Person: Charlie Paull

Dr. Charlie Paull is Senior Scientist at MBARI with interests in the geological evolution of the seafloor and the processes that occur on it.  In the 1970’s and 80’s he worked on the geology and morphology of steep escarpments that rim the Florida Platform, similar to the Campeche Escarpment.  As chief scientist, he is focused … Continued

Person: James Holden

Dr. Holden is an associate professor of microbiology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he began his appointment as an assistant professor in 2003. His post-doctoral research was done in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Georgia with Dr. Michael W. W. Adams. He earned his Ph.D. in 1996 … Continued

Person: Ben Larson

Ben Larson is a research scientist at the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean at University of Washington. He originally majored in chemistry at The Ohio State University with an emphasis on laser spectroscopy. After spending his undergraduate years studying the tiny vibrations of chemical bonds in antiseptic vacuum chambers at … Continued

Person: Colin Wilson

Colin is a ROPOS Navigator with Dynamic Systems Analysis Ltd.  Colin will be providing navigation and information technology support. A Professional Engineering Candidate, he has developed and used advanced numerical analysis software for ocean engineering applications.  Some of these applications include subsea robotics, tidal/wave energy converters, subsea turbines, aquaculture, sensor models, control systems, and others. … Continued

Person: Keith Tamburri

Keith is the Assistant General Manager for the ROPOS team with Highland Technologies/Canadian Scientific Submersible Facility.  During the cruise, he will be acting as an operations supervisor, deck commander for ROV operations, pilot, and electrical technician.  He is primarily responsible for assisting with the management of the ROPOS ROV, and overseeing design and fabrication of … Continued

Person: Kim Wallace

Kim is an Electrical Engineering Technologist with devOcean Technology Ltd.  As part of the ROPOS team, Kim will provide technical support for the configuration, operation, and maintenance of the ROPOS vehicle, focusing on electrical and electronic systems.  As with most of the ROV crew, Kim is also trained as a pilot and as an operator … Continued

Person: Steven Bucklew

Steven (Steve) is a ROPOS ROV Technician with Sierra Offshore Services.  A part of the ROPOS team since 2003, Steve has acted as a pilot, LARS crane operator, and robotic manipulator operator and technician. He will be fulfilling all three of these roles during the cruise. Steve brings extensive experience with ROVs and mechanical systems … Continued

Person: Lisa Zeigler Allen

Dr. Lisa Zeigler Allen is an Assistant Professor in the Microbial and Environmental Genomics Department at the J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla California. Her research focuses on understanding microbial and viral interactions through large-scale meta- genomic and -transcriptomic, single cell/virion genomic and cultivation based approaches. Her work at Axial will involve the genomic characterization … Continued

Person: Lucy Stewart

Lucy has a B.A. in History (2009) and a B.Sc.(Hons) in Microbiology (2010) from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Her Honours thesis focused on comparing the ecophysiology of rock-living bacteria and fungi from the Antarctic Dry Valleys to similar species from the foothills of the Southern Alps in New Zealand. Between her … Continued

Person: Giora Proskurowski

Giora graduated from Amherst College with a chemistry major, but was lured to the earth sciences by the prospects of using chemistry to study deep-sea hydrothermal vents. He got his masters and Ph.D. from the University of Washington in chemical oceanography, studying the connections between biology, geology, and chemistry at deep-sea hot vents. Beginning in … Continued