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Mission Brief The Monk is drifting.On June 23rd, the Monk was at 39.1239°N, 55.4052°W — carried by currents, thermoclines, and the physics of the deep. |
01The Challenge
Somewhere in the North Atlantic, a profiling float named "The Monk" is drifting — guided by currents, thermoclines, and the physics of the ocean. It's one of Seatrec's infiniTE™ floats, powered by thermal energy harvested from the temperature gradient between warm surface waters and the cold deep.
We know its last confirmed position. What we don't know — and what we're asking you to figure out — is exactly where The Monk will surface on July 5, 2026 at 11:59 PM PDT.
No hints. Just your read of the ocean, or your most inspired guess. Use the live tracker to study its trajectory. Dig into Gulf Stream data. Or go with your gut. Closest guess wins — ties broken by earliest submission.
Contest Brief
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📍 Last Confirmed Position ON 6/23/26 39.1239°N, 55.4052°W ⏰ Contest Deadline July 5, 2026 · 11:59 PM PDT |
🔍 Track Live 📅 Position Updates REVEALED Until June 28, 2026 · 11:59 PM PDT |
02What Is the infiniTE™ Float?
The infiniTE™ is Seatrec's flagship ocean profiling float, designed to operate autonomously for years without battery replacement — harvesting energy from the ocean's natural temperature gradient to power itself and collect critical oceanographic data on every dive cycle.
The Monk has been tracing the currents of the Atlantic, and its track tells a story of eddies, meanders, and the Gulf Stream system. Where it ends up next is yours to predict.
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Win the Exclusive Seatrec T-Shirt
The winner receives this exclusive Seatrec "Infinite Energy · Deeper Insights" infiniTE™ T-shirt — limited edition, not for sale.
One Winner · Closest Coordinates Wins
03How to Enter
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STEP 01 Study the trackerWatch The Monk's trajectory at the live tracking link. Positions update through June 28, 2026 · 11:59 PM PDT. |
STEP 02 Make your predictionPick a latitude and longitude for where The Monk will surface on July 5, 2026 at 11:59 PM PDT. |
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STEP 03 Submit coordinatesDrop your numbers into the official entry form before the deadline. |
STEP 04 Win the shirtClosest entry wins. Ties broken by the earliest valid submission. We'll announce the winner shortly after July 5. |
04Coming Soon: Float Modeling Webinars
Seatrec will be hosting webinars on real float-modeling techniques — ocean current analysis, Argo float data, and trajectory prediction with public datasets. Stay tuned for dates.
Drop Your Coordinates
Ready to Outguess the Ocean?
The Monk is waiting to be found. Closest coordinates win.
Submit Prediction →Open Live Tracker
Contest run by Seatrec. No purchase necessary. Open to residents worldwide, ages 13+. Entrants under 18 must have parental permission. Void where prohibited. Winner contacted by email.
Seatrec Wins $75,000 from DOE to Advance Thermal-Powered Profiling Float to Measure Zooplankton
Seatrec Wins $75,000 from DOE to Advance Thermal-Powered Profiling Float to Measure Zooplankton
Partnership with ASL Environmental Sciences introduces a new capability for profiling floats to acoustically measure zooplankton biomass and its vertical distribution
VISTA, Calif. — June 24, 2026 — Seatrec, a leader in thermal-powered profiling floats, has been selected as a winner of the DEVELOP Phase of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Powering the Blue Economy™: Power at Sea Prize, earning a $75,000 award. The company is integrating ASL Environmental Sciences' Acoustic Zooplankton Fish Profiler (AZFP-pico) onto the infiniTE™ float powered by ocean thermal energy with a goal to measure vertical profiles of zooplankton and mesopelagic biomass. Seatrec previously won the CONCEPT Phase of the same competition in November 2024 with a $10,000 award.
