Ocean Industry Program (OIP) records

The Ocean Industry Program (OIP) was initiated in 1971 in response to requests from major oil companies for access to WHOI data and scientists. The program was designed to create partnerships between industry and WHOI, exchanging unrestricted funds for a competitive edge through greater access to geosciences data, scientists, symposia, and papers. WHOI would then use those unrestricted funds to support data collection and analysis, purchase scientific equipment, and support promising students, scientists, and visitors. Of particular interest was the seismic data gathered by the old Underwater Sound work done by Brackett Hersey and the work done by the Geology and Geophysics Department. It was later incorporated as a component of the Ocean Sciences and Technologies Program.