The Aegean and Black Sea 2006 Explorers
Dr.
Robert Ballard
Professor
University of Rhode Island
Dr. Robert D. Ballard is President of the Institute for Exploration at Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut and Director of the Institute for Archaeological Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography. He is probably best known for his 1985 discovery of the RMS Titanic. At the Institute for Exploration's Challenge of the Deep exhibit hall in Mystic, Connecticut, as well as with his JASON Foundation for Education, Ballard hopes to inspire young people to pursue learning in science, math, and technology through exploration and discovery.
Dr. Ballard has received numerous awards. Most recently he was awarded the National Humanities Medal from President Bush. He is an explorer-in-residence with National Geographic Society, chief scientist and founder of the JASON Foundation for Education. He is a member of the Presidential Commission on Ocean Policy and also a member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's (NOAA) Science Advisory Board.
This past summer Dr. Ballard used satellite and internet technologies to bring thousands of students around the world into direct contact with his team while on a return expedition to Titanic. In his presentation today, Dr. Ballard will show stunning visual imagery of his most recent work in deep water archaeology and discuss the science of telepresence.
Michael Brennan
Graduate Student
University of Rhode Island
Mike began his graduate studies at URI's Graduate School of Oceanography in 2004 after finishing a bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College in archaeology and geology. In 1997, he was a JASON Project Student Argonaut with Dr. Ballard in Yellowstone National Park, which sparked his interest in geology. Mike has additional archaeological fieldwork experience in Belize, Italy, and Greece and will now be focusing on Bronze Age and Classical maritime trade in the Aegean and Black Seas. His research interests include applying geological methods to archaeological questions.
Steve Carey
Professor
University of Rhode Island
Dr. Steven Carey is a faculty member of the Marine Geology and Geophysics group at the Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island. He is co-principal investigator on the Santorini science expedition. His research interests lie mainly in the processes of explosive volcanism and the impact of large eruptions on the natural environment and human populations. During the past two decades he has studied volcanoes in 13 different countries including Krakatau in Indonesia, Mt. Vesuvius in Italy, and Mt. St. Helens in the United States. In addition to the Santorini expedition, he is currently working on projects dealing explosive volcanism at Mt. Hudson in Chile, the growth and evolution of the submarine volcano Kick’em Jenny off the coast of Grenada, and computer simulations of volcanic ash transport in the atmosphere. Recently, he has been interested in developing web-based educational exercises dealing with volcanoes and is finishing up a virtual web tour of the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum that were buried by the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius.
Steve has been active on committees of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior and is currently on the editorial board for the journal Geology. He has served on national committees for the Ocean Drilling Program and participated in numerous oceanographic expeditions. His undergraduate degree was completed at the University of Massachusetts and his PhD was carried out at the University of Rhode Island.
Dwight Coleman
Marine Scientist
University of Rhode Island
Dr. Dwight F. Coleman is the Director of Research for the Institute for Exploration at Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut. He is also an Assistant Marine Research Scientist at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography. He is responsible for leading oceanographic expeditions to survey underwater archaeological sites. He has participated in or led more than 20 oceanographic research cruises, including 10 expeditions for Dr. Robert Ballard and the team from the Institute for Exploration.
Most notable among the recent expeditions are the return to Titanic in June 2004, the search for John F. Kennedy's PT-109 in May 2002; several expeditions to map and document historical shipwrecks in Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Lake Huron; and multiple missions to the Black Sea off Turkey and Bulgaria to map the undersea geology and explore, document, and sample well-preserved ships of antiquity. He was previously a research geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Woods Hole, Mass., and a support scientist at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, R.I.
Dr. Coleman has a bachelor's degree in geology from the University of New Hampshire and master's and doctoral degrees in marine geology and geophysics from the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography
Katherine Croff
Graduate Student
University of Rhode Island
Katy Croff is an archaeological oceanographer, a scientist who uses oceanographic technology and methods to study archaeology. Over the past 7 years, she has participated in more than 10 oceanographic research cruises and archaeological projects. Most of these projects include underwater archaeological surveys that use remote sensing tools or SCUBA diving to locate and study archaeological material in the Black Sea, Thunder Bay (Lake Huron), Cyprus, and the Baltic Sea. Katy is now involved with developing the Sea of Crete Project, a multidisciplinary investigation that will study the geological changes in the Sea of Crete and how they relate to the underwater archaeological record.
Her educational background includes an S.B. degree in Ocean Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.Sc. with distinction in Maritime Archaeology from the University of Southampton. In 2001, she was a John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow in the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration. Katy is currently working on her Ph.D. in Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography and has just been named to the 2006 class of National Geographic Emerging Explorers.
Dan Davis
Marine Archaeologist, Institute of Classical Archaeology
University of Texas at Austin
Dan completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Iowa, and then earned a MA in Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University. He is currently a researcher at the Institute of Classical Archaeology and a doctoral student in Classical Archaeology at the University of Texas at Austin.
