Plenary Speakers

She has also served as the President of the American Geophysical Union, President of The Oceanography Society and Chair of the AAAS Section on Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Science. She is a Fellow of all three societies and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Acclaimed as one of the leading aerospace scientists of the nation, Dr Reddy is also the Director General of the Aeronautical Development Agency that has developed the 4th Generation Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, which is being inducted into active service.

Navigation technologies and systems, which form the core of defence assets have been designed and developed by Dr Satheesh Reddy for multiple platforms, enabling self-reliance in these critical areas. Working on the electronic designs and system engineering from a very young age, Dr Reddy facilitated the realization of various major defence systems in short periods of time.
With his vast experience in navigation and avionics design for missile systems like Agni, Prithvi, Akash and aerospace applications like G3INS for ALH, INS for ships and submarine application, he directed multiple development projects for advanced defence technologies.

As Director, RCI, he led the development of critical technologies for IIR seekers, RF seekers, integrated avionics modules and many other systems for onboard applications. As Director General of Missiles and Strategic Systems he spearheaded the development of various kind of missiles for Ballistic Missile Defence, Anti-Tank Guided Missiles, Surface to Air Missiles, Air to Ground Missiles, Air to Air Missiles and Long Range Guided Bomb.

India’s maiden successful test of Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile Mission Shakti was successfully executed under his watch. His tenacious leadership has enabled the development of Air defence systems BVRAM Astra, Akash, MRSAM, LRSAM, QRSAM. The world’s longest-range gun ATAGS, anti-radiation missile, smart air field weapons, smart bombs, and missile assisted torpedo release systems owe their success to Dr Reddy’s vision. Dr Reddy diligently drives innovation and cutting edge research in many areas that include hypersonic and quantum technologies.

Under his leadership, flagship programs on many advanced technologies and systems have been conceptualized and realized. These programs have led to the development and manufacturing of important defence systems within the country. He has focussed on all aspects of defence research, development and production by enabling industry.

Dr Reddy has helped foster an eco-system that encourages free thinking and creativity. The formation of young scientist laboratories working on niche technologies, establishment of new research centres in universities enabling close interaction with academia and fast tracking the transfer of technologies to industry are some of his bold initiatives that have laid the foundation for research and development of advanced defence systems. In addition, his mission to cut down the burdens of procedures for scientific pursuits, creating new challenges for the scientific community and enabling the scientists is bearing fruit. Among his other initiatives to facilitate industry are easing of ToT policies, IPR sharing with Indian industry, New Procurement Manual of DRDO, and Innovation Contests.

Dr Reddy also pioneered in quickly diversifying DRDO’s talent to effectively develop required technologies in the ongoing fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Under his guidance, nearly 50 technologies for combating COVID have been developed and about 75 products have been transferred to 100 industries. He demonstrated exemplary courage and leadership during the pandemic and his non-stop work bears testimony to his ‘never-say-die’ spirit, and effectively mirrors the outstanding humanitarian facet of a scientist.

Dr Reddy’s significant contributions in the field of technology development and promotion of scientific pursuit have resulted in his being conferred with Honorary Degrees of Doctor of Science by many leading Universities in the country. His vast scientific and technological contributions have been acknowledged by leading international institutes in the form of honours and awards. He is the first Indian in over 100 years to be conferred with the prestigious Honorary Fellowship and Silver Medal by the Royal Aeronautical Society, London. The Royal Aeronautical Society recognised contributions of Dr Reddy towards indigenous design, development and deployment of diversified missile systems, aerospace vehicles, guided weapons and avionics technologies in India.

He has received numerous other awards including American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Missile Systems Award. He is the first scientist outside USA to be awarded in nearly four decades. Other awards conferred on Dr Satheesh Reddy include the National Systems Gold Medal, National Design Award, IEI-IEEE (USA) Award for Engineering Excellence and the Homi J Bhabha Gold Medal.

Earlier, at the Space Applications Centre, (ISRO), he was mainly responsible for conceptualizing, formulating and executing many national level projects related to application of satellite data on ocean colour, integrated coastal zone management, snow and glacier studies and water resources and developed potential fishing zone services.

As the Director, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, an autonomous institution under ESSO, in May 2006, he set up a state-of-the-art Early Warning System for Tsunami and Storm Surges in the Indian Ocean. He was responsible for the conceptualization and development of Marine GIS. He made outstanding contributions in improving advisory services related to potential fishing zones, ocean state forecast, and Indian Argo project.

Dr. Nayak is Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru, the National Academy of Sciences, India, Allahabad, the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), and Academician of the International Academy of Astronautics, Paris. Dr. Nayak is recipient of IGU – Hari Narain Lifetime Achievement Award in Geosciences-2013, the ISCA Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Award 2012, the Bhaskara Award for 2009. Dr Nayak has been awarded Lifetime Achievement Award (India Geospatial Leadership Award) for outstanding contributions to the development and dissemination of Geospatial Technologies in India by the Geospatial Media and Communication, New Delhi in February 2019. Eleven students have obtained Ph. D. under his supervision.

He is the President of the Federation of Indian Geoscientists Associations, Indian Geophysical Union, Indian Society of Remote Sensing and Indian Mangrove Society. He was the President, the Vice-Chair of the Inter-Governmental Coordinating Group on Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System; Indian Ocean–Global Ocean Observing System and Indian Ocean Observing System Resources Forum.

Dr. Nayak has published about 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals and delivered about 190 invited talks in national and international fora.

He has more than 30 years of experience in marine scientific research and international ocean science coordination. This includes involvement in the preparation and proclamation of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) and the launch of the first-ever Global Ocean Science Report (2017).

