PHAEDRA 2006 Explorers

Martina Alexandri
Geophysicist/Multibeam Specialist
Hellenic Center for Marine Research

 

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Dr. Christos Anagnostou
Geologist
Hellenic Center for Marine Research

Christos Anagnostou began a 30+ year career in geology and oceanography after completing a B.Sc. degree in Physiognosy, at the University of Thessaloniki, followed by a Ph.D. in Geology from Ruhr University in Germany. Since receiving his Ph.D., Christos has worked as faculty and as a guest lecturer at various research institutions, and participated in research projects at many scales. He has more than 80 research publications and over 70 reports. Currently, Christos is a Sedimentologist and working as the Director of Research in the Institute of Oceanography at the Hellenic Center for Marine Research, Greece.

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Matthew Barton
Videographer
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Born in Forest Hills, New York, Matt graduated from Queen’s College in 1992 with a B.A. in communications and music. Having conducted lighting and video production work in New York for 15 years, Matt has worked with groups including the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Christie’s Auction House, and various television networks. After getting married and answering a New York Times ad for a video technician, Matt and his wife Lynne moved to Eastham, MA to work with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where Matt has worked as an audio/video technician for 5 years. Matt holds an ICIA, CTS certification, along with a technical certification in video conference codecs. When he’s not supporting WHOI scientists, Matt likes to spend his spare time with his wife Lynne, and cooking gourmet meals. 

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Brian Bingham
Professor
Olin College

Dr. Brian Bingham is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (Olin College) in Needham, Massachusetts.  He is also a Visiting Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Deep Submergence Laboratory. Dr. Bingham's work focuses on increasing the scientific capabilities of underwater robots, specifically how they navigate in the deep ocean.  Based on a background in dynamics and control systems, he works on hardware (instruments) and software (algorithms) for improving the precision and the robustness of underwater robot navigation. Currently, Dr. Bingham is working on bringing together in-situ chemical sensing and online navigation so that future autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) can make real-time decisions based on their dynamic environment.  Dr. Bingham has participated in recent expeditions collecting vent snails in the Lau Basin (south Pacific), measuring heat-flux of hydrothermal vents at the Juan de Fuca Ridge (northeast Pacific), mapping the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and surveying ancient shipwrecks in the Black Sea. Dr. Bingham holds Ph.D. and S.M. degrees in from MIT and a B.S. from the University of Missouri-Rolla - all in Mechanical Engineering.

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Ballard Blair
Doctorate Student
Applied Ocean Physics & Engineering
WHOI - MIT Joint Program

Ballard Blair is currently a graduate student in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute joint-program, studying under Hanumant Singh. Ballard is currently researching methods for underwater color correction, and multiple underwater vehicle communication and networking protocols. Before joining the MIT/WHOI joint program, Ballard helped build the New Horizons space craft which was launched in January 2006. He received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 2002, and received a Masters degree from Johns Hopkins University in 2005. Both degrees are in electrical engineering.

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Dr. Richard Camilli
Assistant Scientist
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Dr. Richard Camilli is a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Department of Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering. His laboratory is part of the WHOI Deep Submergence Laboratory. His engineering research focuses on the development of advanced in-situ chemical and biological sensors, autonomous underwater vehicles, and embedded intelligence for marine robotics. Scientifically he uses these technologies to explore and characterize oceanographic phenomena such as greenhouse gas dynamics, hydrothermal vents, deep ocean ecosystems, coastal pollution, and ancient shipwrecks. 

Dr. Camilli received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2003. Prior to his joining the WHOI scientific staff, he was WHOI’s Deep Ocean Exploration Institute Postdoctoral Scholar. Dr. Camilli is the recipient of numerous honors, including awards from the National Science Foundation, the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Green Technology Innovation Award. He has participated in over twenty oceanographic expeditions and submarine operations. Dr. Camilli rejoins his WHOI and HCMR colleagues from the 2005 Chios archaeological expedition, bringing newly developed sensor technologies from his laboratory.

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Kelley Elliott
Web Coordinator
NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration/MPSC

Kelley Elliott graduated from George Mason University with a bachelor's degree in Integrative Studies, concentrating in Conservation Studies in May 2005. She took her first breath underwater in the summer of 2003 and immediately fell in love with the ocean world. Kelley currently works as a contractor for NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and plans to pursue a Master's degree in marine archaeology in the near future. She is excited to be taking part in this expedition as web coordinator, bringing the excitement of the expedition to the public.