Over the past decade Dan has participated in number of underwater archaeological projects in the US (Hunley, Denbigh), the Mediterranean (Israel, Turkey, Greece) and the Black Sea (Republic of Georgia). He previously served in the US Navy as a hard-hat diver and navigator on submarine rescue ships.
Dan’s research interests focus on ancient Greek colonization and trade networks in the Black Sea, as well as on seafaring and navigation in antiquity.
Mike Durbin
Institute for Exploration
Dr. Durbin received his undergraduate degree from Texas A & M University and his Ph.D. from University of Texas at Dallas, where he specialized in communications, electronics and mathematics. He currently is a telecommunications engineer for Verizon Business in Dallas Texas. MCI is providing the satellite and terrestrial interconnect from the ship to the University of Rhode Island.
One of Mike's many jobs is to figure out just what type of equipment is needed to get the broadcast accomplished. He tabulates the amount of power, the height of the signal antennas, and the type of satellite needed to cover the "footprint," or receiving area. During the actual broadcasts he makes sure that all the communications are operational, that the data is moving back and forth over satellite link. Much of his time is spent in earth stations, where he monitors the various technologies. Mike and Bob Ballard have known each other since the first JASON project in 1989. Mike's off time is spent with his horses, which are at his ranch in Texas. Dr. of Technology, as he is called, has some very technical horses.
Todd Gregory
Mechanical Engineer and ROV Pilot
University of Rhode Island
Todd is affiliated with University of Rhode Island's Institute for Archeological Oceanography and the Institute for Exploration (IFE). Working in concert with Jim Newman of Woods Hole Marine Systems, Inc., Todd was the mechanical designer of IFE's most recent remotely operated vehicle, Hercules. This summer, he will pilot the IFE vehicles and be responsible for their mechanical and hydraulic systems.
Mary Hollinshead
Classical Archaeologist
University
of Rhode Island
Mary Hollinshead is a Classical archaeologist; she works on material from ancient Greece and Rome and earlier cultures located in the same Mediterranean region. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, she studied at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, earned an M.A. at Harvard, and returned to Bryn Mawr for her Ph.D studies. She has excavated at sites in Italy, Cyprus and Greece, and now teaches ancient art and archaeology in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Rhode Island.
The Aegean Bronze Age has been a longtime interest, and Greek architecture is a major focus of her research; Mary’s article on Theran wall painting identified the style of an artist who worked in several different buildings at Akrotiri before the eruption. Her work on issues of Roman sculpture led to co-curating the exhibit “Rethinking the Romans” currently on display at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. Recent visits to sites researching her book on ancient monumental steps has reminded her how efficient sea travel can be compared to overland journeys
Christopher
Jazwa
Graduate Student
University of Rhode Island
Chris is a graduate student in the Archaeological Oceanography program at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. He received his B.S. in May of 2005 in Physics and Anthropology from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. His previous archaeological experience has focused on hunter-gatherer societies in Southern California and New Mexico. In the future, he hopes to study submerged prehistoric sites in New England and elsewhere.
Eric Martin
Engineer
Institute for Exploration
Eric Martin received his Bachelor of Science in Ocean Engineering from URI in 2003, and completed his Masters Degree from the same program in 2005, focusing in underwater acoustics. His primary interests range across development of autonomous underwater vehicles, ocean instrumentation and acoustic science.
James Moore
Graduate Student
University of Rhode Island
James grew up in Abingdon, VA and received his bachelor's degree in Marine Science from Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida in 2000. He then earned an MA in Nautical Archaeology from East Carolina University in 2003. James' past research projects have involved the survey of shipwreck sites around St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, and near Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. He also participated in excavating and surveying the steamboat Montana in St. Charles, Missouri. During the summer of 2004, James aided C & C Technologies, the Minerals Management Service, and NOAA in surveying deep-water WWII era shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico. One of his up-coming research projects will involve a degradation assessment of the USS Monitor. James is currently working towards his Ph.D. in Archaeological Oceanography, and his interests concern the survey and analysis of shipwreck sites from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Jim Newman
Chief Engineer
Institute for Exploration
Jim Newman's meandering career has centered on the development of remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) for science users. He has been the lead engineer responsible for building all of the Institute for Exploration’s underwater vehicles. Jim has participated in IFE expeditions to the Black Sea, Mediterranean, Hawaii, Lake Huron, and the Solomon Islands, as well as the 2004 Titanic and 2005 Lost City expeditions in the North Atlantic. He spends as much time as he can messing about with small boats. Jim has a US Coast Guard Master's license, BS and MS degrees in Ocean Engineering from MIT, and owns Woods Hole Marine Systems, Inc.
Mary Nichols
Video Technician
Institute for Exploration
Mary received her BS and MS degrees in Mass Communication at the University of Pennsylvania-Clarion and her Ph.D. in Communication Research from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She is currently a Professor in the College of Mass Communication at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN, where she teaches video production courses.
Mary has been involved in many levels of freelance production ranging from talent wrangling for Nashville productions and musical performances to eight years working with Media Arts and Bob Ballard on various JASON projects. She is currently working to upgrade her video engineering skills and worked with IFE on the Lost City expedition in 2005. She is often seen practicing her dulcimer in quiet corners.
