A team of faculty and students from Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Pratt School of Engineering is one of 21 international research teams selected to compete in the 2017 Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, co-sponsored by Royal Dutch Shell and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It’s a race to map and explore the Earth’s seafloor – and for $7 million in prizes.
Each team must develop a robotic vehicle that uses autonomous underwater scouting technology to investigate, map and conduct science at extreme ocean depths and under stringent time constraints. The Duke team is led by Doug Nowacek, Repass-Rodgers Associate Professor of Conservation Technology at the Duke University Marine Lab, and two colleagues at Pratt. Fifty Nicholas and Pratt students are involved in the Duke project, Learn about the contest and Duke’s entry here.
