News 2014: UMass Dartmouth Hosts New England Regional for Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle International Competition

News 2014: UMass Dartmouth Hosts New England Regional for Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle International Competition
UMass Dartmouth Hosts New England Regional for Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle International Competition

Marine Advanced Technology Education Center 2014 ROV Competition Takes Place this Saturday

UMass Dartmouth will host the New England Regional for the 2014 Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROV) Competition this Saturday, May 3, 2014, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at UMass Dartmouth's Tripp Athletic Center. More than 20 teams from across New England will compete this Saturday. 

The New England Regional ROV Competition is one of more than 20 regional contests that take place across the United States and Canada, and in Hong Kong, Scotland, Japan, and Egypt. The regional events are followed by MATE's 13th annual international student ROV competition, which will take place June 26-28, 2014 at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan. Student teams from upper elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, home schools, community colleges, universities, and community organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Club and 4-H, take part. 

The MATE Center uses underwater robots to teach science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), and encourage students to pursue careers in science, engineering, and technology. The competition challenges students to design and build ROVs to tackle missions modeled after scenarios from the ocean workplace.  Beginner, intermediate, and advanced students build their skills as they engineer increasingly more complex ROVs for increasingly more complex mission tasks. 

UMass Dartmouth's School for Marine Science and Technology and College of Engineering are coordinating this year's regional competition with the MATE Center. The international event is organized by the MATE Center and the Marine Technology Society's (MTS) ROV Committee, and supported by the MTS ROV Committee, the National Science Foundation, Oceaneering International, NASA, NOAA, and other ocean- and science-related organizations. The New England Regional Competition is also sponsored by The Marine Technology Society (MTS), the Marine and Oceanographic Technology Network (MOTN), and Lockheed Martin. 

For more information about the New England Regional, please contact Regional Coordinator Christopher Jakubiak of UMass Dartmouth's School for Marine Science and Technology at 508-910-6377 or cjakubiak@umassd.edu.