Global ocean technology conference hosted by URI

November 21, 2025
URI President Marc Parlange welcomed attendees of the Marine Technology Society’s TechSurge international conference to URI’s Narragansett Bay Campus. (Photos courtesy Alex DeCiccio/URI Inner Space Center)

Event at URI’s Narragansett Bay Campus focused on fisheries and benthic monitoring for offshore development

November 20, 2025

The University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island Sea Grant recently hosted the Marine Technology Society’s annual TechSurge conference. The three-day event convened approximately 120 attendees from around the world at URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography on the Narragansett Bay Campus.

“We are seeing significant investment in URI, and particularly on the Bay Campus, towards enhancing ocean technology and building its capable workforce,” said URI President Marc Parlange, as he welcomed attendees to the conference. “This event is certainly an exciting indicator that our collaborative efforts are working, and we are right on track.”

The conference included several panel discussions. From left, Christopher Roman, professor of ocean engineering and oceanography at URI; William Misa, fisheries ecologist at TetraTech; Cameron Thompson, pelagic ecologist at Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems; URI alumnus Nicholas Chaloux, an engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; and URI alumna Emily Shumchenia, ocean data scientist for the Northeast Regional Ocean Council.

The conference, which focused on fisheries and benthic monitoring for offshore development, featured lectures, workshops, networking events, and a “Tech Cafe” for fostering industry and student connections. Tours of the Narragansett Bay Campus and highlighted ocean technology laboratories and startup businesses that partner with URI. 

Graduate School of Oceanography Interim Dean Steven D’Hondt reminded attendees that URI and Rhode Island Sea Grant played a lead role in marshalling the science that ultimately resulted in the country’s first offshore wind farm, the Block Island Wind Farm.

Rhode Island Sea Grant partnered with Marine Technology Society to bring the conference to URI and sponsored it as the 20th Ronald C. Baird Sea Grant Science Symposium.

The Marine Technology Society has a New England chapter for industry experts and researchers and a student chapter at URI for any student interested in developing skills and connections that will lead to a career in the marine technology or ocean engineering space.

“Rhode Island Sea Grant, as with other Sea Grant programs, is committed to ensuring that the best science informs how coastal communities and states make decisions about marine and ocean resources that are part of our daily life,” said Rhode Island Sea Grant Director Tracey Dalton, a professor in the URI’s Department of Marine Affairs. “As advances in ocean technology can help us improve how people access, for example, food and jobs tied to marine environments, this event served as a perfect platform for this year’s Baird Symposium.” 

Rhode Island Sea Grant is one of 34 programs in the National Sea Grant College Program working to enhance environmental stewardship and long-term economic development and responsible use of coastal and marine resources.