SUT and MTS come together to honour excellence through Don Walsh’s legacy.
The Society for Underwater Technology (SUT) and the Marine Technology Society (MTS) are pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for the 2025 Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration.
Awarded jointly by the two Societies, this award recognises outstanding, sustained, international contribution to the development, application, and propagation of marine technology toward the advancement of ocean exploration. Nominations will be accepted until May 31, 2025.
The presentation to the 2025 winner(s) of the Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration will take place at Oceanology International in London on March 10th 2026.
Don Walsh (1931-2023) was an American oceanographer, explorer, retired naval officer, and marine policy specialist. He and Jacques Piccard were aboard the bathyscaphe Trieste when it made a record descent into the Mariana Trench on January 23, 1960, the deepest point of the world’s oceans.
Nominations may be submitted online:
Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration | SUT | Society for Underwater Technology
The judging panel, comprised of the presidents and three members from each society, will reflect diversity in demographics, sector and discipline.
Past winners
In 2020 the inaugural award was made to Dr. Edie Widder, MacArthur Fellow, a deep-sea explorer, and conservationist known for her expertise in oceanographic research and technological innovation and her commitment to reversing the worldwide trend of marine ecosystem degradation.
2021 saw it won jointly by Victor L Vescovo and Patrick Lahey for the 2019 Five Deeps Expedition and further dives of scientific or historical interest in subsequent years, described by a distinguished member of The Explorer’s Club as “The most ambitious exploration expedition of the century”.
The 2022 award was won by internationally recognised oceanographer Dr Samantha (Mandy) Joye a Professor in the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Georgia, USA whose work has revealed unexpected connectivity between elemental cycles, unanticipated feedbacks between geological elemental and microbial dynamics, and fundamental controls on microbial populations and their activity. Her work accomplished during studies of the environmental response to the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico oil spill, led to the discovery of deepwater oil plumes, hydrocarbon rich layers in the water column that were neutrally buoyant above the seafloor but well below the surface.
Then in 2023 Dr Peter Girguis, Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and Adjunct Oceanographer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, described by his peers as ‘the epitome of a deep-sea explorer’ and ‘a man for all ocean seasons, was the winner whose career has been dedicated to increasing understanding of the animals and microbes that thrive in the deep sea.
Last year it was Martin “Marty” Klein, a name synonymous with ocean exploration, and a true pioneer in the field of underwater technology. who was declared the winner. Known as the “father of side-scan sonar,” Marty’s innovations have revolutionized oceanographic surveys and underwater searches.
About the Society for Underwater Technology
The Society for Underwater Technology (SUT) is a multidisciplinary learned society that brings together organisations and individuals with a common interest in underwater technology, ocean science and offshore engineering. SUT was founded in 1966 and has members from more than 40 countries, including engineers, scientists, other professionals and students working in these areas. In recent decades many of our members have come from the offshore hydrocarbon sector, today we also see growing numbers of members from offshore renewables, marine autonomous systems, and the policy, law and insurance sectors who support offshore activities of many kinds.
About the Marine Technology Society
The Marine Technology Society (MTS) believes that advancements in the development and use of marine technologies are essential to support responsible and sustainable use of the ocean. Founded in 1963, we are an international professional society that provides members of academia, government, and industry a common forum for the exchange of information and ideas. Our members are engineers, scientists, technologists, policy makers, and educators on the leading-edge of technology design and application. MTS members work within the full spectrum of ocean and subsea technologies that support sustainable ocean use, ranging from offshore energy to dynamic positioning, ocean robotics to buoys, and many more.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Katie Fearon | Communications & Marketing Officer | Society for Underwater Technology [email protected] | +44 (0)7517 434764 | https://www.sut.org
Claire Idell | Senior Director, Engagement & Member Relations | Marine Technology Society [email protected] | (202) 827-7176 | https://www.mtsociety.org