2022 National Board Voting

The THSOA Proxy Voting will open from March 1 at 2:00 CT until 5:00 CT on March 4, 2022. Voting for THSOA Board Members is only open to members in good standing of The Hydrographic Society of America (THSOA).

In order to vote you will need to be an active member of THSOA.

Vote here: https://thsoa.org/Sys/Poll/32738

Candidates and Bio's are below. Voting links will be emailed to members, if you have any problems or questions, please contact [email protected].

Secretary nominee: Vanessa Miller


I am a STEM enthusiast and servant leader who takes pride in helping others achieve success. After graduating from Southern University, A&M College with a bachelor’s degree in Physics, I started my professional career as a Physical Scientist at the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVO) working on in-house and shipboard hydrographic projects. While at NAVO, I was selected for a full-time training program and earned a master’s degree in Hydrographic Science from the University of Southern Mississippi.  Soon after graduating, I transferred to NAVO’s sister command, the Naval METOC Professional Development center where I served as an Instructor and Curriculum Developer for several hydrographic programs.  I later transferred to NOAA as a Physical Scientist at the Atlantic Hydrographic Branch (AHB) where I served in numerous capacities and roles at AHB and the Office of Coast Survey throughout my 13 years of service. Additionally, had the prestigious honor of serving as a Co-Chair of the Technical Session for two THSOA conferences. I recently received a master's degree in Applied Data Science and accepted a position as a Senior Consultant, Data Scientist at Booz Allen Hamilton. Although my skill set has broadened, hydrography will always be my first scientific passion.

 

Trustee nominee: Carl Sonnier


Carl Sonnier is currently serving as the Innovation Business Partner for Fugro’s Marine Site Characterization business which includes Hydrographic, Geophysical, Geotechnical and Consultancy services. In this role he facilitates communications between users of acquisition, processing and data management technology and the technology developers/providers who build the tools.

He has been active in Hydrographic related projects and developments for over 40 years. His very first project out of school was a radar altimeter used to estimate sea state from a satellite by NOAA. Along the way he has had the opportunity to help build, support and operate many innovative technologies including: completing the first inland waterways project with a multibeam system for the US Corp of Engineers, working with Optech and US Core of Engineers getting the first Shoals Airborne Lidar Bathymetric (ALB) system into operation, supporting development and operations of Fugro’s LADS ALB system, and in recent years the introduction of Fugro’s newest ALB system the highly portable RAMMS system.

A key focus of Carl is making collection and analysis of data on our oceans faster and cheaper. This includes satellite derived bathymetry and highly portable ALB systems for coastal areas. It also includes unmanned survey vessels and the data tools to collect and manage data remotely.

Fugro is leading the private sector in support of the Nippon Foundation-Gebco Seabed 2030 project. In 2017, they devised a method of operating its vessel-based multibeam echosounder systems autonomously while transiting between marine survey projects. To date, Fugro has contributed over 2,000,000 square kilometers of high-resolution crowd sourced bathymetry to Seabed 2030.

Carl holds a BSE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Louisiana: Lafayette and a MS in Remote Sensing from the University of Southern California. He currently has three awarded patents, one for characterizing sea ice utilizing an airborne radar, one for an underwater positioning system and one for geoid computations based on airborne measured gravity field.

And finally, why is Carl volunteering for this role: to help motivate the hydrographers of our future with a drive to better understand our environment along with an interest in reducing the huge volumes of plastic in our oceans.

 

Trustee nominee: Chris McHugh


My 13-year expertise in hydrography and geophysics started with my undergraduate research along the US east coast. I obtained a B.Sc. in Marine Science from Coastal Carolina University where I later worked as a Marine Technician. This research led to a passion for hydrography and marine acoustics, which then led to a Master’s in Hydrographic Science and an IHO CAT A certification from the University of Southern Mississippi. Two years after this, I obtained my NSPS/ACSM Certified Hydrographer certification. I spent the early part of my career doing high resolution, low uncertainty hydrographic and geophysical surveys to support charting, engineering, research, and permitting on both small day craft and large offshore vessels. This included USV/ASV work with multi-sensor payloads and autonomous towfish deployments for the US Offshore Wind Farm industry (OWF). This led to career growth of management and oversight of all technical aspects of several large OWF surveys as well as other large and small vessel surveys around the world. Currently I am supporting Sulmara’s growth as their Global Technical Authority for Geophysics helping to push the possibilities of unmanned vessels and automated processes to allow surveys to focus more on QA/QC and better data products.

I am very passionate about giving back to the academic world and helping the next generation of hydrographers. I currently do this through an adjunct professorship teaching hydrography with Texas A&M Corpus Christi University; I have previously taught a USM Cat A program course as well. Also being a member of the GEOHAB Backscatter Working Group and the Society of Underwater Technology OSIGs committee gives me more avenues to help new hydrographers and surveyors and aid in the betterment of the hydrographic field. THSOA is another avenue that I believe is the best place for academia and the commercial industry to come together, shape recruitment, learn new pathways, and explore new technologies.

 

Trustee nominee: Tiziana Munene


Hydrographer at Fugro, Tiziana Munene holds a B.Sc. in Geomatics from the University of Florida and a Master of Science in Earth Science/Ocean Mapping from the University of New Hampshire. Tiziana has over 5 years of experience in hydrography and volunteers with the THSOA - Houston Chapter. She advocates for women in Hydrography and hopes to attract more women into the industry as the fight goes on to make it a safer and more appealing environment for other women hydrographers. One of her passions since college has been The Nippon Foundation – GEBCO, Seabed 2030 Project and she has been helping with that from the private company end of things. As a member of the National THSOA team, she hopes to continue growing as a hydrographer and advocating for all the other young girls who one day end up in this industry.

 

Trustee nominee: Stacey D. Lyle


Stacey D. Lyle, PhD, RPLS has a background in both industry and academics with Fugro Chance as Hydrographer in Marine Construction (1991), Leica Geosystems as Directory of Machine Automation for North America (1999), Texas A&M University Corpus Christi’s Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying Sciences as an Associate Professor (2012), BP North America as the Surveying Team Lead (2017), and at Texas A&M University in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering and Department of Geography as a Professor of Practice (current).   He has conducted hydrographic/geodetic surveying, mapping, and research with NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (1994; 2005-2012), US Army Corps of Engineers (2010), and Schmidt Ocean Institute (2012).  He is a former NASA Faculty Fellow (2002 and 2003) and Kiki De La Garza Faculty Fellow (2008), and the Energy Delegate to the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management (2013-2015).  Currently, Dr. Lyle is an Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) Commissioner (2022-2024) and is joining on the Board of Directors of Research, Applied Technology, Education, and Service a 501(c)3 Not-for-Profit company to develop standards for coastal shallow water hydrographic hydrology models for micro and macro flooding. 

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