"Measuring vertical profiles of zooplankton has been a dream for oceanographers," explains Yi Chao, Ph.D., Seatrec's founder and CEO. "Advancing to the DEVELOP Phase, and doing so alongside ASL Environmental Sciences, we are closer than ever to filling one of the most critical knowledge gaps in ocean science."
"This is genuinely uncharted territory," said Julek Chawarski, Ph.D., Biological Oceanographer at ASL Environmental Sciences. “The integration of ASL’s AZFP-pico with a long-endurance autonomous profiling platform could unlock an unprecedented view of meso- and bathypelagic scattering layers, providing persistent, basin-scale observations that have long remained beyond the reach of ocean science.”
Seatrec's infiniTE™ float converts ocean temperature gradients into electricity using phase-change materials, enabling long-endurance missions with profiling as frequently as every few hours. That sampling frequency is critical for capturing the diurnal behavior of zooplankton and mesopelagic organisms central to the biological carbon pump. The AZFP-pico provides quantitative assessment of meso- and bathypelagic biomass, while an integrated CTD captures physical oceanographic context, together delivering high-frequency, long-duration observations that ocean science has not had before.
The Power at Sea Prize, one of DOE's competitive programs, recognizes innovative marine energy concepts that could feasibly power blue economy applications, such as ocean-observing devices, aquaculture installations, and storm tracking systems.
DEVELOP Phase winners refine their technologies with support from industry mentors, networking opportunities, and targeted training, competing for a share of a $1.7 million final prize pool.
This milestone reinforces Seatrec's commitment to driving sustainable innovation in ocean technology and its mission to contribute to a thriving blue economy while addressing critical challenges in marine resource management and climate science.
ABOUT SEATREC
Seatrec designs and manufactures subsea drones that generate electricity from ocean temperature gradients. Our products empower defense and oceanographic researchers to extend mission durations, optimize data collection, and reduce operational costs. By enabling the integration of advanced sensors previously limited in endurance and functionality, such as hydrophones, we open new possibilities for ocean science.
Seatrec’s energy-harvesting core technology was developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and spun out of the California Institute of Technology in 2016. Seatrec is headquartered in Vista, California. Visit us at seatrec.com.
Media Contact
Marta Bulaich
Seatrec, Inc.
marta.bulaich@seatrec.com
+1 (415) 816-1665
From “How Far from Reality?” to Real-Time Ocean Observation
The North American Gulf Stream as illustrated with the ECCO model.
Credit: Greg Shirah / NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio
From “How Far from Reality?” to Real-Time Ocean Observation
How Seatrec CEO Yi Chao’s early Gulf Stream research comes full circle in an infiniTE™ Float mission now more than 500 profiles in, from the Gulf of Mexico to the western North Atlantic
Three decades ago, long before Seatrec existed, our CEO and founder, Yi Chao, was working on one of the hardest problems in physical oceanography: how to model the Gulf Stream realistically as it separates from the U.S. coast near Cape Hatteras. Today, a Seatrec infiniTE™ float is tracing that broader Atlantic system in the real ocean, more than 500 profiles into a mission spanning the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Straits, and the western North Atlantic.
That connection is more than a coincidence. It is the throughline of Yi’s career. During his Ph.D. at Princeton, Yi studied El Niño. After graduate school, he turned to the Gulf Stream because one question kept bothering oceanographers: why couldn’t models reproduce its separation correctly at Cape Hatteras? For years, that gap was more than a technical frustration. It suggested that even advanced ocean models were still missing something essential about North Atlantic circulation.
In 1996, while at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Yi co-authored “Modeling the Gulf Stream System: How Far from Reality?” The paper marked an important advance in showing that the Gulf Stream could be modeled much more realistically than before. It was one of Yi’s earliest papers at JPL and helped establish a question that would shape much of his career.
