Nominated by: Charles Smith, Engineering and Operations Division

It is a pleasure to nominate Jack Clark and Judith Whittick of the Centre for Cold Ocean Resources Engineering, for the MMS Corporate Leadership Award. They have played a major role in assisting the MMS in efforts to develop and verify technologies to improve safety, efficiency and pollution prevention in offshore Arctic oil and gas developments.

Under the leadership of Dr. Clark and Ms. Whittick, the Centre has made significant contributions to the initiation and development of research studies pertaining to Arctic oil and gas facilities, especially relative to pipelines and ice loads. They were instrumental in developing alliances between the oil and gas industry, other regulatory agencies, and research institutions worldwide.

Dr. Clark and Ms. Whittick were the principal individuals in the development of the Pressure Ridge Ice Scour Experiment (PRISE), a major joint industry project encouraged and supported by the MMS. The PRISE obtained information on the effects of ice keels interacting with the sea floor and to determine the safe burial depth for pipelines. Recently, they managed a very important study initiated by the MMS to assess a pipe-in-pipe design versus a robust single wall pipeline for Arctic offshore operations. As part of this effort, they conducted a very successful public workshop addressing the current state-of-practice for Arctic pipelines.

Dr. Clark and Ms. Whittick have assisted the MMS on numerous occasions by exchanging information on current technology developments, making presentations, acting as catalysts in developing joint industry research initiatives, and providing insight.