The UG2 is seeking new steering committee members to continue support for a robust and growing user group.
Each member of the UG2 Steering Committee will advocate for the UG2 goals and objectives and work toward a successful, thriving glider community. UG2 leadership is committed to ensuring a diverse and inclusive selection process, steering committee membership, and community. We encourage nominations from a variety of backgrounds, skills, and views.
TO NOMINATE A COLLEAGUE OR YOURSELF, PLEASE FILL OUT THE FORM BELOW BY MARCH 16TH, 2023.
Steering Committee Purpose
This Committee will lead the UG2 by providing vision, support and guidance for advancing an active, widespread community of glider users that promotes ocean information, innovation, and integration.
Member Roles
- Be a committed advocate for UG2 goals and objectives.
- Understand the strategic implications and outcomes of UG2.
- Provide support to UG2 and ensure accountability of efforts.
- Provide guidance and acceptance of UG2 goals & objectives.
- Monitor and review projects.
- Attend quarterly UG2 meetings (one of which will be in person), and UG2 sponsored workshops.
Responsibilities
- Initiate an inclusive Underwater Glider User Group community with identified leadership and rotating positions.
- Provide guidance on communicating glider activities for example:
- Guiding web-based tools
- Establishing an online forum for technical information exchange
- Organizing a webinar series to advance U.S. glider community knowledge exchange (several potential topics were identified previously)
- Organizing technical sessions and town halls at conferences, workshops, and community events
- Soliciting and coordinating community input for shaping future User Group activities and collaborative tools
- Liaising with international players and leveraging the global efforts including OceanObs’19, UN Ocean Decade, and others.
For more information on membership governance, sponsors, and support of this committee, click here for the Committee Charter.
Current Members
Dr. Barbara Kirkpatrick, Gulf Coast Ocean Observing System (GCOOS)
Dr. Barbara Kirkpatrick is the Executive Director for the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observation System (GCOOS). She has more than 35 years of experience in human and environmental epidemiology and started her career as a Respiratory Care Supervisor at Duke University Medical Center before going on to receive a Master’s Degree in Health Occupations Education at North Carolina State University and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Sarasota. In 1999, Kirkpatrick joined Mote Marine Laboratory as a staff scientist and shifted her research focus to environmental human health, particularly the respiratory effects linked to harmful algal blooms.
Bill Lingsch, US Glider User Group Coordinator, NOAA
Bill’s current position is to facilitate communication and collaboration across the US Glider Community for scientific collaboration and information/resource sharing for glider operators, data users, manufacturers, academia, and government agencies. He has over 39 years (31 with Navy and 8 in private industry) working in the oceanography and hydrography field that included doing oceans surveys globally and holding positions as Technical Lead, Program Manager (government and private sector), Department Head (over 100 civilians, military, and contractors producing operational oceanographic products), and as Assistant Chief of Staff (ACOS) for Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command.
Travis Miles, Rutgers University
Travis Miles is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, where he also received his Doctorate. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Gothenburg, in Sweden and was the recipient of the 2019 Marine Technology Society Young Professional Award. As a core faculty within the Rutgers University Center for Ocean Observing Leadership (RUCOOL) he specializes in using networked ocean observing systems including autonomous underwater robots, remote sensing technologies, and predictive ocean and atmosphere models to study air-sea interactions in storms. A large focus of his research includes improving hurricane intensity forecasts in the hours before they make landfall.
Hank Statscewich, University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences
Hank is a physical oceanographer and has been utilizing the Teledyne Slocum glider platform for over a decade in the Gulf of Alaska, the Chukchi Sea, the Arctic and Southern Oceans. He specializes in adapting new instrument technologies to the glider platform for use in the world’s high latitude marine environments.
Robert Todd, Woods Hole Institute
Robert Todd is an associate scientist in the Physical Oceanography Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. His research focuses primarily on boundary current systems, including the Gulf Stream and Middle Atlantic Bight shelf break frontal system, with additional work in equatorial and other open ocean regions. His group collects long-duration, high-resolution observations with underwater gliders that form the basis of most of their analyses. Velocity measurements from gliders equipped with Doppler current profilers have been central to his work. Todd is also involved with expanding the role of gliders in measuring along oceanic boundaries as part of the Global Ocean Observing System.
Victor Turpin – OceanGliders Technical Coordinator – JCOMMOPS
Victor Turpin is working for JCOMMOPS/IOC/UNESCO at the coordination of the international glider program of the GOOS – OceanGliders. He has been involved since 2014 in the European coordination of the glider activity in different international project (GROOM FP7, AtlantOS, ENVRI+). Victor’s work is about harmonization of the glider practices across the international glider community to strengthen and sustain the OceanGliders program and integrate as broadly as possible glider scientists, operators and manufacturers in the GOOS community.
Katherine D. Zaba, Scripps Institute of Oceanography
Katherine is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, specializing in observational physical oceanography. Her research interests include: oceanic boundary currents, El Niño-Southern Oscillation, marine heatwaves, physical-biological interactions, and autonomous underwater gliders. Most of her research has been regionally focused on the California Current System, with contributions to the California Underwater Glider Network (CUGN), the California State Estimate (CASE), and the California Current Ecosystem Long-Term Ecological Research (CCE-LTER) program. Katherine received her Ph.D. in Oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD in 2018, and her B.S. degrees in Applied Mathematics and Atmospheric, Oceanic, Environmental Sciences from UCLA in 2010.
