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14MTRSeptember 2011news nearly all of the teams.?Each team occupied work and stor- age areas with power, as well as a tent- ed space along the basin. Two areas prepared in the tidal basin itself, one for the competition and another fortesting and practice, and two poolswere set up for basic testing. Tielbuerger said it is extremely important that research establish- ments like the NURC support and foster the next generation of underseascientists. ?Competitions such asSAUC- E are a springboard for the next generation of scientists; theyexpose the students to the scientificand industrial community and us tothem,? he said. ?Without such men- toring we run the risk of losing these talented and enthusiastic young men and women to other scientific disci-plines.?In addition to technical director Djapic, NURC provided outstanding event staffing and support. Royal Navy Lt. Cmdr. Nick Gwatkin was the event coordinator, as well as the diver to support the in-water events. Stefano Biagini was the engineering coordinator, assisted by his collegue, Stefano Fioravanti, who served as a judge. NURC technicians Alberto Grati and Marco Paoli provided tech- nical and engineering assitance, toinclude equipment and boat opera-tions. The NURC Inflatable boat was used throughout the competition and provided on water safety cover and safety cover during the diving serials. Teams could be comprised of a combination of students, faculty, industrial partners, or government partners with a maximum of 10 peo- ple per team. Unlike some competition in fresh A distinguished panel of judges evaluated the entries at SAUC-E 2011, heldat the NATO Undersea Research Center in La Spezia, Italy. DFKI Bremen (The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, or The Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz (DFKI)) was repre- sented by Team Avalon, and took third place in the 2011 SAUC-E challenge. MTR#7 (1-17):MTR Layouts 8/29/2011 10:42 AM Page 14