Tom Orvosh
Technical Services
University of Rhode Island
Tom received an AAS in applied oceanography and marine biology from Southern Maine Technical Institute in 1973 and a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Rhode Island (URI) in 1981. He has worked as a research electronics specialist for various groups at URI since starting full time in 1981. Tom's work with the Ballard ROV group arose from his technical support at URI during recent JASON Project broadcasts. He joined the team on a part-time basis two years ago and participated in operations with the ROV Little Hercules at Thunder Bay, Mich. in 2002. In 2002-03 he assisted in the construction and testing of the new ROV Big Hercules and accompanied the team on the Black Sea Expedition in 2003. Presently, on board the ENDEAVOR, Tom is standing watch as pilot and providing tech support when the vehicles are not diving.
Brennan Phillips
Engineering Technician
HERCULES ROV system
ship-based
Brennan Phillips received his B.S. in Ocean Engineering from the University of Rhode Island and is an engineering technician on the HERCULES remotely operated vehicle system. He has worked on HERCULES since his senior year at the University of Rhode Island (URI) and participated in the 2004 NOAA cruise to the Titanic. Brennan is also a graduate student at the University of Connecticut, pursuing a Master's degree in biological oceanography. His research interests include pelagic gelatinous zooplankton with a focus on Antarctic salps. Brennan hopes to combine his technological skills and experience with his research in marine biology. In his spare time, Brennan has become a Veggie Car Extraordinaire, converting a 1978 Mercedes’ fuel supply to bio-diesel.
Webb
Pinner
NOAA Contractor/Graduate Student
University of Rhode Island
ship-based
Webb Pinner is a NOAA contractor finishing up his master's degree in ocean engineering at the University of Rhode Island. He will be providing computer and networking support as well as performing data management duties for the 2005 Lost City and Deep Sea Coral expeditions. His role as "resident geek" will be to maintain all ship-based ROV and lab computers as well as assist with data logging and archiving tasks. This summer will be Webb's second season working with the IFE team.
Kathleen Podraza
Teacher-at-Sea
Kickemuit Middle School
Kathleen Anne Podraza is a middle school teacher at the Kickemuit Middle School in Warren, RI, serving both towns of Warren and Bristol. Presently, she is teaching eighth graders physics, biology, and anatomy. Kathleen received an undergraduate degree at the University of Rhode Island and a Masters in Teaching with concentrations in English and Science from Rhode Island College. She is a National Science Foundation Fellow (Annenberg Grant, Brown University), a National Writing Consortium Fellow, and participated in a teachers' SEA Experience aboard the SSV Westward (Woods Hole, MA), enabling her to do scientific research after an academic program in oceanography and marine science. She participated in the Discovery of Rhode Island Coastal Environments (DOCE) at the University of Rhode Island's Office of Marine Programs, co-creating with a team of teachers a virtual tour of RI Salt Pond at Galilee. Her interest in archaeology has taken her to several local sites, to Crow Canyon in the Four Corners area of the Southwest, and to the University of Reading, UK's Roman excavation outside of Reading, England. The Rhode Island Teacher at Sea (RITAS) experience brings her to the world of marine archaeology and continued life long learning!
Brian Raynes
Video Technician
Little Bay Broadcast Services LLC
Brian Raynes started working in television with his father, David Raynes when he was 10 years old cleaning monitors. For the last 3 years Brian has worked for a remote television truck company, New Century Productions, as an Engineer in Charge. He worked this last year at the World Series and the CBS coverage of the US Open. Before working at NCP, Brian worked in Brisbane Australia for the Goodwill Games. His father and he have just started a new company together. They just finished working with NBC for the Olympics in Torino. This is Brian’s second expedition with Dr. Ballard.
Chris
Roman
Assistant Professor
University of Rhode Island
Chris Roman specializes in acoustic and photographic mapping from underwater vehicles in the deep ocean. He has a BS from Virginia Tech and a MS from the University of California San Diego both in mechanical engineering. He completed his Ph.D in ocean engineering at MIT and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Chris has worked on mapping algorithm development, underwater vehicle design and vehicle control systems. He was one of the designers of the SEAbed autonomous underwater vehicle and has been to sea with the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Jason operated by WHOI and the Institute for Exploration's ROV Hercules.
Haraldur Sigurdsson
Professor
University of Rhode Island
Haraldur Sigurdsson is a professor of oceanography and volcanology at the University of Rhode Island. He has carried out research on the Thera (Santorini) volcano since 1975, when the first Rhode Island expedition to this region took place. Haraldur is a native of Iceland, where he grew up in a very volcanic terrain. His volcanic research includes work on the famous eruption of Vesuvius in Italy in 79 AD, which buried Pompeii and Herculaneum. Lately he has focused on work on the Krakatau eruption that took place in Indonesia in 1883, as well as the great Tambora eruption in 1815, which is the largest volcanic eruption in historical time and even larger than the Minoan eruption of Thera. All of these explosive eruptions are interesting comparisons to the great Bronze Age eruption of Thera (Santorini).
