Daily Business Report-Feb. 27, 2017
Scripps oceanographer Rob Pinkel (left) describes the Wirewalker instrument at Oceanology International. (Photo Courtesy of Scripps Institution of Oceanography)
Major Science and Technology
Show Will Reside in San Diego
When the world’s largest ocean science and technology show came to San Diego earlier this month, Scripps Institution of Oceanography staffed a pair of modest booths in the exhibit hall.
But the imprint of the institution on the show and its future was actually much larger. The San Diego officials who lobbied to bring an edition of Oceanology International to the area credited the institution’s reputation as an international leader in marine technology as one of the clinchers responsible for bringing the event to San Diego for the first time.
The show, which has drawn thousands of participants to its London location for decades, will now have a San Diego edition every other year.
Michael Jones, president of the Maritime Alliance, which led the effort to bring Oceanology International to San Diego, said the symbolism of San Diego joining a city like London so rich in maritime history is unmistakable.
“Oceanology International is the largest ocean and science show in the world so to bring that to San Diego is a coup for the region,” said Jones. “Our goal is to grow this and maybe eclipse the mothership.”
Jones said that the reputation of Scripps, the presence of the U.S. Navy, and the concentration of marine technology companies in San Diego — many of which have been nurtured by Scripps research — persuaded the show’s operators to bring the event to San Diego on a regular basis.
The centerpiece of Oceanology International is the exhibit floor filled with displays of robotic marine instruments used not just by scientists but by oil companies, militaries, shipping firms, and more. Much of the technology showcased is either used extensively for research by Scripps Institution of Oceanography and other academic centers or was based on concepts first developed at places like Scripps.
Del Mar Oceanographic, for instance, is the purveyor of the commercial version of the Wirewalker, a platform that travels vertically in the ocean powered entirely by wave energy. It can be outfitted with a range of instruments to monitor various ocean conditions. The Wirewalker began its existence in the laboratory of Scripps physical oceanographer Rob Pinkel, who now leads the company.
Exhibitor Michael Baker International, located in San Diego, showcased gliders based on the ZRay platform which was funded by the Office of Naval Research and developed by Scripps researcher Gerald D’Spain. The wing-shaped ZRays are outfitted with hydrophone arrays and other instruments for passive acoustic monitoring that has a wide range of applications.
The final day of the three-day Oceanology International North America show at the San Diego Convention Center was a nod to Scripps history in the form of a tribute to the institution’s legendary geophysicist Walter Munk. The theme of the Feb. 16 conference, titled “Catch the Next Wave,” was celebration of the past to awaken the future. The idea, said speaker Don Walsh, was for the next generation of scientists and engineers to respect the past while not being afraid to reinvent the wheel.
“Sometimes you look in the rearview mirror and you find treasure back there,” said Walsh, a retired Navy captain and present-day entrepreneur who in 1960 became famous as the pilot of the bathyscaphe Trieste, which descended 11 kilometers (seven miles) to the deepest part of the ocean for the first time in history.
Munk, whose own career tracks closely with the last 75 years of the institution’s history, was honored by representatives of academia and private industry in anticipation of his 100th birthday, which he will celebrate in October. (Symposia and other events are also planned for later this year in Munk’s honor.)
In the final talk of the event, Munk related the history of acoustic tomography research – the process of determining average water temperature across vast expanses of ocean by measuring the travel time of acoustic signals over thousands of miles. He suggested that this could someday be an oceanographic equivalent to Scripps’ famous Keeling Curve record of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. As with CO2, scientists could use it to regularly track trends in ocean temperature and monitor climate change more effectively.
The fact that there is still so much more to explore in the oceans remains to Munk a constant source of wonder.
“The fact that we could have existed for a century and a half ignoring 90 percent of the kinetic energy [in the ocean] still leaves me astounded,” he said.
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Home Builder Offers Virtual Tours
Of New San Marcos Community
Home buyers interested in a new 250-acre San Marcos community can tour a home before it’s built using a virtual reality system being tested by Brookfield Residential.
The home builder is offering virtual tours of its new Rancho Tesoro
community weekly from Friday through Tuesday from noon to 5 p.m. until May 1 at the Carlsvad Premium Outlets in North County.
“When you think of the home buying process, VR is unfamiliar territory for most builders and home buyers,” said Mercedes Meserve, vice president of marketing for Brookfield Residential Southern California. “We’re excited to do something different. By harnessing the power of VR, we’ll be able to provide customers with a truly immersive experience that will put them in the driver’s seat.”
The technology allows home buyers to “walk” through floor plans and experience 365-degree environments. Users will also be able to preview finish selections like flooring and cabinets, and view furniture layouts.