The title of that paper still resonates with us: How far from reality? In many ways, that question sits at the heart of Seatrec. Yi went on to spend roughly 20 years at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory working in ocean modeling and satellite oceanography before founding Seatrec in 2016. Our core technology originated at NASA JPL / Caltech, and our mission is to make the ocean more continuously observable by solving one of subsea science’s most stubborn constraints: power.
For decades, oceanographers have had to make difficult tradeoffs. Traditional profiling floats are constrained by primary batteries, which limit mission duration, sampling frequency, and payload flexibility. Satellites transformed our view of the surface ocean, but the subsurface ocean, the heat structure, salinity gradients, mixing, and soundscape, remains much harder to observe persistently. That is the gap Seatrec was built to close.
Seatrec’s answer has been to rethink power from the ocean up. Our infiniTE™ platform harvests electricity from naturally occurring temperature differences between warm surface water and colder depths. As the float cycles through the water column, phase-change materials drive a hydraulic system and generator, producing power for repeated profiling and expanded sensing. The result is a long-endurance platform designed to collect more data, more often, with less dependence on battery replacement and ship support.
This 500-profile mission shows what that looks like in practice. The mission began in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, south of Destin, Florida. In its first 49 days, the float completed 160 profiles, diving to depths of up to 800 meters while surfacing to transmit real-time data. Equipped with a CTD and passive acoustic hydrophone, it began building a continuous picture of subsurface temperature, salinity, and underwater sound in a region where seeing below the surface matters for both hurricane forecasting and soundscape monitoring.
After 315 profiles, the float entered the Florida Straits, where the mission shifted from broad Gulf drifting to boundary-current sampling. This narrow, deep, high-energy corridor between the Florida Keys and Cuba funnels flow toward the Atlantic and sharpens vertical and horizontal gradients. In this phase, the float was completing about four profiles per day, creating a much denser record of changing subsurface conditions through one of the most dynamic passages in the western Atlantic.
By 480 profiles, the mission had advanced from the Gulf of Mexico through the Florida Straits, up the U.S. East Coast, setting up the next chapter as the float entered the Gulf Stream separation region off Cape Hatteras, the same broader system that defined an early chapter of Yi’s scientific career. What once lived in model grids is now being sampled profile by profile by an autonomous float powered by the ocean’s own thermal gradients.
That is why this milestone feels bigger than a number. Yes, 500 profiles is an operational achievement. But it is also a reminder that the best ocean technology does more than last longer. It changes what is scientifically possible. Seatrec’s milestone is not that this is the first float to sample the Gulf Stream. It is that a thermally powered float is delivering persistent, high-frequency profiling across multiple connected ocean regimes, without the same battery limits that have historically constrained mission duration and sensor use.
Persistent subsurface measurements help reveal the hidden heat structure that can fuel hurricane rapid intensification. They support better understanding of ocean heat transport and water-column structure across connected current systems. And when acoustic sensing is added to the same long-endurance platform, they can also contribute to persistent soundscape monitoring.
For Seatrec, this is a field report. For Yi, it is a full-circle moment. Three decades after asking how far ocean models were from reality, he now leads a company building tools that can stay in that reality longer, profiling through it, transmitting from it, and helping make the ocean more continuously observable. Few scientific careers draw such a direct line from question to platform. This one does.
And the float is still going.
Live tracking: seatrec-floats.com
Data access and collaboration: info@seatrec.com
Seatrec’s infiniTE™ Profiling Float Captures First-of-Its-Kind Fine-Scale Ocean Vertical Structure
Seatrec’s infiniTE™ Profiling Float Captures First-of-Its-Kind Fine-Scale Ocean Vertical Structure, Powered by Temperature Gradients
A serendipitous meeting between ocean engineers and scientists sparked a new float mission to change how the ocean is measured
VISTA, Calif.— Feb. 23, 2026 — Seatrec, a leader in thermal-powered, long-endurance subsea drones, today announced the successful launch of a collaborative scientific mission to develop new autonomous profiling float capabilities that are powered by the ocean’s temperature differences and collect critical data on ocean health and carbon cycling.
