MTS Houston Section Hosts Annual Barbecue Social and Fundraiser

The Marine Technology Society’ Houston Section, the largest Section of the Society, hosted its Annual Barbecue Social and Fundraiser on October 28th, 2021. This annual event has become a much-anticipated tradition along the Gulf Coast, attracting some 400-600 offshore-industry professionals and their guests. It was apparent by the registration numbers everyone was ready to get back out for some in-person networking.
This year’s event was hosted by DeepOcean at their facility located in North Houston. DeepOcean is a leading subsea provider, servicing any equipment with specialized expertise. DeepOcean delivers value to subsea markets; Inspection, Maintenance and Repair, Subsea Construction, with an extensive fleet of vessels, over 50 ROVS, and in-house tool manufacturing and extensive ready-to-use tool pool.

In addition to an evening of socializing with food and refreshments, the event offered excellent networking opportunities. The event had 50 exhibit tables where companies exhibited their latest technology and products to prospective customers and attendees. Moreover, each year the event has held two silent auctions that take place during the Barbecue, which includes auctioning a variety of donated items and autographed sports memorabilia. Both are a big hit with attendees and this year did not disappoint.

This is the Section’s leading fundraiser of the year and the money raised supports the Section’s scholarship program. This year a total of five scholarships were awarded to different universities, and a local high school. The scholarships were presented in the evening by the Houston Section’s Chair, Fernando C. Hernandez of Hernandez Analytica. Additionally, there was a booth allocated to Dickinson High School’s robotics club, who also participated in this year’s MATE competition. Ike Coffman, Technology Instructor at San Jacinto College, and the Section’s treasurer, who also contributes to the annual MATE competition expressed “It was quite a struggle for teams to fight off the COVID shutdowns and still be able to create a competitive ROV. I think it is worth recognizing and awarding Dickinson High School’s students for their perseverance considering the shutdowns. The fact that students and teams participated in the competition at all this year is quite remarkable” Importantly, Dickinson High School was also a scholarship recipient.

The MTS Houston Barbecue is organized and run by volunteers. These include, amongst others: Melissa Wood with TDI-Brooks— long-time MTS Barbecue Chair—who stepped in this year for John Hebert of Ashtead Technology; Desiree Reyes with Clarion Energy, who functioned as the Sponsors Chair; Rachel Cluthe with Seatronics, who coordinated the Silent Auction; and Shannon Giagnorio with Sottomarine, who handled all aspects of registration and coordinating the event’s volunteers. The Barbecue cooking team once again included Chuck Richards and Rick Cisneros of C.A. Richards, Reed Richards with SeaCatalog and Terry Dailey, Retired.

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