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Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute

Winner of the Society of Maritime Industries (SMI) Donald Maxwell Award 2018 Announced!

Published: 5 October 2018
Donald Maxwell Award 2018
Michael Leat receiving his award from Mr Russell Gould, Chairman of the SMI Board

University of Southampton undergraduate Michael Leat has been awarded the prestigious 2018 Society of Marine Industries (SMI) Donald Maxwell Student Award for his individual project entitled ‘Analysis of measurement uncertainty in high-resolution laser-scanned bathymetric measurements of seafloor topology using an autonomous underwater vehicle’.

The award was set up in 2007 for the best third year degree project from a UK resident student undertaking their study on a degree accredited by The Institute of Marine Engineering Science and Technology (IMarEST).  In particular, for those undertaking dissertations that address the needs of the marine industry with potential commercial applications. Each year, universities from around the UK researching aligned topics send in their best student project reports and this year, Michael's project was the winner.  

Michael was presented with the award at the SMI AGM luncheon on the 4th October 2018 by the Chairman of the SMI Board Mr Russell Gould and received a cheque for £500.

Michael says “I am delighted to have been awarded the 2018 SMI Donald Maxwell Undergraduate Award. My project provides a framework for characterising the dimensional uncertainty in the 3D seafloor photogrammetric reconstructions made using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). I hope that the workflow developed will become an integral part of future seafloor analysis and help aid informed decision making. I would like to thank the Society of Maritime Industries (SMI) and The Institute of Marine Engineering Science and Technology (IMarEST) for selecting me for this award. I also thank Dr Blair Thornton of the University of Southampton (Maritime Robotics Laboratory, FSI group and SMMI) for his help and supervision throughout this research.”

Michael's research will be presented at the upcoming AUV2018 workshop that will be held in Porto, Portugal later this year.

For more information about the award, please see here.

 

 

SMI Donald Maxwell Student Award 2018

Left to right,  John C Murray - SMI Chief Executive and Secretary to the Maritime Autonomous Systems Group (MASG) Council, Michael Leat - UoS, undergraduate student, Russell Gould - SMI Chairman and Chief Executive of Kelvin Hughes

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