A team of three undergraduates, including two from the Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M University, won the “Deep Space, Deep Ocean Student Award for Excellence,” for its research poster at the Deep Space, Deep Ocean forum hosted by Aramco.
The Texas A&M team, organized by the Student Chapter of the Society for Underwater Technology (SUT), was composed of aerospace engineering student Farid Saemi, ocean engineering student Carson Pepper and geography student Matthew Ballard.
The team’s poster was titled “Improving Remote Operations: Intuitive Controls and Rover Automation,” and the team was awarded certificates and $2,500.
“Attending the forum was a great experience,” said Saemi, who was the team leader. “Through the lectures guided by industry experts, we learned about the technical similarities both industries face in designing reliable systems for extreme environments.”
The team was mentored by SUT student members Weston Gallo (mechanical engineering), Natalie Zielinski (oceanography) and SUT faculty advisor Dr. Zenon Medina-Cetina from the Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A&M.
The Deep Space, Deep Ocean forum, provided a platform for participants to go on a “deep dive” to analyze similar operational challenges between the two industries then set the stage to solve these challenges through technology collaboration.