The 9th International Workshop on Modeling the Ocean (IWMO 2017) was held in the modern campus of Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, from July 3-6 2017. The workshop was attended by about 80 participants from countries all around the world, many of whom were young and earliercareer scientists: students and postdocs. Papers were presented covering a broad range of topics on field observations, analyses, and modeling: wave and air-sea interaction dynamics, climate variability, basin-scale processes and coastal oceanography, sea-ice dynamics, sediment transport, tropical cyclones, biogeochemical-physical coupling, boundary currents, sea-level rise, extreme events, ocean prediction and others. We were pleased to witness very high-quality research and presentations, many from young students and scientists. Thirty three (33) young scholars participated in the Outstanding Young Scientist Award (OYSA) competition; congratulations to all of them! The finalists of the IWMO-2017 OYSA were: R