Oceanology International China Keynote Address Confirmed

The inaugural Oceanology International China exhibition and conference being held in Shanghai from Tuesday, September3-Thursday, September 5 will get off to a flying start with a powerful plenary session on the morning of Tuesday, September 3.

In a conference session chaired by Professor Ralph Rayner Sector Director, Energy and Environment, BMT Group Ltd and Chairman, Sonardyne International Ltd, confirmed keynote speakers on the show’s opening morning include Captain Don Walsh, USN (Retired), International Maritime Inc and Honorary President, The Explorers Club; Dr Bernard Montaron, Director, Schlumberger China Petroleum Institute; and Professor Weicheng Cui, Research Professor and Dean, Hadal Science and Technology Research Center, Shanghai Ocean University.

“The Oceanology International China conference has been developed with the Chinese Society of Oceanography and the Society for Underwater Technology, including the head of the SUT China brand, Professor Menglan Duan, Professor at the Chinese University of Petroleum,” explains Event Director, James Coleman of Reed Exhibitions Ltd.                                                                                                                                                                        

“Launching this new event in co-operation with government and industry bodies ensures a unique forum for connecting with China’s vitally important and rapidly growing offshore energy and marine industries, and we have a world-class conference which we know will be of interest to industry, academia and government representatives.

“We are particularly excited about bringing together two keynote speakers who share a practical interest in hadal zone exploration. In 1960 Don Walsh, with Jacques Piccard, dived in Trieste to the deepest place in the world ocean – 35,840 ft in the Mariana Trench, and his interest continues to this day, and Professor Cui is involved with the current Jiaolong deep manned submersible project. In Dr Montaron we have a speaker who will impress on our audience the key role oceanology plays in offshore oil and gas exploration and production.

“The conference is free to attend for all involved with marine technology and ocean science who, we are confident, will find it invaluable for improving their strategies for measuring, exploiting, protecting and operating in the world’s oceans.” 

The afternoon of Tuesday 3 September has been allocated for exhibition visits – over 85% of the exhibition space has been sold to over 150 companies from 20 countries, including United Kingdom, United States and British Columbia (Canada) pavilions. A full list of exhibitors appearing on the event’s website at http://www.oichina.com.cn/en/index.html

Getting to grips with technology and measurement
The event stays open throughout the three days; and Wednesday 4 September is a particularly busy conference day, with a full day of sessions devoted to Ocean Observation Systems and Instrumentation (chaired by Professor Ralph Rayner); and similarly a full day devoted to Underwater Vehicle Technology (chaired by Ian Gallett, Business Development Manager, Society for Underwater Technology). Thursday’s conference session will be devoted to Offshore Survey and Geophysics.

The full programs for all the technology sessions will be online within the next two weeks.

Further information and registration
Further information on all aspects of Oceanology International China 2013 is available online and registration is open at www.oichina.com.cn/en/page/Visitor_Registration/.The show is organized by Reed Exhibitions with the Ocean Observation Technology Branch of the Chinese Society of Oceanography (CSO). The CSO together with the National Ocean Technology Centre and China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association (COMRA) are host supporters; The Society for Underwater Technology is the event’s learned society patron; and the Society of Maritime Industries, IMCA; IMarEST; The Hydrographic Society; UK Trade & Investment; China-Britain Business Council and Schlumberger China Petroleum Institute, Beijing are all international supporters.   

About the keynote speakers
•Captain Don Walsh USN (Retired), PhD is head of the Oregon-based consulting company, International Maritime Inc, a business he founded in 1976.

Joining the US Navy at Naval Air Station Oakland in 1948 he became an aircrewman in torpedo bombers before entering the Naval Academy in 1950. After graduation, he served two years in the Amphibious Forces before entering submarine school in 1956. Then Don served in the San Diego based submarines Rasher (SSR-269), Sea Fox (SS-402), and Bugara (SS-331) before commanding Bashaw (AGSS-241).

From 1959-1962 Lieutenant Walsh was the first Officer-in-Charge of the Bathyscaph Trieste at the Navy Electronics Laboratory in San Diego. Designated USN Deep Submersible Pilot #1 he was also the first submersible pilot in the US. In January 1960, he and Jacques Piccard dove Trieste to the deepest place in the World Ocean: 35,840 feet. For this achievement, Lieutenant Walsh received a medal from President Eisenhower at ceremonies in the White House.

From 1970-75, Commander Walsh was on duty in Washington DC serving as Special Assistant (Submarines) to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research and Development (ASNR&D) and later as Deputy Director of Navy Laboratories. During his 24-year naval career he served in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. 

In 1975 he retired as a captain to accept a professorship of ocean engineering at the University of Southern California (USC). There he became founding Director of the Institute for Marine and Coastal Studies (IMCS) with rank of dean. He left USC after eight years to form IMI, his present consulting practice. Since its founding, IMI has completed nearly 100 projects in 20 countries.