His research interests include various aspects of physical oceanography with a primary focus on the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean as well as global ocean carbon cycling and climate. He has expertise in polar oceanography and sea ice from working in the high Arctic and has also initiated and led research and education efforts in renewable energy including offshore wind.

Since 2018 he serves as co-chair of the Expert Group of the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. From 2019, he is in charge of international work with global development at the Institute of Marine Research.

Among a number of formal international engagements in science and technology, Mr. McLean serves as the U.S. Representative to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, and as the Co-chair of the U.S. European Union Marine Working Group.

Mr. McLean has previously served in NOAA as Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator of the National Ocean Service, was the founding Director of OAR’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research and served in uniform for nearly 25 years in NOAA’s Commissioned Corps, attaining the rank of Captain. Mr. McLean served aboard hydrographic, oceanographic, and fisheries research ships and was the first commanding officer of the NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter. He led NOAA’s innovation and planning for the Smithsonian Institution’s Sant Ocean Hall, and achieved a National Ocean Action Plan goal of securing a permanent, dedicated ship for the National Ocean Exploration Program, the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer.

Mr. McLean is also an attorney and has practiced marine resource law for NOAA. He has been awarded the Department of Commerce Silver and Bronze Medals, the NOAA Corps Commendation Medal, and Special Achievement Medal. He is a Fellow of the Explorers Club and the Marine Technology Society, and a past president and chairman of the Sea-Space Symposium.

DONET is a submarine cabled observatory development program for megathrust earthquake disaster mitigation started from 2006. His team developed cabled observation system and carried out the construction using ROV with special modifications. The program spends a decade to construct two backbone cabled systems, 51 earthquake and tsunami observatories, and two bore hole observatories. The development stage of DONET was completed March 2016 and change over to practical use. The information from the seafloor is utilized for an earthquake early warning system and tsunami forecast of the Japan Meteorological Agency.

In 2016, He formed a Shell Ocean discovery X-prize competition (AUV competition) team “team KUROSHIO” as an advisory board member and led the team to the second place in final round 2018. The team consists mainly of young researchers from research institutes, universities and companies in Japan, and its core members belong to OES/OES Japan Chapter. Taking this opportunity, He designed a system in OES Japan Chapter to support young members in the chapter participate in the competition. Such efforts are expected to be effective in motivating society activities by young researchers.

As the OES activity, He served as vice Chair of OES Japan Chapter 2014-2015 and has been Chair of OES Japan Chapter since 2016 to present. During this period, he acted as a TPC Co-Chair at several international conferences co-hosted by the IEEE OES such as Techno-Ocean 2014, Techno-Ocean 2016 and OCEANS’18 MTS/IEEE Kobe / Techno-Ocean 2018 (OTO’18). His devoted promotion, mainly in Asian region, made the OTO’18 a great success, gathering the largest participants and papers in the history of the OCEANS conference. Based on these research activities, he conducted Underwater Technology (UT) piggybacked international symposiums called Scientific use of Submarine Cables and related technologies (SSC) to enhance international cooperation in this field. Such activities have led to the use of OES as an international venue for discussing the scientific use of submarine cables.

Dr Brassington was the lead scientist that developed the first system in 2007, principal scientist for two major upgrades versions 2 and 3 and is currently senior principal research scientist for the development of version 4. Dr Brassington has published 70 peer-reviewed articles on all aspects of ocean forecasting: ocean modelling, ocean data assimilation, ocean observing systems, ensemble forecasting, forecast verification and has also co-edited a book, “Operational oceanography in the 21^st century” composed of a collection of lecture papers from an international summer school. Dr Brassington has extensive experience supporting the downstream applications of operational ocean services for a wide range of national stakeholders including: Australian Defence Force; Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Ports Management, weather and coastal flood forecasting. Dr Brassington is recognised internationally as an expert in his field serving as: the national representative for the OceanPredict science team (previously GODAE and GODAE OceanView) since 2006; the inaugural chair of the expert team on Operational Ocean Forecast Systems under the Joint Commission of the WMO/IOC for Marine Meteorology, 2008-2019; and contributes to international capacity building.

As the Chief of Materiel & Principal Staff Officer and the Senior most Technical Officer in the Indian Navy, the Admiral is in charge of all aspects related to maintenance management and life-cycle product support of all Engineering, Electrical, Electronics, Weapons, Sensors and IT related equipment and systems for ships and submarines. He is also responsible for issues related to indigenisation of naval equipment and creation of major marine and technical infrastructure for the Indian Navy.

Mr. LIU acted as the head of the General Technical Group for ten years and developed Manned Submersible “JIAOLONG” of 7000m. He was appointed as Chief Commander of JIOLONG sea trials and its application Cruises in 2009 through 2014 for 6 years. He was invited as Plenary Speaker at OCEANS’ 2010 in Seattle, and at OCEANS’2014 in Taipei. Mr. LIU also published many papers in world-renowned journals, such as Marine Technology Journal, Science in China: Earth Sciences, Ocean Development and Management, China Shipbuilding, and so on.

Mr. LIU frequently attended the International Seabed Authority’s annual session as a member of the Chinese delegation. He chaired a COMRA Side Event during ISA 23rd Session on Aug. 8, 2017 on “Balance between Resources Exploitation and Environmental Protection” in Kingston, Jamaica. He was co-chairman of the Workshop on Western Pacific Triangle REMP and delivered a talk on “CHINA’s DEEP SEA ENVIRONMENT POLICY AND PRACTICE” in Qingdao in 2018.