“We hope to build excitement about Rancho Tesoro and save prospective residents time by letting them preview features in advance,” added Meserve.
Constrution is underway in the community, with models opening in the late spring. The 346 detached homes will range in size from approximately 2,211 to 3,565 square feet and include private yards, four or five bedrooms, and two- or three-car garages.
Residents will have access to three private parks, open space and a trail system with direct access to Discovery Lake’s catch-and-release fishing, playgrounds and picnic areas.
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Cubic and Northrop Grumman to Exhibit
At Australian Airshow and Defense Expo
Cubic Global Defense and Northrop Grumman Corporation will be major exhibitors at the 2017 Australian International Airshow and Defence Exposition in Geelong, Victoria, Australia on Tuesday through March 5.
Cubic Global Defense a business unit of Cubic Corporation, will exhibit advanced air combat training systems that can bridge the gap between current training and next-generation live, virtual and constructive training.
In addition, Cubic Mission Solutions will be presenting its comprehensive Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance products .
Avalon is comprised of two concurrent events – the Australian International Airshow and Aerospace and Defense Exposition.
Northrop Grumman Corporation will showcase the company’s array of next-generation capabilities at the event. Returning to the event this year will be full scale models of Northrop Grumman’s advanced autonomous maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems: the MQ-4C Triton and MQ-8C Fire Scout. Both systems are being considered for Australia’s future defence requirements and will significantly improve the Commonwealth’s broad area and tactical maritime surveillance and intelligence capabilities.
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Andrea Davidson Joins Sanford Burnham
Prebys Medical Discovery Institute as VP
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) has named Andrea Davidson as the new vice president of philanthropy.
In her new position, Davidson will be responsible for providing overall direction for advancing the Institute’s philanthropy goals and initiatives. She will oversee philanthropy operations, fundraising activities and develop and steward strategic donor relationships and alliances.
Davidson joins SBP from UC San Diego, where she most recently led the development team in raising $119 million in the 2015-2016 campaign. She began her career at UC San Diego in 2005 as an associate director of development. She worked as director of development for the Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center before becoming senior director of development for the Rady School of Management. She was promoted to executive director of development in 2013, overseeing the fundraising teams for the Rady School of Management, Arts and Humanities, the School of Global Policy and Strategy and the library. Since July of 2015, she served as interim associate vice chancellor of university development and worked with a fundraising team that spanned the general campus and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
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San Diego County Bar Foundation Awards
$110,000 to Three San Diego Nonprofits
The San Diego County Bar Foundation has awarded $110,000 from its 2016 Indigent Criminal Defense Fund to three San Diego nonprofits that offer legal defense programs for individuals and families.
The funds were awarded to:
- California Veterans Legal Task Force: $30,000 to help veterans secure criminal defense assistance for charges they are facing, with the hope that they will receive mental health treatment rather than custody. The program also provides legal students with hands-on experience providing legal assessments, experience with mental health issues and knowledge about veterans’ legal needs. www.cvltf.org
- St. Vincent de Paul Village: $30,000 to fully fund the Homeless Court Program, a special San Diego Superior Court session for homeless defendants to resolve outstanding misdemeanor offenses and warrants. The funds will support 100 percent of the program’s case management, operation expenses and the salary of a Homeless Court Representative.
- Think Dignity: $50,000 to support “The Homeless Youth Legal Advocacy Project,” which works with homeless youths who have aged out of foster care to reduce sentences, and expunge and seal their juvenile records so the young person can seek employment with a clean record.
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Personnel Announcements
Martin Flores Joins Carrier Johnson + CULTURE
Martin Flores has joined Carrier Johnson + CULTURE as director of landscape architecture and urban planning. Flores will head the firm’s expanding urban design services and oversee the integration of a landscape architecture design department into the firm’s structure.
Flores has over 34 years of experience in public and private professional practice throughout California, Arizona and Mexico. Most recently, Flores served as principal of urban design at Rick Engineering Co., a multi-disciplinary firm with 430 employees in eight offices, where he led efforts in San Diego and throughout California and Mexico in large-scale master planning, redevelopment, infill development, public realm streetscape infrastructure, neighborhood smart-growth development, and river and urban park projects. In addition, his team had extensive experience in public outreach and participatory design support.
Prior to his tenure at Rick Engineering, Flores spent 15 years as senior landscape architect and urban designer for the San Jose Redevelopment Agency, where he designed and managed all of the agency’s land development projects, public realm guidelines and infrastructure improvements, neighborhood directives, and river and urban park projects.