Dr. Walsh is author of over 200 ocean-related publications. He has presented over 1,700 lectures, television and radio programs in 64 countries. His topics have ranged from adventure/exploration to group motivation. From 1973 to the present he has also been an active lecturer on more than 32 cruise and expedition ships doing over 150 cruises and expeditions worldwide.

Since 1959 Walsh has participated in diving operations with over two dozen manned submersibles, piloting seven of them.  He has also been active in the design, manufacture and operation of manned and unmanned submersibles. 

For the past four decades, Dr Walsh has also worked in both Arctic and Antarctic regions including the North (5 trips) and South Poles. To date he has participated in over 50 polar expeditions.  His first trip to the Arctic was in 1955, the Antarctic in 1971. During November 2002 – February 2003, he made a circumnavigation of the continent. It was only the 11th time this voyage has been made since Captain James Cook first did it in 1773-74. The "Walsh Spur" (ridge) near Cape Hallett is named for him in recognition of his contributions to the US Antarctic Program.

Among other awards, in February, 2001 Dr Walsh was elected to the National
Academy of Engineering in recognition of his four decades of work in the design, construction and operation of undersea vehicles. In March 2001, he was awarded the Explorers Medal by the Explorers Club. A few years earlier he had received their Lowell Thomas Medal. Also in 2001, the French Jules Verne Adventures organization awarded him its “Etoile Polaire” medal celebrating “The Greatest Explorations of the 20th Century”.  In 2001 he was also cited as one of the great explorers in the Life Magazine book, “The Greatest Adventures of All Time”. Walsh was awarded The National Geographic Society’s Hubbard Medal in 2010. 

Since graduation from the Naval Academy, his travels have taken him to about 112 nations throughout the world. And he isn’t slowing down. In 1999, using a Russian Mir submersible, he dove 8,000 feet to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near the Azores at the Rainbow Vents hydrothermal vents field. Later, in July 2001, he dove 12,500 feet to the wreck of RMS Titanic and the next year to the WWII German Battleship Bismarck at 15,500 feet.  Most recently he has dived in Lake Geneva in a Mir submersible.

•Dr. Bernard Montaron. After eight years in the automotive industry (Renault) in France, Dr. Bernard Montaron joined Schlumberger in 1985 and worked in various assignments in R&D and marketing in Europe, the USA, the Middle East, and China.

He is currently director of the Schlumberger China Petroleum Institute in Beijing. His previous assignments in Schlumberger during the last ten years were: Worldwide theme director for carbonates, based in Dubai, UAE; General manager of Etudes et Production Schlumberger in Clamart, France; Vice-president oilfield services marketing for Europe, CIS and Africa; and Vice-president marketing for Schlumberger Middle East based in Dubai, UAE. Bernard Montaron holds a Master degree in physics from Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles in Paris (ESPECI ParisTech), and a PhD in mathematics from University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. He represents the industry on the board of directors of ESPCI ParisTech. Dr. Montaron is also an active member of AAPG, SPE, SPWLA and EAGE.

•Professor Weicheng Cui is currently a Research Professor and Dean of Hadal Science and Technology Research Center, Shanghai Ocean University.

Professor Cui obtained his B.Sc from Department of Engineering Mechanics of Tsinghua University in 1986 and his Ph.D from University of Bristol, England, in 1990. From 1990 to 1993, he did his post-doctorate research in the Department of Aerospace Engineering of University of Bristol. He made some contributions in the aspects of measurement of interlaminar shear strength, nonlinear effect and size effect of the delamination strength and the delamination mechanism for composite materials.

From February 1993 to May 1999, he worked in China Ship Scientific Research Center (CSSRC) and from 1999 to 2002 he was appointed as the Changjiang Professor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and from 2002 to 2012 he was working in CSSRC again.

From 2013 onward he has been working at Shanghai Ocean University. He was the project leader and first deputy chief designer of the Jiaolong deep manned submersible, contributing to the application of multidisciplinary design optimization method and the establishment of a rational design standard for the manned cabin.

Before the Jiaolong project, he mainly engaged in research into ship structural mechanics. He had made some contributions in the areas of the prediction of the ultimate strength of intact and damaged ship structures, fatigue strength assessment of ship structures and reliability-based analysis and design of ship structures.

He was a member of ISSC TC III.1 Fatigue and Fracture for two terms from 1997 to 2003 and afterwards became a standing committee member of ISSC. He is also a standing committee member of PRADS conference and UT conference.

He is a member of the editorial board of five international journals ‘Marine Structures,’ ‘Journal of Marine Science and Technology,’ ’Journal of Engineering for the Maritime Environment,’ ‘Ships and Offshore Structures,’ ‘Ocean Engineering’ and several national journals including the deputy chief editor of ‘Journal of Ship Mechanics’.

He has published about 400 technical papers in various technical journals and conferences. His current interest is to develop a full ocean depth manned submersible in order to promote the development of hadal science in the world.

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