On January 7, the China Association of Oceanic Engineering held the 2024 Ocean Engineering Science and Technology award ceremony in Beihai, Guangxi Province. As the leading institution, OUC received 2 first prizes and 3 second prizes, ranking first nationwide among all award-winning institutions and setting a new record for the university. OUC also participated in 6 additional award-winning projects.

Projects titled “Key Technologies and Applications for Ensuring Environmental Conditions in Coastal and Offshore Engineering”, led by Professor Liang Bingchen from the College of Engineering, and “Mechanisms, Prediction and Engineering Applications of Water Exchange in Estuaries and Bays under the Influence of Reclamation”, led by Professor Bao Xianwen from the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, received first prizes. Projects titled “LIBS-based Marine Detection Technology and Applications” led by Professorate Senior Engineer Guo Jinjia from the Faculty of Information Science and Engineering, “Multi-source Quantitative Remote Sensing Technology for the Whole Life Cycle of Swells” developed by the team of Professor Chen Ge from the same college, and “Key Monitoring Technologies and Evaluation Methods for Seabed Instability Mechanisms”, led by Associate Professor Hu Cong from the College of Environmental Science and Engineering, received second prizes. Representatives of the award-winning projects and of the university’s branches of the Association were invited to attend the ceremony.

Professor Liang Bingchen and his team have developed fundamental technologies for ensuring environmental conditions in coastal and offshore engineering. Their innovations include a new method for estimating dynamic environmental loads under ultra-long return-period conditions, high-precision coupled simulation technologies for hydrodynamics, sediment transport, and geomorphology, and key technologies enhancing the safety and ecological resilience of coastal and offshore engineering. Supported over many years by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, relevant national ministries and commissions, and industry partners, their achievements have been successfully applied in over 20 major projects in China and abroad, yielding significant economic, social, and ecological benefits.

Focusing on water-exchange mechanisms in estuaries and bays, the team led by Professor Bao Xianwen has conducted nearly two decades of research and practice, producing innovative results in theories of water exchange and sediment transport, as well as in refined numerical simulation technologies. They have proposed and established a general quantitative method for tidal-phase asymmetry in estuaries and bays, elucidated the mechanisms by which coastal reclamation activities affect offshore tidal dynamics, identified and clarified the roles and mechanisms of waves, shelf currents and tidal shear fronts in estuarine and bay water exchange and sediment transport, and developed systematic evaluation techniques for assessing the impacts of sea reclamation on water exchange and sediment transport in estuaries and bays. Their research findings have supported scientific assessments for 92 national or local key projects across eight provinces and one municipality, achieving significant practical effects.