Dr. Dana Yoerger is a Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and a researcher in robotics and unmanned vehicles. He supervises the research and academic program of graduate students studying oceanographic engineering through the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in the areas of control, robotics, and design. Dr. Yoerger has been a key contributor to the remotely-operated vehicle JASON; to the Autonomous Benthic Explorer known as ABE; and most recently, to the autonomous underwater vehicle, SENTRY; and the hybrid remotely operated vehicle, NEREUS which reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 2009. Dr. Yoerger has gone to sea on over 70 oceanographic expeditions exploring the Mid-Ocean Ridge, mapping underwater seamounts and volcanoes, surveying ancient and modern shipwrecks, and studying the environmental effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He was the 2009 recipient of the Lockheed Award for Ocean Science and Engineering and serves on the Research Board for BP’s Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative. He currently serves as interim Director of WHOI’s Center for Marine Robotics.

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