am grateful to Stephen Liu for his leadership, mentorship and service to the OOAE division in the last two years, both as the Chair of the division and the Editor of the Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering.  During his tenure as the Chair, the division has taken significant steps in a number of areas that will benefit the members.  The merging of the OMAE division with the former Ocean Engineering division, establishing the new By-Laws, reinitiating the OOAE Division newsletter, improving the division web site, and renewing the agreements with the co-sponsoring societies are among some of the steps he took.  Stephen will kindly continue to be the Editor of JOMAE and act as an advisor to the Executive Committee of the division as the past Chair.  Let us all thank him for his hard work and dedication to the division.

The following slate of new officers of the OOAE division, recently elected according to the by-laws, will serve the OOAE division members during the term July, 2001 through June, 2002:

                  It is a great honor for me to be surrounded by an outstanding group of dedicated and knowledgeable members of the OOAE Executive Committee (EC).  All incoming EC members have been serving one or more years on the board, except Dr. John Halkyard who will join the board for the first time in July.  We shall all benefit from his vision and extensive experience in the offshore oil industry.  Welcome John!   I cannot complete the introduction of the officers of the division without acknowledging the advise and mentorship of the players of a great team who truly deserve to wear the OOAE uniform: they are Subrata Chakrabarti, Denby Morrison, Mamdouh Salama, and Carlos Guedes Soares.  Not only have they provided the leadership at the division level over the years but also have been among the ones involved in the organization of OMAE symposia with their ever-lasting energy and unselfish dedication.  Without these colleagues by our side, we would not have been where we are today.

We need to continue serving the OOAE members by promoting the ocean, offshore and arctic engineering as allied arts and sciences of mechanical engineering; this is the main purpose of the OOAE division.  In doing so, there are a few areas that the incoming EC will concentrate on.  These are:

The last area above will be a very important goal of the incoming EC.  The annual International OMAE Conferences and the Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering will greatly benefit from a greater involvement by the former OE division members of ASME.  Dan Valentine has graciously volunteered to organize the Ocean Engineering Symposium during OMAE 2002 (that will be held in Oslo, Norway, under the leadership of the incoming Vice-Chair Arvid Naess.)  We will do everything to promote the ocean engineering aspects of our practice within the division and the OMAE Conference series. 

I strongly urge all OOAE members to get involved in the OOAE division and OMAE Conference activities if you haven’t done so lately.  Please contact any EC member or myself and let us know your ideas on how we can provide better services to you.  This is your society and your division; we cannot achieve our goals without your involvement.  I look forward to working with you to continue being the premier organization on ocean, offshore and arctic engineering. Thank you.