MTS Appoints Dr. Josh Kohut as VP

The Marine Technology Society (MTS) announced that its membership has elected Dr. Josh Kohut, a professor at Rutgers University at the Center for Ocean Observing Leadership, to serve on its Board of Directors as the Vice President of Education, from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2022.

The Vice President of Education ensures that the Society develops and maintains positive and productive relationships with academic institutions, laboratories—both public and private—and research institutes and helps develop opportunities for students.

“Josh has a great record of working with students in our Marine Technology Camps and students sections, and he is experienced in leading research teams of graduate and undergraduate students in the field,” said MTS President Dr. Rick Spinrad. “He’ll be a great addition to the MTS Board of Directors.”

Kohut graduated cum laude in 1997 with a B.S. in physics from the College of Charleston and earned his Ph.D. in physical oceanography from Rutgers University in 2002. Kohut was an early adopter of HF Radar and underwater glider technologies and has remained at the forefront of their development, operation and use.

Perhaps the most scientifically significant of Josh’s technology applications was the glider he deployed ahead of Hurricane Irene. Josh’s glider was used to identify the previously unrecognized rapid mixing and extreme cooling response of the coastal ocean that then fed back on Irene’s intensity.

The discovery was published in Nature Communications and was fundamental to establishing the US Hurricane Glider Sentinel Program in 2018.

Since 2010, Josh has been an author on nine peer-reviewed publications in the MTS Journal. He has been the faculty advisor to the Rutgers MTS student section since 2013 and is the founding Director of the MTS Glider Technology Camp at Rutgers.

Kohut will take over the position of VP of Education from Liesl Hotaling.