Coast Survey represented at the Women on the Water Conference
Lucy Hick, technical advisor in the Navigation Services Division (NSD), attended the 9th annual
2017 Women on the Water (WOW) Conference, which was held at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy in Traverse City, Michigan, from October 26-28, 2017. This conference provides an opportunity for cadets from all seven U.S. maritime academies to learn about career opportunities in the maritime industry. Lucy participated in a panel on non-traditional shipping opportunities and spoke about careers at NOAA as a member of the NOAA Corps, wage mariner, and project scientist. For more information, contact
Lucy.Hick@noaa.gov.
Navigation response team hosts National Ocean Service leadership at Stennis Space Center, MS
Carl Gouldman, IOOS director, Alex Ligon, NRT 1 team
member, Jean May-Brett, Louisiana Education Dept. (retired),
and Lauren Showalter, National Academy of Sciences, on
board NRT 1 vessel.
Navigation response team (NRT) 1, including
LT. Cmdr. Jonathan French (team lead),
Alex Ligon, and
Josh Bergeron, hosted
Nicole LeBoeuf, deputy assistant administrator of the National Ocean Service and members of the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Advisory Committee at their homeport of Stennis Space Center, Mississippi. The team showcased the NRT’s multifaceted mission as well as NSD’s other resources including the mobile integrated survey team (MIST). Alex demonstrated the acquisition operations of NRT survey launch, fielding a number of questions about the launch's capacities. Josh led an in-depth discussion on the flexibility that the MIST provides during a response effort. The group made up of local and national partners were pleased to know that this great resource was located at Stennis Space Center. For more information, contact
Jonathan.French@noaa.gov.
Hydrographic Services and Standards Committee meets in Ottawa, Canada
Julia Powell speaks as part of a panel discussion at the IHO
HCCS meeting in Ottawa, Canada.
This week, members of the International Hydrographic Organization's
Hydrographic Services and Standards Committee (HSSC) and its subsidiary working groups are meeting in Ottawa, Canada. The HSSC meets annually to promote and coordinate the development of standards, specifications, and guidelines for official products and services to meet the requirements of mariners and other users of hydrographic information. Coast Survey has two representatives attending -
Julia Powell, deputy chief of CSDL who is actively involved in the S-100 working group and
Dr. Neil Weston, technical director of CSDL who is serving as head of the U.S. delegation. For more information, contact
Neil.Weston@noaa.gov.
Northwest navigaton manager supports Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment
Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment workshop in
Bellingham, Washington.
In late October, northwest navigation manager,
Crescent Moegling, attended the Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment (PAWSA) in Bellingham, Washington. PAWSA is a focused risk analysis workshop used to identify major waterway safety hazards, estimate risk levels, and evaluate mitigation measures to reduce that risk. The process required the participation of professional waterway users from the Rosario Straits, Haro Straits, and Eastern Straits of Juan de Fuca with local expertise in navigation, mobility, and waterway safety. Waterway stakeholders were also included to ensure important environmental, public safety, and economic consequences were given appropriate attention. This PAWSA was made up of numerous observers and 14 teams including tribes, U.S. Coast Guard, ports, environmental advocates, federal agencies like NOAA, Navy, and others. These teams assessed and ranked predefined risk factors and worked during the two-day workshop to develop a holistic risk assessment and identify mitigation measures. For more information, contact
Crescent.Moegling@noaa.gov.
NOAA ship, NRT, and contractor operations
Weekly Hydro Ship Activity Report: Week of October 29
NRT 1 - Team is in Mobile, AL. Operations are suspended until the team's training is complete.
NRT 2 - Team is back in Fernandina Beach, FL, after surveying the Pensacola, FL, area following Hurricane Nate. Vessel crossdeck is complete, boat is survey and response ready.
NRT 4 - Team is back in Galveston, TX, after surveying the Gulfport, MS, area following Hurricane Nate. Vessel crossdeck is complete, boat is survey and response ready.
NRT 5 - Team is in Ossining, NY, working on their Hudson River project. Vessel crossdeck is complete, boat is survey and response ready.
Bay Hydro II -
Bay Hydro II has been hauled out of water for winter maintenance.
Staff Updates
Janice Eisenberg (CSDL Hydrographic Systems and Technology Branch) began a detail in early October with HSD Operations Branch as acting team lead. Janice holds COR II certification to support HSD’s contract efforts and has extensive knowledge of CARIS products.
Noah Lee joined MCD as an ERT contractor. Noah has a background in GIS and comes to us from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments where he was a water resources/GIS analyst intern. Noah works with the Format and Distributions Systems (FADS) team on area of interest updates.
Diversity and Inclusion
Several members of Coast Survey, including
Rear Adm. Shep Smith,
Matt Kroll,
Allison Wittrock,
Julia Powell,
Justin Adams, and
Amanda Phelps, attended the
2nd Annual NOAA Diversity and Inclusion Summit on November 1-2. The purpose of this summit was to:
- educate NOAA employees on specific aspects of diversity and inclusion, to learn best practices and gain valuable insights from leading experts on the value of creating a diverse and inclusive culture at NOAA, and
- empower leaders while they transition from learning to applying the knowledge in practice, aiding the agency in accomplishing its diversity and inclusion strategic goals.
The Coast Survey Diversity and Inclusion Committee held another successful Tabletop Game Lunch Hour on November 2. Thanks again to
Mike Brown and
John Macek for teaching us how to play
Tsuro and
We Come in Peace. If you were unable to make it this month, we look forward to seeing you for our December event and look out for information about an upcoming Knit and Crochet Lunch Hour. As always, if you have ideas for other lunchtime activities, please contact
Lucy.Hick@noaa.gov.
