CCOM-JHC People

Lee Alexander is a Research Associate Professor at the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping and Joint Hydrographic Center at the University of New Hampshire, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of New Brunswick (Canada). Previously a Research Scientist with the U.S. Coast Guard, he was also a Visiting Scientist with the Canadian Hydrographic Service. His area of expertise is applied RDT&E on electronic charting, international standards development, and the use of electronic charts for safety-of-navigation and marine environmental protection. He serves on several international committees/working groups dealing with electronic charting, including the International Hydrographic Organization, the International Electrotechnical Commission, and the International Association of Lighthouse Authorities. He Chairs the Harmonization Group on Marine Information Overlays (MIOs). He has published over 100 papers and reports on electronic chart-related technologies, and is a co-author of a textbook on Electronic Charting. Lee received his M.S. from the University of New Hampshire, and Ph.D. from Yale University in Natural Resource Management. He is also a Captain (now retired) in the U.S. Navy Reserve.

Andrew Armstrong Co-Director of the JHC and a retired officer of NOAA, assigned to the Center as a civilian NOAA employee. Capt. Armstrong specialized in hydrographic surveying and served on several NOAA hydrographic ships, including the NOAA Ship Whiting where he was Commanding Officer and Chief Hydrographer.

Before coming to the JHC, he was the Chief of NOAA’s Hydrographic Surveys Division, directing the agency's hydrographic survey activities. He has a B.S. in Geology from Tulane University and a M.S. in Technical Management from the Johns Hopkins University.

Capt. Armstrong oversees the hydrographic and ocean mapping education and training program at UNH and coordinates the Center’s cooperative research with NOAA.

Roland Arsenault was an M.Sc. student and part-time research assistant with Human Computer Interaction Lab of the Dept. of Computer Sciences, University of New Brunswick before coming to UNH.

His expertise is in 3-D graphics, force-feedback and other input techniques and networking. He is currently working on the development of the GeoZui3D realtime 3-D environment.

Samantha Benton Sam is a junior at UNH and is dual majoring in both social work and spanish. She has worked part time at CCOM as an administrative assitant since Fall 2007 and is from Nashua, NH. She loves to travel and plans to attend Graduate School.

Margaret Boettcher received a PhD in Geophysics from the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography in 2005 and ScB in Geology/Physics-Mathematics from Brown University in 1998. She joined CCOM in 2008 after completing a Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellowship at the US Geological Survey. While she will continue to collaborate with scientists at CCOM indefinitely, Margaret will also be joining the faculty in the Earth Science Department at UNH in August 2009.

Margaret's research focuses on the physics of earthquakes and faulting and she approaches these topics from the perspectives of seismology, rock mechanics, and numerical modeling. Margaret's seeks to better understand slip accommodation on oceanic transform faults. And recently she has been delving deeper into the details of earthquake source processes by looking at very small earthquakes in deep gold mines in South Africa.

Brittany Buzzell Brittany joined CCOM-JHC in September of 2009 as a Program Support Assistant. She currently lives in Somersworth and is pursuing her Bachelor's Degree in Business Management at Granite State College, NH. When not at work, Brittany enjoys reading and hanging out with friends and family.

Brian Calder has a Ph.D in Computing and Electrical Engineering, completing his thesis on Bayesian methods in Sidescan Sonar processing in 1997. Since then he has worked on a number of signal processing problems, including real-time grain size analysis, seismic processing, and wave-field modeling for shallow seismic applications.

His research interests include methods for error modeling, propagation and visualization, and adaptive sonar backscatter modeling. His work has focused on developing methods for textural analysis of seafloor sonar data, as well as exploring innovative approaches to target detection and seafloor property extraction.

Dr. Calder is currently focusing on statistically robust automated data cleaning approaches and tracing uncertainty in hydrographic data.

Jordan Chadwick previously worked at UNH's InterOperability Lab in the Internet Protocol version 6 Consortium and most recently as a Network Administrator in the credit card industry. He has a B.A. in History from UNH.

Tyler Clark is pursing a MS in Electrical Engineering. In 2007, he recieved his BS in Electrical Engineering with a focus in Digital Signal Processing and Control Systems.

Tyler is currently working with Tom Weber researching the use of multibeam sonar to provide sea column and sea floor information.