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Dr. Ryan Eustice
Postdoctorate/University of Michigan Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Ryan Eustice joins the faculty of the University of Michigan as Assistant Professor in the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in July 2006.  He comes to the University of Michigan from Johns Hopkins University, where he was a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.  Dr. Eustice holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University (1998) and a Ph.D. in Ocean Engineering from the MIT/WHOI Joint-Program (2005).  During his graduate school tenure, he was a member of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Deep Submergence Laboratory and co-developer of the SeaBED Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV).

Dr. Eustice’s research deals with the problem of autonomous navigation and mapping for mobile robots, in particular AUVs, with a focus on computer vision techniques for perceptual sensing.  The goal of his work is to enable robots with the ability to autonomously navigate and map their environment, recognizing previously visited places much as a human would.  Since GPS does not work underwater, underground, on other planets, or even inside buildings, solving this problem is critical to developing practical, capable, autonomous mobile robots.  To study this problem, Dr. Eustice develops algorithms (software) in the areas of underwater computer vision and image processing, Bayesian filtering and smoothing, and systems engineering, in conjunction with new platform development (hardware) such as time-synchronized acoustic navigation systems and AUVs.

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Dr. Brendan Foley
Chief Scientist, Project PHAEDRA 2006
Research Associate
Department of Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Dr. Brendan Foley is a scientist at WHOI’s Deep Submergence Laboratory. He conducts research in the fields of History of Technology, and Archaeology in Deep Water. His ultimate research goal is to understand the transition to civilized, urban living in the Mediterranean Bronze Age (3000-1000 B.C.), based on investigation of pre- and proto-historic enabling technologies (for instance: metallurgy, seagoing ships, specialized cargo containers such as amphoras, and production and accounting technologies including written language). He develops advanced methods for precise, accurate characterization of deep sea floor features, particularly ancient shipwrecks.

Dr. Foley was the chief archaeologist for the American team during the Greek-American 2005 Chios Ancient Shipwreck  survey. The 2006 PHAEDRA project builds on the successes of that international collaboration, and extends our capabilities beyond those demonstrated at Chios.

Dr. Foley holds advanced degrees in History from Tufts University; Maritime Archaeology from the University of Southampton; and a Ph.D. in the History and Archaeology of Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to his research at WHOI, Dr. Foley teaches History of Technology at MIT. For the past fifteen years he has participated in archaeological and oceanographic expeditions using SCUBA, Human Occupied Vehicles, Remotely Operated Vehicles, and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles.

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Dr. Vicki Lynn Ferrini
Research Associate
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Dr. Vicki Ferrini is currently a Research Associate and the National Deep Submergence Facility Data Manager at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).  She received her Bachelor’s degree in Geology/Biology from Colby College, and then received both a Masters degree and Ph.D. in coastal oceanography from Stony Brook University.  Her research interests are focused on the analysis and interpretation of high-resolution geophysical and optical datasets in a range of geologic environments, with an emphasis on remote seabed characterization.  Vicki has developed techniques for high-resolution multibeam sonar backscatter analysis, and has used multivariate spatial statistics to relate acoustic backscatter intensity data to seabed sedimentary characteristics.  She has also generated high-resolution maps, photo-mosaics and 3D visualizations of both shallow and deep water sites using data collected with the submersible Alvin, the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Jason 2, and the SeaBED autonomous underwater vehicle, all of which are operated by WHOI.

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Thodoros Fotopulos, LT. Junior Grade (ret) HN
Thetis Engineer
Hellenic Center for Marine Research

Theodoros currently works as an Engineer and maintenance lead for HCMR's Thetis HOV, and as part of ROV Achilles team. He has spent more than 25 years conducting a variety of marine-based maintenance and engineering for the Navy and Hellenic Center for Marine Research. Theodoros has many engineering specialties and has worked on more than 13 research and recovery projects.

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Aleka Gogou
Organic Biogeochemist
University of the Aegean

Dr. Alexandra Gogou is an Assistant Professor of Marine Organic Biogeochemistry in the Dept of Marine Sciences, Univ. of the Aegean, Greece. She earned her Ph.D thesis in 1998 from the Chemistry Department of the University of Crete, Greece. In January 1999, she had a post-Doctoral appointment with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. In 2001, she earned a 2-year postdoctoral E.U. fellowship to work in the Laboratoire de Biogeochimie et Chimie Marines in University Paris VI, France. Between 2003 and 2005 she was an Associated Scientist in the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Greece. Her research activities are focused on deciphering marine biogeochemical processes in response to environmental and climatic conditions, as they are recorded in the chemical structure, abundance and isotopic composition of organic molecules. She has been involved in several European, U.S.A. and International research projects.