This mission originated from a booth conversation at the American Geophysical Union (AGU)-sponsored Ocean Sciences Meeting 2024 (OSM24), held in New Orleans in February 2024. Seatrec CEO and Founder, Yi Chao, Ph.D., met with Mark Altabet, Ph.D, Professor and Chair of the School for Marine Science & Technology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and Eric A. D’Asaro, Ph.D., Senior Principal Oceanographer of the Applied Physics Laboratory and School of Oceanography at the University of Washington. At the time, Seatrec had recently launched its commercial infiniTE™ float. During discussions, Altabet and D’Asaro explored how the infiniTE float could fundamentally alter sampling strategies for studying turbulence, internal waves, and ocean mixing. That discussion marked the beginning of a co-development effort.
“Data below the ocean surface is significantly lacking because traditional profiling floats are all powered by primary batteries that limit float life and data collection capability,” explained Chao. “The infiniTE float harvests energy from temperature gradients in the ocean, and can therefore collect more frequent measurements and carry new sensors.”
The collaboration resulted in the successful development and deployment of an infiniTE float with two sensors to measure oxygen and total dissolved gas pressure (TDGP), key indicators of ecosystem health, environmental stress, and carbon cycling. The accurate measurement of TDGP requires the float to park at multiple depths and remain at each depth long enough for the sensor to collect reliable measurements.
“This type of mission has never been done before with the existing float products,” said D’Asaro. “The infiniTE float changes the way we think about power in a profiling float. In a battery-powered float, the total energy is fixed, so you try to minimize power usage by minimizing the number of profiles. Since the infiniTE float recharges its battery with the energy harvested from the ocean, there is no power penalty for more profiles.”
“Looking into the future,” said Altabet, “the infiniTE float can be used to profile more rapidly to resolve the diurnal variation of oxygen and its impact on productivity. This could only be done with the infiniTE float in a sustained way.”
This mission builds on Seatrec’s broader efforts to advance long-duration autonomous ocean systems, including a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Naval Postgraduate School focused on enabling persistent, real-time oceanographic and acoustic measurements in open-ocean environments.
Related to this work, Chao will present at this week’s AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, on harvesting energy from ocean temperature gradients to power underwater robots and sensors for persistent monitoring.
About Seatrec
Seatrec designs and manufactures subsea drones that generate electricity from ocean temperature gradients. Our products empower defense and oceanographic researchers to extend mission durations, optimize data collection, and reduce operational costs. By enabling the integration of advanced sensors previously limited in endurance and functionality, such as hydrophones, we open new possibilities for ocean science.
Seatrec’s energy-harvesting core technology was developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and spun out of the California Institute of Technology in 2016. Seatrec is headquartered in Vista, California. Visit us at seatrec.com.
About the School for Marine Science & Technology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
The School for Marine Science & Technology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (SMAST) is a nationally and internationally recognized institution for education and research in marine science and ocean technology. SMAST is a collaborative community of dedicated students and expert faculty working together to address critical challenges in marine science while fostering a supportive and collegial environment. SMAST students and faculty help address urgent issues facing the world’s oceans, including climate change and ocean impacts, food security via sustainable fisheries, sustainable energy development and associated impacts, and coastal ecosystem resilience.
About the Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington
The University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory (APL-UW) was founded by the U.S. Navy in 1943 to conduct acoustic and oceanographic studies on how deep ocean variability affects Navy systems. Today, APL-UW scientists and engineers lead research and applied technologies in acoustic and remote sensing, ocean physics and engineering, medical and industrial ultrasound, polar science and logistics, environmental and information systems, and electronic and photonic systems.
