Dr. Zenon Medina-Cetina participated in the workshop “Marine World Modeling Systems for Yucatan Economic Development”, jointly organized by the United Kingdom’s National Oceanographic Centre (NOC), UNAM’s Mérida National School of Higher Studies (ENES Mérida) and Universidad Politécnica de Yucatán (UPY), with support from the Yucatan State Government’s Department of Research, Innovation and Higher Education (SIIES) and the British Council.

This event, held from November 25 to 29 in Merida, Yucatan, aimed to bring together scientists, researchers, businesspeople, entrepreneurs, public servants and students in order to create synergies that will in turn help solve issues in specific areas of industries such as fisheries and oil and gas, as well as the environment and climate change.

In his capacity as both Principal Investigator of the Yucatan Initiative at Texas A&M University and President of the Society for Underwater Technology, Dr. Medina-Cetina discussed with forum participants his experience on risk assessment and international collaboration, as well as the results of the first N2N Gulf of Mexico Workshop, which took place in October.

Dr. Medina-Cetina then had the chance to continue the conversation with Dr. Matthew Palmer, Dr. Jeff Polton and Dr. Gaby Mayorga from UK-NOC, as well as with Dr. Gildardo Sanchez and Victor Camara, UPY’s President and Liaison Director, respectively, over a traditional Yucatecan dinner.

Academic and research institutions participating at the Marine World Modeling Systems for Yucatan Economic Development Workshop also included the National Polytechnic Institute’s Center for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV) and its Interdisciplinary Center for Marine Sciences, the Yucatan Center for Scientific Research (CICY), the College of the Southern Border (ECOSUR), the Chetumal Technological Institute, the Merida Technological Institute, the Center for Geospatial Information Science Research (Centro Geo), and the Technological Institute for Oil and Energy (ITPE). Businesses were represented by PlenumSoft Marina, 4Industries, Aegis, Data to Bsn and Interact Soluciones.