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Gideon Billings is a PhD pre-candidate in Robotics at the University of Michigan in the DROP lab. His areas of specialization are in computer vision and perception and underwater manipulation. Gideon is interested in applying deep learning methods in computer vision towards object recognition, pose estimation, and visual servoing in the underwater domain. On this … Continued
Maps and other visualizations of scientific study are artifacts of a particular perspective and cultural context. What they include, what they omit, and the technologies they utilize are often what distinguishes them as a part of particular conversation. These same traits can exclude the underlying information or story from being integrated into other human narratives. … Continued
Nick Goumas is a senior research engineer at the Deep Robot Optical Perception (DROP) lab at the University of Michigan. He supports the development of autonomous underwater vehicles with a focus on underwater vision systems. With a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, his primary expertise is the mechanical design of … Continued
After forty-five hours of travel, I touch down in Apia, Samoa. A day on land to gain my bearings, then straight on to the wharf. After winding my way through a land of shipping containers, I see her, the Falkor, my new home and community. She will take me on a voyage I only day-dreamed … Continued
Greetings from the South Pacific! My name is Sally Jarmusz, and I am very fortunate to be one of two Student Opportunity Participants on board the R/V Falkor for the December 2017 – January 2018 transcruise (transit + research cruise). I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in mapping the eastern part of the Ellice … Continued
I am drawn to the ocean: by its beauty, its merciless nature, its capacity to provide food and habitat and to sustain economies, its role in our climate, and the special place it holds in cultures across the globe. The oceans connects life. Hello from R/V Falkor! My name is Cherie Colyer-Morris and I am … Continued
It is a surprisingly difficult talk to edit through the imagery produced by Remotely Operated Vehicle SuBastian. The dives on the hydrothermal systems of the Mata Volcanic Group have been exciting: both visually and contextually stunning. The landscape is so unfamiliar – so pristine and spectacular – that viewers might find themselves lacking any reference … Continued
“It is hard to pick the most exciting things that we’ve learned on this expedition, because we have learned so much!” Highlights include a diversity of volcanic styles, distinctive sites, traces of past activity throughout the volcanoes individual formations, and much more. Watch the wrap up video for the #UnderWaterFire expedition to see, discover, and … Continued
The swell seems invisible, but is clearly revealed by Falkor’s rocking and rolling. It represents no challenge for the experienced crew and by the end of the day, ROV SuBastian is safely back on the aft deck after twelve hours of exploring the sea bottom. While the cloudscape glows a beautiful purple and orange tint, … Continued
Fortunato, C., Larson, B., Butterfield, D., and J. Huber. (2017). Spatially Distinct, Temporally Stable Microbial Populations Mediate Biogeochemical Cycling At and Below the Seafloor in Hydrothermal Vent Fluids. Environmental Microbiology, doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.14011. [This article has been published as OPEN ACCESS].
