OCG 539: Hacking4Oceans discusses environment, economics
In fall 2021, in a collaboration between the Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) and the College of Business, the University of Rhode Island started a class that will return next year, OCG 539: Hacking4Oceans, where students can work with businesses and mentors to find solutions for current ocean issues.
According to David Smith, associate dean of the GSO, these classes began in California, where they were originally taught at the University of California Santa Cruz and University of California San Diego. The class’s origins are rooted in the idea of hacking, or using current technology and applying it to different problems, for defense.
Smith said that people in the defense industry were the ones that looked at using different technologies to fix age-old questions. Eventually, this led to the same mindset of using different technologies in other fields, such as the ocean,
The class was taught by business professor Seray Ergene and oceanography professor Jaime Palter at URI, and was taught specifically to graduate students this year.
Ergene said that the course is very much a business course where students pitch ideas and learn from the mentors, calling it a “social entrepreneurship” course.
“It uses the business entrepreneurship skills to solve ocean related problems, so instead of commercial entrepreneurship, this aims to solve these ocean environmental issues,” Ergene said.
According to Ergene, the class was highly diverse, with multiple majors ranging from ocean engineering to business. She says that she thinks it is a good thing since it has people from multiple fields looking at the issues that affect the ocean, from pollution to global warming, from a different perspective.
Palter agreed with Ergene. She said that she and the others that were in charge of the new class had to do a lot to get out and promote it in the different schools at the University.
“No one knew about the class before,” Palter said. “So we ran info sessions, we sent emails to the deans of the colleges, we just kind of blitzed the scene.”
Two of the original founders of “4Ocean”, Steve Weinstein and Radhika Malpani, did a session at URI with the class that resembled the TV show “Shark Tank”, in which the students could pitch their ideas to them.
Palter also said the groups worked well together, which also contributed to the class’s success.
“The groups were phenomenal, Seray and I got along great, so we had a good rhythm doing the class,” Palter said.
The mentors were one of the biggest hurdles for the class, according to Palter. Deedee Chatham, director of entrepreneurship, innovation and undergraduate research in the Launch Lab, reached out to multiple companies who had projects that would help the course.
Palter said that the companies are excited when they are picked, as they like to work with the students using their technology to help solve problems.
Ergene says that the networking continued to be beneficial, since working with professionals gave students more of a network to use to continue in their post graduation life.
Palter said that she would also like to make a class like this for undergraduate students, as the current course is only for graduate students. Currently, the engineering department is working on a hacking for defense class.
The class will return in the spring of 2023, which Ergene says will be better for the course as they prepare it for the next year. Ergene will be teaching it, but Palter, who will be on sabbatical all of next year, will be replaced with another oceanography professor.