2025 Future of the Ocean Symposium and Champion of the Ocean Awards
Exploring the Wine-Dark Sea
U.S. Ocean Science & Technology: Keys to Prosperity & Security
The 2025 Future of the Ocean Symposium was hosted by the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI) on Oct. 9, 2025, and had a theme of “Exploring the Wine-Dark Sea – U.S. Ocean Science and Technology: Keys to Prosperity and Security.” Following the symposium, the UCI held its Champion of the Ocean Awards luncheon, which also commemorated the 20th anniversary of UCI.
The panelists included: Caladan Oceanic CEO and ocean explorer Victor Vescovo; Larry Mayer, chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission and director of the University of New Hampshire Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping; VADM (Ret.) Paul Gaffney, Monmouth University president emeritus and former chief of naval research; Deerin Babb-Brott, formerWhite House Office of Science and Technology Policy principal assistant director for oceans and the environment; Paula Bontempi, University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography professor and president of the Oceanography Society; and Ocean Power Technologies President and CEO Philipp Stratmann. The panel was moderated by UCI Director Tony MacDonald.
Scroll down to watch videos of the discussions and read bios of the speakers.
Symposium Videos
Welcome: UCI Director Tony MacDonald
Featured Speaker: Victor Vescovo
Featured Speaker: Larry Mayer
Full Panel
Student Perspective with Siena Zisa
2025 Champions of the Ocean
The Champion of the Ocean Awards luncheon directly followed the symposium. The UCI congratulates this year’s distinguished class of National Champion of the Ocean Award honorees: Victor Vescovo (top left, with UCI Director Tony MacDonald and Monmouth University President Patrick Leahy), Larry Mayer (top center), and Congressman Frank Pallone (top right).
The awards were established in 2005 to honor individuals who have undertaken actions and demonstrated sustained leadership that ensures coasts and oceans are clean, safe, sustainably managed, and preserved for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations. Previous honorees include ocean explorer Robert Ballard, marine biologist and explorer Sylvia Earle, ocean scientist and advocate Jean-Michael Cousteau, and former CIA Director and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. View a full list of past honorees.
Thank You to Our Sponsors
This event is made possible thanks to the generosity of the Leslie Hitchner Family.
Champion of the Ocean Bios
Larry Mayer, Ph.D.
Director of the University of New Hampshire Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, chair of U.S. Arctic Research Commission
Larry Mayer is a professor and director of The Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping (CCOM) at the University of New Hampshire. He received a Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and, after being selected as an astronaut candidate finalist for NASA’s first class of mission specialists, went to the University of Rhode Island, where he worked on the development of the Chirp Sonar. In 2000 he became the founding director of the CCOM, a national center for excellence devoted to developing new approaches for ocean mapping and training the next generation of ocean mappers. Mayer has spent nearly 80 months at sea, including at least 15 cruises to the high Arctic, mapping the U.S. extended contintental shelf and studying the melting of the Greenland Ice Cap. He is the recipient of the Keen Medal for Marine Geology, an honorary doctorate from the University of Stockholm, was a member of the President’s Panel on Ocean Exploration, and chaired the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Ocean Studies Board and several NAS studies. He was appointed by President Obama to the Arctic Research Commission in 2016, was elected to the Hydrographic Society of America Hall of Fame in 2017, to the National Academy of Engineering in 2018, and to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2019. In 2020, Larry became the first recipient of the Walter Munk Medal for achievements in ocean science and was elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union. In 2021 he was elected to the Norwegian Scientific Academy for Polar Research and in 2022 received the Sam Masry Prize from the Canadian Hydrographic Association. Mayer’s current research deals with sonar imaging and remote characterization of the seafloor as well as advanced applications of 3-D visualization to ocean mapping problems and applications of mapping to Law of the Sea issues, particularly in the Arctic.
U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr.
Frank Pallone, Jr. is serving his 18th full term in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New Jersey’s 6th Congressional District. He is the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees health care, energy, the environment, and more. Throughout his career, Pallone has fought to expand health care access, protect the environment, and strengthen coastal resiliency. He played a key role in passing the Affordable Care Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. A lifelong resident of Long Branch, Pallone continues to advocate for New Jersey’s communities and coastline.
Victor Vescovo, CDR, USN (Ret.)