Media Contact
Marta Bulaich
Seatrec, Inc.
marta.bulaich@seatrec.com
+1 (415) 816-1665
Seatrec’s infiniTE™ Float Surpasses 1,000 Dives for Naval Postgraduate School
Seatrec’s infiniTE™ Float Surpasses 1,000 Dives for Naval Postgraduate School - Ushering a New Era of Long-Endurance Persistent Ocean Monitoring
Autonomous profiling float delivers oceanographic and acoustic data every six hours, fully powered by harvested energy from temperature gradients, marking a breakthrough in persistent, long-endurance ocean monitoring and real-time reporting for defense, scientific research, and exploration
Seatrec, a leader in thermal-powered subsea drones, today announced a major milestone in oceanographic research with the 1,000th dive completed by its infiniTE™ float, deployed off the coast of Kona, Hawai’i, in collaboration with the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). The float reached depths of 700 meters, diving into the deep sound channel for optimal listening, while producing more electricity than it consumed. The first-of-its-kind, an ocean-powered float carries a passive acoustic hydrophone, records sound data, processes data onboard, and transmits information and intelligence in real-time.
“Reaching 1,000 profiles is a critical endurance benchmark for our technology that unlocks exciting opportunities in ocean research and exploration,” explained Yi Chao, Ph.D., CEO and founder of Seatrec. “It is a significant achievement to demonstrate the capabilities of our infiniTE™ float to power multiple sensors with the energy from the ocean rather than relying on a limited battery.”
Launched on November 5, 2024, in collaboration with the NPS and funded by NPS’s Consortium for Robotics and Unmanned Systems Education and Research (CRUSER) program, this pioneering float known as the Persistent Smart Acoustic Profiler (PSAP) has harvested over 10 megajoules (2,800 Wh) of clean, renewable energy using Seatrec’s patented infiniTE™ technology, which converts natural ocean temperature gradients into electricity. Over just seven months, the infiniTE™ float has generated 2x the energy of a conventional battery-powered float while maintaining a net-positive energy balance. The harvested energy powers a Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) sensor and a passive acoustic hydrophone, onboard data processing, and satellite data transmissions, ushering in a new era of long-endurance, persistent ocean float missions.
NPS’s mission is to deliver defense-focused graduate education and interdisciplinary research to enhance the Navy’s operational effectiveness and technological leadership. “Through the Meteorology and Oceanography (METOC) program, NPS drives impactful results via innovative research and technology co-development. Our METOC student, Lieutenant Kirk Bienvenu, is analyzing PSAP data in his master’s thesis to advance maritime intelligence. By collaborating with startups like Seatrec, NPS equips officers with skills to address complex global threats, ensuring Navy readiness in dynamic operational theaters,” said John Joseph, the principal investigator and faculty associate for research at the Naval Postgraduate School.
PSAP represents an innovative way to collect and transmit oceanographic and underwater acoustic information essential to supporting critical Navy mission areas, including Undersea Warfare, Seabed Warfare, ISR and Maritime Domain Awareness. “Operating independently of other theater assets, PSAP provides a real-time feed of critical information directly to the warfighter, enhancing their tactical decision making,” Joseph said.
By combining a CTD sensor with a hydrophone, the infiniTE™ float enables simultaneous monitoring of both the ocean’s physical properties and acoustic soundscape. This breakthrough marks a turning point for persistent long-endurance, multi-sensor ocean observing missions once limited by battery constraints.
This milestone adds to a series of recent achievements by Seatrec, including:
- Selection by Sea-Bird Scientific as the exclusive manufacturer of the Navis floats for the international Argo program.
- A successful Arctic Power Station test at Michigan Tech’s Great Lakes facility.
- Recognition as a winner of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Powering the Blue Economy™: Power at Sea Prize.
As the infiniTE™ float continues to demonstrate unmatched endurance and modularity, Seatrec is accelerating its vision to deliver scalable, self-powered solutions for defense, researchers, government agencies, and industry partners operating across the world’s oceans.
