on SeaState!