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Joanne E. Goudreau
Senior Research Assistant
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

A Senior Research Assistant in the Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department at WHOI, Joanne is a Woods Hole native who started at WHOI during high school. For years she worked with Dr. Fred Sayles and his “ROLAID” sampler, which operated as a free vehicle off Bermuda.  Currently she is the mechanic/analyst for Dr. William Martin in sediment flux studies. As an analyst for Dr. Richard Camilli, Joanne will be analyzing water samples on a Gas Chromatograph from dive sites near the Columbo Volcano.  These samples will compliment readings from Dr. Camilli’s GEMINI in-situ mass spectrometer. Joanne’s outside activities include sailing and her horse Beau.

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Theodor Kanakaris
Captain
R/V Aegaeo

 

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Konstantinos Katsaros
Chief HOV Pilot
Hellenic Center for Marine Research

 

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Lambros Katsenis
Second Captain
R/V Aegaeo

 

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Aggelos Mallios
Chief ROV Pilot and Electrical Engineer
Hellenic Center for Marine Research

Aggelos Mallios has worked for the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) since 1999. He received a diploma of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Patras. His main activities focus on the use and maintenance of ROVs and the manned submarine "THETIS," as well the buoys maintenance of the "POSEIDON" project. His R&D activities include development and/or integration of underwater data loggers, sensors and positioning systems. He has also actively participated in several research projects with the Institute of Oceanography, and is the diving supervisor of HCMR.

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Justin E. Manley
Technology Goal Lead
NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration/Battelle

Justin Manley has been working with marine technology since 1990. He holds Masters and Bachelors degrees in Ocean Engineering from MIT. Mr. Manley has participated in many ocean science and engineering field expeditions including under-ice AUV operations and deep-sea marine archaeology. In 2003 he supported the use of AUVs in the search for submerged debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia. In 2004 he served as a navigator for ROVs used to explore and create high resolution photo mosaics of the RMS Titanic. Mr. Manley, currently a Senior Research Scientist with Battelle, has provided consulting services to NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration since 2002.

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Dimitris Mitraras
Second Captain
R/V Aegaeo

 

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Catherine A. Offinger
Operations Manager
Deep Submergence Laboratory
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

With a B.A. in English from Skidmore College in 1973, Cathy began what has become a serendipitous 30+ year career in marine geology / oceanography/ exploration.  She has participated in over 45 research expeditions where her varied roles have included Navigator, Data Processor, Logistics Coordinator, Science Liaison and/or Director of Operations.  Expedition highlights have included participation in the Galapagos and East Pacific Rise hydrothermal vent discoveries of 1977 and 1979, the discovery of the RMS TITANIC in 1985, the discovery of the German battleship BISMARCK in 1989 and the discovery of J.F. Kennedy’s PT-109 in 2002.  Coordinating the various details of international expeditions – and not letting minor setbacks such as the barge carrying an expedition’s entire equipment inventory sinking in 9000 feet of water, or an expedition’s research vessel falling over in drydock 1 month before the expedition cause too much drama – can be so exciting, it is difficult to actually consider it work!  Cathy will be based in Fira, Santorini, for the 2006 PHAEDRA Project.

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Vasilis Panaziotopoulos
Botswain's Mate
R/V Aegaeo

 

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Dimitris Sakellariou
Greek Chief Scientist
Hellenic Center for Marine Research

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Vikrant Shah
Graduate Student
WHOI – MIT Joint Program

Vikrant received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin with a focus on Robotics and Controls.  He is currently a graduate student with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) Joint Program working towards a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering.  His research includes a combination of Controls, Imaging and Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) with application to underwater robotics. During the PHAEDRA 2006 cruise, Vikrant will be working with both the Seabed and the newly built Jaguar deepwater AUVs.  He will also be in charge of the water sampler that will be used to collect water samples from sites of interests for further analysis.

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Hanumant Singh
Co-Principal Investigator
Applied Ocean Physics & Engineering
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Hanumant Singh visited the ocean once in his life prior to coming to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) as a summer intern. He liked it so much that he came back for his Ph.D. in the MIT – WHOI Joint Program which he completed in 1995. He now works as an Associate Scientist on the staff at WHOI. His research interests include imaging and underwater vehicles. He worked with his students to build the Seabed autonomous underwater vehicle that has been on several marine research expeditions in support of marine chemistry, marine geology and geophysics, marine archaeology, marine biology and coral reef ecology. Besides his work his interests include writing, windsurfing, and running.

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Dr. Andreas Sioulas
Geologist
Hellenic Center for Marine Research

 

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