At the OCEANS '12 conference 10 years ago, Old Dominion University scientists working with the Virginia Institute for Marine Science and many local partners set the tone for serious conversations about climate change and sea level rise.
One decade later, the conference is returning to Hampton Roads, and ODU scientists are once again taking the lead.
Sponsored by the Marine Technology Society and the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society, the conference will convene international experts at the Virginia Beach Convention Center from Oct. 17 to 20 for a series of panels, town halls and exhibits focused on coastal resiliency.
The theme of OCEANS '22, "Resilient Coasts: Adapting Today to Secure Tomorrow," will allow ODU to showcase to an international audience the significant efforts over the last decade to study and understand climate change and sea level rise.
The theme was chosen to honor the late Larry Atkinson, an ODU Eminent Scholar Emeritus and Hampton Roads pioneer in sea level rise research. The technical program chairs for the conference also named one of the presentation rooms after him.
"Larry's passion was to bring people together to focus on the important problems," said Elizabeth Smith, director of interdisciplinary initiatives at ODU and exhibits co-chair for OCEANS '22. "He was a conversation starter, and then he would listen -- really listen, in an environment where competition sometimes outpaces collegiality."
In addition, there will be a memorial reception for Atkinson at 4 p.m. Oct. 18 in Suite 2AB at the convention center. Registration for OCEANS '22 is not required, but RSVPs should be sent to Julie Morgan at julie@ccpo.odu.edu by Oct. 12.
In the decade since OCEANS 2012, ODU's leadership role in coastal resilience, sea level rise research and adaptation has exploded, as evidenced by the fact that ODU will have the most technical papers from faculty and students of any U.S. institution participating in the conference. ODU is also the host university for the "Education Village," a set of exhibits for universities, nonprofits and entrepreneurs to showcase their research.
The conference will also showcase ODU's Maritime Initiative, now led by Elspeth McMahon, ODU's inaugural associate vice president for maritime initiatives. The endeavor will bring together cross-campus efforts, including supply chain management, coastal resilience, evacuation routes, and modeling and simulation.
Experts from 35 maritime nations, led by U.S. scientists, have written technical papers and are either attending in person or presenting virtually. More than 500 papers will be presented on topics including marine technologies, ocean engineering, integrated ocean observing systems, unmanned systems, gliders and new state-of-the-art buoys.
NASA, the U.S. Navy and the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration are the leading federal agencies participating this year. Nauticus, the maritime discovery center in downtown Norfolk, and the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach are key partners and will host the OCEANS '22 events.
For more information and to register to attend, click here. To volunteer, click here.