Maureen Claussen (Mau) works part-time at CCOM-JHC. She shares office space with Linda. Maureen is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts/Boston with a B.A. in Applied Social Anthropology and Communications.

She hopes her organizational skills and attention to detail will be of value to the Center. She is excited to be working in such a cutting-edge research and learning environment, and hopes to contribute to the efficient operations and growth of the Center.

When not at CCOM, Maureen manages the office of a local acupuncturist, manages her two beautiful teenagers, and manages to stay awake past 9PM.

Ben Colello is helping Captain Ben Smith with boat projects.

Sree Dadisetty Sree is a Research Assistant working for nowCOAST.

James Daniell James Daniell is currently attending CCOM as part of the GEBCO scholarship program. He has a background in marine geology and geophysics. James has worked for a number of years undertaking marine research within the Seabed Mapping and Characterisation Group at Geoscience Australia. He has undertaken survey work in Torres Strait, Gulf of Papua, Gulf of Carpentaria, and the West Australian continental margin. His research interests include bedload transport, bedform migration, remote sensing, image processing, and most things related to multibeam sonar. He submitted his PhD to the University of Sydney in July 2009.

Publications:

Daniell, J.J., and Hughes, M. 2007. The morphology of barchan-shaped sand banks from western Torres Strait, northern Australia. Sedimentary Geology, 202:638-652

Daniell, J.J. 2008. The development of a bathymetric grid for the Gulf of Papua and adjacent areas - a note describing its development. Journal of Geophysical Research 113, F01S15, doi:10.1029/2006JF000673

Daniell, J.J., Harris, P., Hughes, M., Hemer, M., and Heap, A. 2008. The potential impact of bedform migration on seagrass communities in Torres Strait, Northern Australia. Continental Shelf Research, Vol. 28, Issue 16, September 2008, pp. 2188-2202.

Francis, J.M. Daniell, J. Droxler, A.W., Dickens, G.R Bentley, S.J. Peterson, L.C. Opdyke, B.N. Beaufort L., 2008. Deep-water geomorphology of the mixed siliciclastic-carbonate system, Gulf of Papua. Journal of Geophysical Research 113, F01S16, doi:10.1029/2007JF000851

Harris, P.T., Heap, A., Passlow, V., Hughes, M., Daniell, J., Hemer, M. and Anderson, O., 2005. Tidally-incised valleys on tropical carbonate shelves: an example from the northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Marine Geology 220, 181-204.

Christian de Moustier joined CCOM-JHC in January 2002 as a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering/Ocean Engineering.

He teaches courses in environmental acoustics (air, water), statistical signal processing, and ocean mapping.

Occasionally, CCOM Graduate Students allow him to conduct vicarious research in underwater acoustic signal processing.

In his spare time, he serves as Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering.

Sean Denney Sean Denney received a Bachelors of Science in Geomatics from the University of Florida in 2009. He is pursuing a Masters Degree in Ocean Engineering/Ocean Mapping at CCOM/JHC at the University of New Hampshire. Sean is an active cave and wreck diver, having served as General Manager for the National Association for Cave Diving.

Semme Dijkstra received a Ph.D. in Ocean Mapping from the University of New Brunswick. He is a certified (Cat A) hydrographer from the Netherlands who has several years of hydrographic experience with both the Dutch Navy and industry.

Since 1996, he has worked at the Alfred Wegner Institute where he has been in charge of their multibeam sonar processing. He is an experienced CARIS user. His thesis work has involved artifact removal from multibeam sonar data and development of an echo-sounder processing and sediment classification system.

is now focusing on applications of single beam sonars for seafloor characterization and fisheries habitat.

Emily Evans

Will Fessenden provides workstation support for CCOM-JHC and its staff.

Will has a B.A. in Political Science from UNH, and has also worked previously for the University's department of Computing and Information Services.

When he's not fixing computers, he's playing games on them.

Luciano Fonseca received a PhD in Ocean Engineering from the University of New Hampshire and a Master Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Campinas. He joined the Center in 2003 after 12 years of experience in research and development in oil the industry.

Dr. Fonseca's research is focused on developing tools for extracting quantitative seafloor property information from multibeam backscatter and on modeling acoustic backscatter response of gassy sediments. He is supported by the ONR Geoclutter Program a project aimed at understanding how multibeam backscatter may be used to remotely predict seafloor properties.