Extreme ocean explorer, CEO and owner of Caladan Oceanic
Victor L. Vescovo is a private investor with over 30 years of experience in a variety of complex business situations. He co-founded private equity firm Insight Equity in 2002 with his business partner, Ted Beneski, and raised over $1.5 billion in equity capital across four funds investing primarily in industrial, asset-intensive industries. In 2023, he departed Insight in order to focus on his own investments with new capabilities to support industrial startups, life sciences, and other areas of venture capital and special situations. Vescovo received his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and received an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he graduated as a Baker Scholar. Additionally, Vescovo served 20 years in the U.S. Navy Reserve as an intelligence and targeting officer, retiring in 2013 as a Commander. In 2017, Vescovo completed the “Explorer’s Grand Slam” which requires climbing the highest peak on all seven of the world’s continents, including Mt. Everest, and skiing at least 100 kilometers to the North and South Poles. He piloted the first repeated dives to the ocean’s deepest point, Challenger Deep, in the Pacific’s Mariana Trench, now 15 times, and in August 2019 became the first person to visit “The Five Deeps,” the deepest point in all five of the world’s oceans. Vescovo has now personally explored the bottom of 17 deep ocean trenches and has made three dives to the Titanic, including the only solo dive ever made there. He and his team also discovered and surveyed the two deepest shipwrecks in the world: the USS Johnston in 2021 and the deepest, the USS Samuel B. Roberts, at 22,600 feet, in 2022. In 2025, the US Navy announced that T-AGOS 26, a new ocean surveillance vessel of the Explorer class, would be named after him. He is also a commercially rated, multi-engine jet, glider, seaplane, and helicopter pilot, a certified submersible test pilot, and recently flew into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, becoming the first person in history to climb Mount Everest, dive to the bottom of the ocean, and visit space.
Future of the Ocean Symposium Panelist Bios
Deerin Babb-Brott
Former principal assistant director for oceans and the environment, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
Deerin Babb-Brott is an ocean policy expert and former director of the White House National Ocean Council at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He played a central role in developing and implementing the U.S. National Ocean Policy and advancing regional ocean action planning and marine spatial planning at the federal and regional level. He has held senior positions in both federal and state government focused on coastal and ocean planning. His work reflects a career-long commitment to collaborative, science-informed marine policy. Babb-Brott has been instrumental in shaping national ocean policy, including the implementation of the U.S. National Ocean Policy and the advancement of marine spatial planning. His career has focused on collaborative, science-based ocean governance that supports both ecological protection and economic development. He has worked across federal, state, and nonprofit sectors to guide policy and planning in a practical, inclusive way.
Paula Bontempi, Ph.D.
University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography professor, president of the Oceanography Society
Paula Bontempi is a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography (URI-GSO). She served as dean from 2020-25. Prior to coming to URI in 2020, Bontempi served as acting deputy director of NASA’s Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate of NASA Headquarters, located in Washington, D.C. from 2019-20, and spent more than 16 years prior as the physical scientist and program manager for ocean biology and biogeochemistry at NASA Headquarters. Her scientific interests include Earth and ocean remote sensing, phytoplankton ecology, marine bio-optics, Earth system science, oceans across the solar system, the connection of ocean exploration to global economics, and the development of ocean sensors and innovative technologies. She served as NASA program scientist for instrument and mission science integrity on several flight missions, including but not limited to, the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS), Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP), and the recently launched Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission. She has a strong interest in mentorship initiatives in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Her Ph.D. in oceanography is from URI-GSO, and she holds a master of science degree from Texas A&M University, and a bachelor of science from Boston College. She served as a member of the NASA Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Independent Study Team, a co-chair of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine study on Future Directions for Southern Ocean and Antarctic Nearshore and Coastal Research. She is a fellow and president of The Oceanography Society, and was elected last year as the inaugural chair of a US ocean advocacy coalition, the Research and Education Coalition for Ocean Sciences (RECOS). She is from Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Paul G. Gaffney II, VADM, USN (Ret.)
Monmouth University president emeritus
Paul Gaffney was honored to serve for a decade as president of Monmouth University. He and his wife, Linda, count the years at Monmouth as the most rewarding in a 60-year working career. He is a retired Navy vice admiral and served as president of National Defense University, chief of naval research, head of Navy meteorological and oceanographic operations and commander of the Naval Research Lab. He was a commissioner on the US Commission on Ocean Policy and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He has been an Urban Coast Institute fellow since 2013. He currently serves as counselor to the dean of engineering at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina.
Philipp Stratmann, Eng.D.
President and CEO, Ocean Power Technologies
Philipp Stratmann is Ocean Power Technologies’ (OPT) president and chief executive officer, based in the company’s New Jersey headquarters. Stratmann joined OPT in 2019 as vice president, global business development, bringing with him broad energy industry experience from oil and gas to renewables, both offshore and onshore, and experience in the defense and security industry. Prior to OPT, Stratmann was vice president, biofuels, for Velocys, which he joined in 2015 as business development director. He previously served as general manager of global development and West Africa for InterMoor and has held leadership positions with Acteon Group and Ernst & Young, in addition to experience with VT Group and Shell. Stratmann is a graduate of the United Kingdom’s University of Southampton, where he received his engineering doctorate and his master of engineering degree in ship science.