Offshore Industry News

Scott Olson Joins INSPIRE Environmental

Connecting cutting-edge marine science capabilities with innovation in engineering

INSPIRE Environmental (Newport, Rhode Island) has hired Scott Olson as Senior Field and Innovation Manager to enhance and expand the company’s underwater engineering capabilities. Bringing more than three decades of experience in project management, systems engineering, and field operations, as well as a lifelong passion for marine exploration, Olson will play a lead role in cementing INSPIRE’s place as the nation’s leading provider of seafloor habitat monitoring for the emerging offshore energy industry.

“Scott Olson is a world class marine engineer, who has decades of experience as a submersible pilot, working with ROVs [remotely operated vehicles] and integrating marine systems,” says INSPIRE CEO Drew Carey. “He is the perfect fit for us.”

Olson’s arrival comes after several new hires at the company, a strategic move to expand and develop its expertise in fisheries habitats and marine mammals. Now, adding Olson’s expertise in underwater robotics and connections to leading innovation developers, INSPIRE plans to augment their SPI (Sediment Profile Imaging) camera technology to collect more data with higher efficiency and answer key questions about the impact of seafloor construction on the entire marine ecosystem.

INSPIRE Environmental has built a world class reputation for marine habitat monitoring, having captured and archived the largest collection of high-resolution seafloor profile images. They have already perfected protocols for pre- and post-construction surveys, and are looking to the future, developing industry-relevant long-term monitoring solutions.

INSPIRE Environmental is uniquely poised to seamlessly integrate with the needs of the emerging offshore renewable energy market.

About Scott Olson

Olson took up SCUBA as a teen, and his love of diving took him to Florida Institute of Technology where a diverse program of study allowed him to find his niche as an underwater technologist. After a decade or so in the field, deploying and maintaining ROVs and piloting submersibles, he brought his skills back to dry land to develop new technologies for both private and military applications.

Working his way through marine operations and systems engineering roles, Olson developed a comprehensive appreciation for what it takes to maintain, deploy, and develop underwater robotic systems. His ability to speak everyone’s language and see challenges or opportunities from a variety of perspectives will illuminate new ways of exceeding client expectations and expanding the services INSPIRE is able to offer.

“To me, it's all about getting the data for the scientists and our clients,” says Olson. “To get out there and get the data as efficiently and safely as possible.”

Digital transformation opens doors to new data mining methodology

INSPIRE’s investment in infrastructure extends beyond hardware. Their meticulous response to the COVID-19 pandemic enabled the company to continue operations at almost full capacity throughout the 2020 field season, and a visionary investment in digital transformation has brought new opportunities for innovation.

“We are going to be able harness our data in more creative, and hopefully more efficient, ways,” says COO Jeanine Boyle. “In optimizing our internal systems and processes, we are laying the groundwork for machine learning and AI, and providing tools to support ongoing innovation.”

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