About Seatrec
Seatrec designs and manufactures subsea drones that generate electricity from ocean temperature gradients. Our products empower defense and oceanographic researchers to extend mission durations, optimize data collection, and reduce operational costs. By enabling the integration of advanced sensors previously limited in endurance and functionality, such as hydrophones, we open new possibilities for ocean science. Seatrec’s energy harvesting core technology was developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and spun out of the California Institute of Technology in 2016. Seatrec is headquartered in Vista, California. Visit us at seatrec.com.
About the Naval Postgraduate School
The Naval Postgraduate School is a defense-focused graduate university offering master’s and doctoral degrees in fields of study core to Naval-unique needs, the U.S. Armed Forces, DOD civilians and international partners. For information, visit: nps.edu.
Media Contact
Marta Bulaich
Seatrec, Inc.
marta.bulaich@seatrec.com
+1 (415) 816-1665
Seatrec Wins Exclusive License from Sea-Bird Scientific to Manufacture Floats for Argo to Monitor the Global Ocean
Seatrec Wins Exclusive License from Sea-Bird Scientific to Manufacture Floats for Argo - An International Program to Monitor the Global Ocean
Seatrec selected in competitive RFP for its revolutionary advancement in ocean monitoring capabilities with its sustainable and renewable energy harvesting system
VISTA, Calif. (May 8, 2025) Seatrec, an underwater drone company, and Sea-Bird Scientific, a leading provider of oceanographic sensors and instrumentation, today announced an exclusive licensing agreement that Seatrec will manufacture Sea-Bird Scientific’s Navis floats for Argo, an international program to monitor the global ocean.
"Our mission is to monitor the ocean on a global scale,” explained Yi Chao, Ph.D., CEO and founder of Seatrec. “This agreement with Sea-Bird makes Seatrec a key provider of autonomous profiling floats to the international Argo program, especially with biogeochemical (BGC) sensors to monitor ocean ecosystems and health."
Under the terms of the agreement, Seatrec will receive exclusive rights to manufacture Sea-Bird Scientific’s Navis float product line. This strategic partnership is expected to combine the strong sensor expertise at Sea-Bird Scientific and the innovative float platform at Seatrec to provide continuous support to the international Argo Program and open new market opportunities that benefit both companies.
"This collaboration with Seatrec represents a significant step in our commitment to providing best-in-class oceanographic sensor solutions," said Jessica Pounds, President of Sea-Bird Scientific. “As we continue to focus on driving innovation in sensors and instrumentation for the entire oceanographic community, we look forward to our partnership with Seatrec to deliver industry-leading float technology to support the emerging BGC Argo Program.”
Seatrec, a dual-use deep tech startup, is the leader in the temperature-powered infiniTE™ float. Powered by a patented technology that harvests energy from ocean temperature differences, the infiniTE™ float can increase ocean data collection by up to 40 times (reducing the Argo float sampling interval of 10 days to every six hours) compared to traditional battery-powered floats, opening new possibilities for power-intensive sensors such as passive acoustic hydrophones for soundscape monitoring, addressing critical challenges in ocean science and defense applications.
Seatrec expects to take purchase orders of Navis floats in early 2026 and begin rolling out the fully integrated Navis floats with customer-requested sensors by late 2026.
About Seatrec
Seatrec designs and manufactures subsea drones that generate electricity from ocean temperature gradients. Our products empower oceanographic researchers to extend mission durations, optimize data collection, and reduce costs. By enabling the integration of advanced sensors previously limited by power constraints, such as hydrophones, we unlock new possibilities for ocean science. The core technology was developed at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Seatrec was incorporated in 2016 as a spinoff from the California Institute of Technology. The company is headquartered in Vista, CA. Visit us at seatrec.com.
