The second track focused on our youth and local students, helping them identify career opportunities in the maritime field specific to engineering, innovation and technology. In attendance were Oxnard High School students and STEM students from Oxnard Community College. Commissioner Mary Anne Rooney greeted the students this morning instilling them with hope for their futures, ”By attending this morning you’ll be able to observe technologies and demonstrations presented by real-life industry professionals. It is our hope that you will discover personal career direction within the Maritime industry. Discoveries that can help direct your educational paths that can lead to fulfilling career opportunities.”

To emphasize the goal, Port CEO and Director Kristin Decas commented, “The intent is to marry up the needs of industry and public safety officials with developers that innovate their tools and realize actionable results. We are proud to be a world-class Port seeking world-class solutions to sustain the viability of the Port and the entire community we serve.”

Officer Peter Frieberg with the Port Hueneme Police Department noted, “The panel discussions were productive and fruitful. It was a positive to have all of these knowledgeable stakeholders voicing their technology successes as well as gaps. One could feel the energy in the room with all these entrepreneurs and technologists addressing how to resolve our real-world issues.” 

The MAST Lab/incubator concept was established under the leadership of the Port with the support and partnership of the Center for Threat Management and the Economic Development Collaborative of Ventura County (EDC-VC) as a cooperative research and development program. The Laboratory leverages the unique geographical, operational, and environmental assets inherent at the Port of Hueneme and provides collaborative stakeholders with a sustained platform for research, experimentation and testing.

Christina Birdsey the Port’s Director of the MAST program said, “We’re really excited to make our unique environment available through the MAST Lab and providing entrepreneurs and companies with a test and research platform that might not otherwise be available to them. We encourage all entrepreneurs whether in logistics, environmental protection or safety and security to take advantage of our MAST lab, we believe these partnerships will ultimately improve the maritime and port domain.”