SCRA Media
Rebecca Molina
Advanced Technology Institute
843.760.4610
molina@scra.org
ATI Consortium Leads Workshop for Low Country Educators
CHARLESTON, S.C. – During a recent two-day "Train the Trainer" workshop, Charleston's Advanced Technology
Institute (ATI) brought a new dimension to naval architecture and marine and ocean engineering education to the Low Country and
South Carolina. ATI, in cooperation with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium,
South Carolina Marine Educators Association, and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), sponsored the
workshop through its Office of Naval Research-sponsored National Naval Engineering and Research Consortium.MIT Sea Grant's Sea Perch Program introduces pre-college students to the wonders of underwater robotics. Part of the Office of Naval Research's initiative, "Recruiting the Next Generation of Naval Architects," the program focuses on bringing marine engineering concepts into the classroom by teaching students how to build a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) called a Sea Perch.
This two-day workshop, developed and introduced by MIT’s Dr. Chryssostomos Chryssostomidis taught local South Carolina teachers
basic skills in ship and submarine design and how to encourage students to explore naval architecture and marine and ocean
engineering concepts. The teachers had an opportunity to build an ROV from inexpensive hardware store parts and learn how to
use it in their classrooms. All of the newly-built ROVs were operational and successfully tested at SCDNR’s Marine Resources
Center at Fort Johnson.Continued growth of the Sea Perch program will increase high school students’ exposure to marine engineering and serve as a stimulus for increased applications/enrollments in science and engineering programs.
The Advanced Technology Institute is a private, non-profit research corporation located in the Trident Research Center in North Charleston, S.C. The core strengths of ATI are in the application of information technology for manufacturing, product data, shipbuilding, healthcare, and information system protection. ATI forms and leads strategic teams from organizations ranging from Fortune 100 firms to leading government and academic institutions to support broad-based technology research and development programs. ATI is an affiliate of SCRA.
