You are invited to the seventh ONR/MTS Buoy Workshop, sponsored jointly by the Office of Naval Research and the Buoy Committee of the Marine Technology Society.

Our 2008 Workshop will be held at the Hollywood Casino and Hotel, located in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. We start with an icebreaker on Monday evening on March 3rd, with the Workshop beginning on Tuesday, March 4th at 8AM and ending after lunch on Thursday, March 6. The program will include site and laboratory tours on Wednesday, March 5th of the National Data Buoy Center and the Naval Oceanographic Office, both located at nearby Stennis Center.

Bay St. Louis is located about 60 miles east of New Orleans and 25 miles west of the Gulfport/Biloxi Airport (GPT). We plan to contract a charter bus and van service to shuttle participants from the Gulfport/Biloxi Airport to the Hollywood Casino on Monday, March 3rd, with return trips on Thursday, March 6th after the Workshop is over.

Purpose, Frequency of Workshops, Mission
The ONR/MTS Buoy Workshops are organized in order to provide a timely update of oceanographic and other buoy systems, their components, and communication links. You are invited to report on your research and work at the Buoy Workshop. Speakers and attendees are encouraged to report about their new developments, and share their experiences, failures, and successes. The Buoy Workshop provides unique opportunities for oceanographic buoy technologists worldwide, as well as for ocean engineering students, and professionals in other disciplines, to learn about this exciting and challenging area of expertise and its near endless possibilities.

Since our beginning in 1996, participants have asked that we hold this workshop every two years; our last workshop was held at Texas A&M University in 2006. Since 2000 we organize the workshops at or near facilities where active buoy technology development and testing work is being performed, and visit these site as part of the workshop program.

Our mission is to foster the technology and experience exchange in the highly specialized field of oceanographic buoy systems, and take advantage of the informal workshop environment to ease open and focused presentations and discussions for the mutual benefit of all attendees.

Format
The workshop will consist of a Speaker Program with presentations and panel discussions, and site visits. The Speaker Program will be organized in a number of focused topical sessions, with each speaker having 20 minutes in which to present her or his material. At the end of each session, a panel discussion is scheduled for a question and answer period. The panel will consist of a chair and the speakers who presented material during that session. If needed and time permitting, separate sessions covering specific purposes could be accommodated. About 30 technical presentations organized within theme sessions were made at past workshops. A direct Internet hookup will be provided, as well as a host computer. This allows speakers to e-mail their presentation file to the program coordinator before the workshop, or download it either the night or morning before their talk and leave their laptop computers at home.

Local Support
We are very grateful to Dr. Paul Moersdorf, Dr. Chung-Chu Teng, and Martha Mitchell of the National Data Buoy Center, and S. Craig Cumbee of the Naval Oceanographic Office at the Stennis Space Center for their help with local arrangements and for allowing the site tours.