Carl Gouldman, Executive Liaison, U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System, NOAA
Carl has been Director of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS®) Office in NOAA, since February 2017. Prior to becoming the director, Carl served as the Deputy Director of the program since June 2014 and has been in NOAA since 2000. U.S. IOOS is a coordinated network of people and technology that work together to generate and disseminate continuous data on our coastal waters, Great Lakes, and oceans.
Kathleen Bailey, Oceanographer/Physical Scientist, U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System, NOAA
Kathy is with the NOAA U.S. Integrated Ocean System Program Office, where she manages the Data Management and Cyberinfrastructure (DMAC) program. DMAC activities include management of a model output visualization and analysis tool (the IOOS Model Viewer), QARTOD project management, and oversight of data access and delivery of nonfederal observation data through federal systems and products. She joined the QARTOD BOA in 2015.
David Legler, Executive Liaison, Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing, NOAA/Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
Dave currently serves as the Director, Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing program, currently within NOAA’s Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. GOMO is leading NOAA’s efforts to develop and sustain a global in-situ ocean observing system and related products for researchers, forecasters, and other consumers of ocean knowledge. He is currently co-chair of the GOOS Observation Coordination Group (formerly part of the WMO-IOC Joint Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM – http://www.jcomm.info/) and co-chairs the US Inter-agency Ocean Observation Committee (IOOC – http://www.iooc.us/).
Bauke (Bob) Houtman, Executive Liaison, National Science Foundation, NOOA, IOOC
Mr. Bauke (Bob) Houtman is a member of the Senior Executive Service and serves at the National Science Foundation as Head of the Integrative Programs Section in the Division of Ocean Sciences, GEO Sciences Directorate. His Team manages ocean research infrastructure programs including the U.S. Academic Research Fleet, the International Ocean Discovery Program, the Ocean Technology Program, the Ocean Observatories Initiative Program, and the Regional Class Research Vessel MREFC Construction Project, as well as the Ocean Education Program. Mr. Houtman completed 29 years of active naval service before retiring in 2004. He then served as the Chief of Staff and Deputy Director for Operations and Finance at the Interagency Ocean.US office, followed by Program Officer for Research Facilities at the Office of Naval Research before assuming his current position at NSF in 2008. He also serves as a Co-chair of the U.S. Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology (SOST) Interagency Working Group on Facilities and Infrastructure, and Co-chair of the SOST Interagency Ocean Observation Committee. His education includes a B.S. in Geology -UCLA; M.S. in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography – U.S. Naval Postgraduate School; MBA -Southern New Hampshire University; and Level Three Certification in Science and Technology Transition Management – Defense Acquisition University.
Patricia Chardón-Maldonado, Caribbean Coastal Ocean Observing System (CARICOOS)
Dr. Patricia Chardón-Maldonado currently serves as technical director of the Caribbean Coastal Ocean Observing System (CARICOOS). CARICOOS is one of the 11 regional partners in the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). CARICOOS mission is to provide decision supporting information for enhancing safety in our coasts and ocean, improving efficiency of maritime operations and support coastal resource management in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Dr. Chardón-Maldonado obtained a B.S. in Civil Engineering and M.S. in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering both from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM), and a Ph.D. in Coastal Engineering from the University of Delaware. As technical director, she supervises all technical aspects of the project, including the CARICOOS numerical modeling and observational efforts. Her primary research/professional interests combine field and numerical model research to enhance our understanding of nearshore and coastal hydrodynamics and morphodynamics, wave-body interaction, nearshore-water-land system, and coastal protection systems (natural and hybrid). All of this with the goal of promoting a consistent, well-integrated, and sustainable approach to the management of coastal hazards in Puerto Rico, as well as maintain a healthy, resilient, and sustainable ocean and coastal resources for the benefit of present and future generations.
Daniel Hayes, Cyprus Subsea Consulting and Services C.S.C.S. Ltd (CSCS)
Daniel Hayes, holds a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Washington. There he studied ice-ocean interaction using AUVs in the Arctic (turbulent exchange during summer at the SHEBA experiment) and as a post-doc he studied ice-wave interaction in the Antarctic (British Antarctic Survey). Since 2004, he has been a researcher at the Oceanography Center of the University of Cyprus and Managing Director of Cyprus Subsea Consulting and Services (CSCS).
Kevin Martin, University of Southern Mississippi (USM)
Kevin Martin is the Senior Marine Instrumentation Specialist – Ocean Observing Manager for the School of Ocean Science and Engineering – Marine Science at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). He has been working with glider since 2007 and is familiar with both the Slocum and Seaglider platforms. Kevin is currently an instructor in the Unmanned Maritime Systems course being taught at the USM. Kevin is currently heavily involved with Gulf of Mexico Ocean Observing Systems, working with glider, buoys and HF radar systems. Before working for USM, Kevin received his BS/BA in Marine Biology/Environmental Chemistry for Roger Williams University, in Britsol, RI and a MS in Marine Science from the USM.
Hyun-Sook Kim, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Environmental Modeling Center (EMC)
Hyun-Sook Kim is an oceanography scientist established in modeling Hurricane/Typhoon prediction. Experience in numerical modeling with ocean models – HYCOM, Harvard Ocean Prediction System (HOPS) and ROMS, also with coupled WRF-HYCOM, ROMS-WAVEWATCH III, ROMS-SWAN, and NPZ-HOPS.
| Name | Affiliation | Role | Region |
| Chad Kramer | NAVO | Stakeholder – Operator | Gulf of Mexico |
| Michael Bendzlowicz | CNMOC | Sectoral | Navy – Stennis |