Experts from 46 Countries Attend
May 25-30
Honolulu, Hawaii, May 30, 2003 ― The Thirteenth (2003) Annual International Offshore and Polar Engineering (ISOPE) Conference was held at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Hotel, Honolulu, Hawaii, May 25-30. Started in 1991, the annual ISOPE conference has been the world's largest technical program with peer-reviewed papers since ISOPE-92, held in San Francisco.
ISOPE sponsored the conference, which was organized with the cooperation of 22 major international engineering societies and organizations. The conference covered engineering, mechanics and materials as they relate to the ocean, the marine and polar (Arctic and Antarctic) world, the environment, and energy resources. The program featured 89 technical and opening sessions and 4 plenary sessions consisting of 422 refereed paper presentations and 10 oral presentations. The conference proceedings (2,912 pages in 4 volumes) on one CD-ROM are available from ISOPE.
Four plenary speakers presented technological reviews on composite materials, metocean, two body interactions, and quality management. This year, a special symposium on High-Performance Materials in Offshore Industry (HMOI) was organized by ExxonMobil as part of the conference.. It highlighted emerging materials technologies for oil and gas production and transportation; these presentations were made by the world’s leading researchers in this field. (See the earlier announcement on this Website.) A special session was devoted to the new development of High- Strength Pipeline Technology, focused on the science and technology of the recently developed X-100 and X-120 high-strength steels for line pipe. (See the separate announcement below.)
SARS hardly stopped the attendance of colleagues from Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Canada, and recent findings were presented by experts from 46 countries, including Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa. Technical presentations included recent findings in multiple sessions on research and engineering. Featured was a series of high-level sessions on research.
This year, Frank Bercha of Bercha Group, Calgary, Canada, presided at the Annual Conference Banquet. No Best Paper Award was presented this year. Click on banquet photos.
The Award Committee Chairman, Bob Frederking, announced the 4 outstanding student recipients of the Offshore Mechanics Scholarship from Japan, USA and UK. He presented certificates and $500 checks to Mr. Ioannis Moatsos, UK, and Ms. Liujuan Tang, USA, who attended the banquet. ISOPE is pleased to note a steady increase in student participation at its conferences each year. ISOPE is committed to promoting the professional growth of its student members by encouraging their participation in the technical meetings (ISOPE conference and symposium) and by recognizing their research accomplishments in the awards program.
The ISOPE 2003 Session Organizer of the Year Award was given to Dr. Raghavan Ayer, ExxonMobil Research & Engineering Company, for his successful campaign of inviting 32 papers. Prof. Masashi Kashiwagi, the 2002 Session Organizer of the Year Awardee from Kyushu University, Japan, presented the Award plaque to Dr. Ayer at the Conference Banquet, on May 28. Ivar Langen, the Society president, presented ISOPE Awards to Ronald H. Knapp (USA), Wataru Koterayama (Japan) and Alberto Francescutto (Italy) for their invaluable contributions to ISOPE.
A highlight of the evening banquet (Wednesday) was the lively performance given by the Polynesian Cultural Center. Musicians and a troupe of students from the islands of the South Pacific performed Maori, Samoan, Hawaiian and Tahitian dances. (Click on Banquet for the Polynesian Cultural Center performance.)
At the banquet, President Langen announced details of the Jin S. Chung Award to recognize one person in the ocean engineering community each year for creative accomplishments in research or design practice. This award was established by the ISOPE Board of Directors in Stavanger in 2001 and was formally initiated in Honolulu at this conference.
The annual ISOPE conference is structured to enable the direct cooperation and participation of the international session organizers, all international and national organizations, individuals and students. To participate in ISOPE-2004 (Toulon, France, May 23-28), download the Call for Papers from www.isope.org.
Additional information is available from: ISOPE, P.O. Box 189, Cupertino, CA 95015-0189, USA; Tel. 650-254-1871; Fax 650-254-2038; meetings@isope.org.