About Sea-Bird Scientific
Sea-Bird Scientific exists to help scientists know the world — and shape policy that changes it for the better. As one of the global leaders in oceanographic instrumentation, their customers work on the leading edge of ocean science. Their results break the frontiers of what we know about natural waters and contribute to our understanding of climate change, ecosystem health, and more. From optical sensors to observational systems, they possess an expansive portfolio of accurate instrumentation that ensures we are powering science-based decisions for a better ocean. The company is based in Bellevue, Washington. Visit us at www.seabird.com.
Media Contacts:
Marta Bulaich
Seatrec Names Pentagon Alum Jason Stack to Advisory Board
Seatrec Names Pentagon Alum Jason Stack to Advisory Board
Extensive experience in developing and managing advanced autonomous naval and maritime systems will guide the commercialization and deployment of Seatec’s technology across the defense, research, and Blue Economy domains
VISTA, Calif. – WEBWIRE – Thursday, April 4, 2024. Seatrec, a renewable energy company that harvests energy from temperature differences in the environment, today announces the appointment of Jason Stack, Ph.D., an engineer and former Deputy Director of the Navy’s Unmanned Task Force at the Pentagon, to its advisory board.
“We’re rapidly commercializing autonomous systems powered by the ocean’s temperature differences for critical research and defense, as well as those that will help expand the Blue Economy,” points out Yi Chao, Ph.D., CEO and founder of Seatrec. “Jason’s unparalleled expertise gained from a distinguished career in the US Navy is a tremendous resource to help us accomplish our mission.”
Stack’s time at the Pentagon included multiple formal appointments within NATO including the US National Representative for Systems, Concepts, and Integration within the NATO Science & Technology Organization. Following his role at the Pentagon, he is co-founding a startup in the maritime space - still in stealth - and works as the company’s CTO.
He began his career designing and prototyping heavy equipment and industrial electronics at two manufacturing companies before earning his Ph.D. and moving to the Department of Defense (DoD). During his two-decade career at the DoD, Stack led programs at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in maritime platform, sensor, perception, effector, and autonomy development. He then transitioned to an executive role where he acted as ONR’s Technical Director and served as director of the Ocean, Atmosphere, and Space Research Division before taking up his post at the Pentagon.
“Autonomous systems hold great potential for filling important capability gaps across a host of research, defense, and maritime missions but a reliance on batteries limits their endurance,” explains Stack. “Seatrec’s technology provides abundant power that is clean and sustainable to free those systems to reach their potential by providing robust function sets with near limitless endurance.”
Seatrec’s pioneering energy harvesting system uses phase change materials to harness energy from temperature differences between the ocean’s various depths. These materials contract and expand creating pressure that’s captured and converted into electricity. The clean, virtually limitless power enables scientists to integrate power-intensive sensors into its infiniTE™ float that were previously restricted by battery capabilities and lifespans.
Seatrec counts the US Navy’s Office of Naval Research among its early backers and in 2022 launched a project in partnership with the Naval Postgraduate School to integrate hydrophones into autonomous, ocean-going robots.
In 2023, the company was selected for the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) Propel Hawai’i Accelerator. The program is a partnership between the NSIN and Decisive Point in collaboration with the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet—the world’s largest fleet command encompassing 100 million square miles. Seatrec was selected from a competitive field of over 200 early-stage companies to join an elite cohort of enterprises developing cutting-edge technologies to help the modernization needs of the US Navy and the broader DoD community.
About Seatrec
Seatrec designs and manufactures energy harvesting systems that generate electricity from naturally occurring temperature differences in ocean waters. This renewable energy can be used to power deep water oceanographic research equipment such as floats, gliders, and autonomous underwater vehicles, resulting in the most scalable, cost-effective deep ocean data collection possible. Incorporated in 2016 by CEO, Dr. Yi Chao, Seatrec’s technology originated at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, to provide clean power for remote off-grid locations. The company is headquartered in Vista, CA. Visit us at www.seatrec.com and @seatrecinc.
Media Contact
Sean Yokomizo
Seatrec, Inc.
sean.yokomizo@seatrec.com
+1 925.878.1200
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