This article is a summary of the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society (OES) Administrative Committee (ADCOM) Meeting, held in Biloxi, Mississippi, USA on 26 October 2009. Only the highlights are presented here.
     The IEEE OES ADCOM Meeting commenced at 8:30 AM at the Beau Rivage Hotel in Biloxi, MS. The meeting began with a Call to Order, Roll Call, and an official welcome from Jerry Carroll, the IEEE OES President.
     Jerry Carroll introduced Hal Fletcher from Nuclear and Plasma Society who is the VP Technical of TAB addressed questions about IEEE. Hal gave a presentation on IEEE activities.

Jerry Carroll gave his presentation as OES President. He stated that:

Jerry Carroll, OES President.

• He recommended that we raise our dues by $3.00 to be voted upon in Sydney at the OCEANS’10 Conference there.
• We are supporting our Chapter in India through technical co-sponsorship in India with SYMPOL, with Sandy Williams and Jim Collins participating. Sandy and Jim also reviewed the papers for this conference.
• There is another conference in China that they are requesting technical co-sponsorship with and they have moved it to July 2010. We want the models used for the UT conferences to be applied to India.
• Our website has been updated by Todd Morrison, Barbara Fletcher, Matthew Gelis, and Milica Stojanovic.
• The student program reimbursements are on track here in Biloxi.
• There were hitches in Bremen because the university could not accept the ONRG money and it had to be redirected to OES from which it went to the students.
• The Argentina 2010 Symposium is on track and may need a $10,000 loan.
• The Baltic 2010 Symposium will be held in June with the meals purchased in the cafeteria at the university without conference cost. There are costs only for the ice breaker if we have money. However, the cost is expected to be very low.
• The hope is to get all expense cost issues resolved with these conferences before Sydney.

     Jim Barbera, the Junior Past President, conducted the elections. There were four positions for election. After a call for nominees from the floor all nominees were unopposed. Therefore, a motion was made for each in turn to be elected by acclamation. The motions passed in each case. The results were: For VP Professional - Liz Creed; for VP Conference Development – Bob Wernli; for Treasurer – Diane DiMassa; and for JOE Editor-Elect – Bill Carey.

Jerry Carroll gave a presentation of the ICEO task that has been requested of us:

• It is not fully understood what work is to be done.
• It was decided that Stan Chamberlain will meet with Zdenka Willis (NOAA IOOS Director) to find out more.

Diane DiMassa, the OES Treasurer, gave her presentation on our finances. Diane stated that:

• The OES is presently in the black financially.
• IEEE has requested that OES raise its dues. In response, the EXCOM and ADCOM should consider raising the dues by $3 from $19 to $22. This is to be discussed in Sydney.
• She was concerned about costs for travel/expenses for “Old Salts”.
• Get items for a wish list that can be funded out of surplus as soon as possible, like GOLD members and students (to fund their travel/expenses for conferences).”

Steve Holt provided his Secretary’s Report. He reported that:

• He wrote three EXCOM and ADCOM Meeting Reports so far in 2009.
• Maintained list of outstanding action items and motions.
• Continued organizing arrangements for conference meetings.
  Worked on arranging Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) sessions for the Biloxi, MS conference.
• Continued work with several OES officers preparing 2009 IEEE OES Society Review Report.
• Worked a limited amount on IEEE ISWG Standards Registry.
• Wrote article for Earthzine magazine (Posted electronically on 21 May, 2009): http://www.earthzine.org/2009/05/21/ieee-committee-on-earth-observation-standards-working-group-iswg-is-recruiting-volunteers-to-build-geoss and was entitled: “IEEE Committee on Earth Observation Standards Working Group (ISWG) is recruiting volunteers to build GEOSS.
  

Note: There were no outstanding action items to address.
     Tamaki Ura gave a presentation on the proposed 2011 IEEE/OES 7th International Symposium on Underwater Technology (UT), to be held from April 4–8, 2011.
     Marinna Martini wanted to take the “Lost Instruments” site off the web. She pointed out that “Linked In” and Facebook have replaced this. The proposal is to use the OES logo on Linked In the OES group. It should be kept open for non-members as well as members. Also, job postings should not be put there.
     Claude Brancart distributed the International Submarine Races (ISR) 10 DVD. There is a compendium as well.

