“I am delighted to welcome these bright and inspired young officers into the ranks of the NOAA Corps,” said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “They have the high-level education and motivation essential to support NOAA’s mission and further our goals.”

Last week’s graduation is the culmination of three months of intense training at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y. The officers will soon begin their first assignments aboard NOAA research and survey ships.

“As NOAA’s capabilities in nautical charting and other strategic areas are called upon by the Bush Administration to support homeland security, some of these new officers will also have the opportunity to help assure the safety of the nation as part of their regular duties,” Lautenbacher said.

The NOAA Corps is one of the nation’s seven uniformed services (the others are the four military services, Coast Guard and Public Health Service). NOAA Corps officers manage and operate the agency’s fleet of 17 ships and 13 aircraft used to gather data and conduct research in fulfillment of NOAA’s environmental-science mission. Officers also apply their technical, managerial and operational skills to shoreside positions within NOAA program offices. The NOAA Corps currently is composed of 276 officers, including the 17 new graduates.

“The NOAA Corps is an essential component of NOAA,” said Rear Admiral Samuel P. De Bow Jr., director of the NOAA Corps and NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations. “We operate ships and aircraft that enable the NOAA line offices to conduct their research, and NOAA Corps officers can work in any of these line office throughout their careers. This is the only component of NOAA that allows such a diverse and exciting career, and can take an officer anywhere from Washington, D.C., to Hawaii or Alaska, to Antarctica, from the face of a glacier to exploring the deep sea, to flying into the eye of a hurricane.”

New NOAA Corps recruits - who must have degrees in science, engineering or mathematics - are sent to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy to learn ship management, bridge operations, radar plotting, navigation, firefighting, service protocol, and other skills needed before they begin tours aboard NOAA vessels as junior officers. Classroom lectures, lab activities and demonstrations are combined with hands-on experience aboard the Academy-owned ship, Kings Pointer, which is a sister ship to seven NOAA-owned vessels.

“The NOAA Corps represents a highly mobile and skilled workforce. We have been very impressed with the qualifications this class in particular brought into the Basic Officer Training Class and we look forward to working with them throughout their careers as they serve NOAA and the nation,” De Bow said.

Each officer is assigned to a research ship for a two-year tour. After graduation, the officers report to their ships and begin specialized training in shipboard operations in support of NOAA’s ecosystem, climate, weather and water, and commerce and transportation goals through a variety of fisheries, oceanographic, atmospheric and hydrographic research.

Kemp will be serving aboard the NOAA ship David Starr Jordan, a 171-ft. fisheries research vessel that conducts fishery and living marine resource assessments off the Pacific coasts of the United States and Central and South America. The ship is home ported in San Diego, Calif.

Kemp graduated with honors from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 1998 with a degree in operations research and a commission in the Coast Guard. He served aboard the USCGC ships Planetree, Dauntless and Galveston Island, and was certified for command while aboard the latter ship, occasionally taking the patrol boat underway as acting commanding officer for search and rescue, homeland security and typhoon evasion. ENS Kemp resigned from the Coast Guard in 2003 and attended a post-baccalaureate program in pre-health at Columbia University to study advanced chemistry and biology.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events, promoting safe commerce and transportation and providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources.

On the Web:

NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov

Photos and brief biographies of the graduates:
http://www.noaacorps.noaa.gov/corpsrecruiting/botc/botc106/