Advancing Technologies Through the: OCEAN EXPLORATION COOPERATIVE INSTITUTE

The Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute (OECI) is a consortium of five organizations that work together to advance ocean exploration technology, operations, and training in concert with NOAA Ocean Exploration: University of Rhode Island (URI) Graduate School of Oceanography, Ocean Exploration Trust (OET), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), University of New Hampshire (UNH), and University of Southern Mississippi (USM). Following its launch in 2019, and with some restrictions from COVID-19 finally reduced, the OECI accelerated into its third year with a significant uptick in activities. Our array of projects spans the gamut of ocean exploration and includes the acquisition and development of novel autonomous systems, new approaches for cooperative exploration by humans and robots, innovative uses of telepresence, and the application of machine learning and cloud computing to ocean exploration data.