Sandy Williams, the Vice President for Technical Activities, gave his presentation on his recent efforts. Sandy stated that:

• Several TCC slots needed to be filled. Three motions to approve TCCs were approved.
• He will present a proposal for Distinguished Lecturer candidates from each of the 18 TC areas in the OES. As it presently reads, there could be 18 × 18 candidates.
• Session chairs needed to be selected more carefully and it has been proposed that authors be asked if they are willing to be a session chair and also who is attending and who will be present. These are to be added to the web based abstract site.
• He gave a presentation on his thoughts on the Distinguished Speaker program. He will give a presentation in Sydney for a formal program to be incorporated into the OES Policy and Procedures Manual.
  

Sandy Williams, VP for Technical Activities.

     Bob Wernli gave a presentation on his RECON activities. Bob reported on the status of potential future OCEANS sites that include the following candidates: Taipei in 2014, Baltimore/Washington DC in 2014, Genoa in 2015, Monterey/Bay Area in 2015, Shanghai in 2016, and possibly St. John’s in 2016.
     Todd Morrison proposed a change to the IEEE OES Bylaws. The future status of several proposed appointments were addressed by three motions. Todd noted that the new Editor for the Newsletter (James Gant), the Editor for the electronic Newsletter (Marinna Martini), and the OES WebMaster (Barbera Fletcher) presently need to be elected members of ADCOM according to the OES Bylaws. Todd proposed that we have to change this language because Jim Gant presently isn’t an elected member of ADCOM. For this reason alone, plus for other potential situations, these three positions needed to have this language in the Bylaws changed.
     Jim Gant presented his Newsletter report. The July issue is out and the next is nearly done. But there needs to be something in it about Sydney. The next issue deadline is December 31, 2009.
     Jim Collins, the Vice President for Professional Activities, gave his report on Professional Activities noting that the eNewsletter and Newsletter Editors had already covered their topics. He would do the Chapter Activities report and the Website, Membership Development, and Student Activities would be reported by those Chairs respectively. The Norway Chapter has been officially approved as of October 19th, 2009. The India Chapter has been active in the past year. The India Chapter Chair, M. A. Atmanand, has just been promoted to Director of the National Institute of Ocean Technology. The New South Wales Chapter is a Joint Chapter Chaired by Brian Ferguson. At present the UK/RI Chapter is the only one without a Chair.

Barbara Fletcher, Webmaster and Bob Wernli, VP for Conference Development.	Reneé Garello, VP for Conference Operations.

Christian de Moustier, the OES Journal of Oceanic Engineering (JOE) Editor, gave a presentation on his activities:

• The Journal went through a five year review in June, and a final report was submitted to IEEE in September 2009.
• The review committee noted what it considered “best practices” for the Journal:
• Reader survey to assess the publication needs of the membership.
  
• Prescreening of manuscripts submitted for publication in the Journal for content and form. Manuscripts that do not meet the expected quality standards are returned to the authors without review and with instructions on what needs to be done before the manuscript may be considered for review.
  
• Yearly recognition of excellent reviewers, with publication of their picture and nomination in the April issue of the Journal.
• Involvement of Associate Editors is critical to the quality of the Journal and we need more Associate Editors outside the US. However proficiency in English limits the pool of prospective editors.
  

     The review committee recommended that Associate Editors have term limits. Currently editors serve three years terms, renewable indefinitely.
     Rene Garello, the Vice President of Conference Operations, gave a presentation on his activities. His full presentation is included in Attachment D. Rene stated that:

• Recording the plenary sessions since the Oceans’07 conference in Aberdeen. There is also a promotional video under production. Also there is a tutorial on the web tools.
• A question arose should the IEEE Committee on Earth Observation (ICEO) meeting be on Sunday before the Oceans’10 conference in Seattle, or should the ADCOM be on Sunday and have the ICEO on Monday? Jerry Carroll suggested that the ICEO conference be part of Oceans as a track. The problem is that the GEO/ICEO conference is by invitation and the papers should not have to go through the abstract review process.

Norm Miller gave a presentation on his Student Poster activities. Norm stated that:

• The Student Poster Competition process needs to be revised. There is still a need for the conference judging to be revised.
• Norm reported that the student poster program started in 1989 and Franz Hover was the first winner. In 1990 there was no student program but in 1991 there was another student poster program in Hawaii. Since then the student program got woven into the OCEANS conferences. Norm said that he has been involved in every student program since.

Glen Williams reported on the IEEE OES “Old Salts” Initiative. Glen stated that:

• The IEE OES “Old Salts” Committee consists of past presidents and appointees.
• They can act where they have experience or where their experience is requested.
• One member of the committee should attend the EXCOM and ADCOM meetings, plus, they should meet among themselves at least once a year.

     In summary, there were eleven new motions and no new action items created. The meeting was then adjourned at 5:15 PM on 26 October 2009.