The IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society at Forty: The Challenges of an Evolving Society

The IEEE oceanic engineering society (OES) has completed forty years of active engagement: the initial eight years in the form of the oceanography coordinating committee (OCC), followed by seven years as the council of oceanic engineering (COE), then the past twenty-five years in the form of an IEEE society. During those forty years, the OCC/COE/OES has existed to serve society, the profession, the oceanic engineering community, and the professional interests of IEEE members working in oceanic engineering. OES has sponsored a strong set of conferences, including OCEANS, the offshore technology conference (OTC), the Undersea Technology (UT) symposium, the United States/European Union (U.S/EU) Baltic International Symposium series, and a variety of specialty workshops. The OES publishes an influential group of science and technology publications, including its flagship IEEE JOURNAL OF OCEANIC ENGINEERING (JOE), a quarterly newsletter, and a "just-in-time" electronic newsletter. The OES has sought to encourage engineering students to enter the oceanic engineering field through a variety of student-focused activities, including the OCEANS conference student-posters program, human-powered submarine races, the Ocean Science Bowl competitions, and an academic scholarship. Chapters have been established in eight IEEE global regions of the world. These forums and activities have been established and maintained to allow OES members and others in the oceanic engineering community to learn and grow by interacting with each other and sharing their ideas and contributions for solution to technical problems and to the broader challenges of society. As the society has moved through its various eras described later, the OES has invented ways to serve its members and the community at-large and will continue to adapt, innovate, modify, and otherwise support the changing needs of the profession.