Bert Franzheim

Francis Freire

Jim Gardner is a world-renowned marine geologist and leader of the USGS Pacific Mapping Group, who has retired from the USGS and joined the center in the late summer of 2003. He presently is also an Emeritus Senior Geologist with the USGS, as well as an Honorary Associate in the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney, Australia.

He graduated with a B.S. in geology from San Diego State University in 1967 and earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University-Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in 1973. His focus is on marine sedimentology, paleoceanography, and seafloor mapping. After two years at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Jim joined the Pacific Marine Geology group at the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park, CA where he worked for 30 years on a wide variety of marine sedimentological and paleoceanographic problems in the Bering Sea, North and South Pacific Ocean, northeast Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas, and the Coral Sea.

He conceived, organized, and directed the 8-year EEZ-SCAN mapping of the US Exclusive Economic Zone using GLORIA long-range sidescan sonar in the 1980s. He has been responsible for the multimbeam sonar mapping of a number of areas off the coast of California, Lake Tahoe, Crater Lake in Oregon, and Hawaii and has pioneered innovative approaches to the dissemination and interpretation of these data. He participated in four Deep Sea Drilling Project cruises, one as co-chief scientist, participated in more than 50 research cruises, and was Chief of Pacific Seafloor Mapping from 1995 to 2003, a project that used high-resolution multibeam echosounders to map portions of the US continental shelves and margins.

Jim was the first USGS Mendenhall Lecturer, received the Department of Interior Meritorious Service Award and received two USGS Shoemaker Awards. He has published more than 200 scientific papers and given an untold number of talks and presentations all over the world.

At CCOM, Jim is in charge of the US Law of the Sea cruises as well as research methods to extract meaningful geological information from multibeam acoustic backscatter through ground truth and advanced image analysis methods.

Samuel Greenaway received a Sc.B. in Physics from Brown University in 1998.

Following forays into corporate finance, he joined the NOAA Corps in 2004 and has served on the NOAA Ship RAINIER conducting hydrographic surveys primarily in Alaska.

In his latest assignment, he oversaw the construction and outfitting of new hydrographic survey launches for the NOAA Ships RAINIER and FAIRWEATHER.

Sam is pursuing a master's degree in Earth Science/ Ocean Mapping.

Megan Greenaway Megan Greenaway is a Physcial Scientist with NOAA Hydrographic Survey Division - Operations. She completed a B.S. in Geography from Frostburg State University in 1996. After a few years as a NOAA Cartographer in the Electronic Navigational Charting division she moved on to her current hydrographic career as a Physical Scientist. In 2008 she earned a M.S. in Hydrographic Science from the University of Southern Mississippi

Jason Greenlaw , previously part of the IT group, is now a full time employee working with John Kelley on further development of his nowCOAST project.

Jason is a native of Madbury, NH and recently (Spring 2006) graduated from UNH with a B.S. in Computer Science and a minor in French. He enjoys travelling the world (though hasn't seen much of it yet), playing guitar, sports, fly fishing, and of course technology.

Michele Heller is helping Andy McLeod and Tom Weber out.

Athur Herwindya

Tianhang Hou was a Research Associate with the University of New Brunswick Ocean Mapping for six years before coming to UNH.

He has significant experience with the UNB/OMG multibeam processing tools and has taken part in several offshore surveys. In addition to his work as a research associate Mr. Hou has also begun a Ph.D in which he is looking at the application of wavelets for artifact removal and seafloor classification in multibeam sonar records.

He is also exploring several approaches for automated cleaning of multibeam sonar data as well as developing algorithms for determining the "foot of the slope" for Law of the Sea issues.

Lloyd Huff has over 37 years in private industry and the federal government, working with acoustic instrumentation and oceanographic equipment. He received his Doctorate in Ocean Engineering in 1976 from the University of Rhode Island and is one of the lead professionals in the Office of Coast Survey (OCS) working to bring multibeam side scan sonars and multibeam bathymetric sonars into standard practice for shallow water hydrography. He was Chief of the OCS Hydrographic Technology Programs from 1988-1999.

Dr. Huff is working on new approaches for a range of hydrographic activities including the application of RTK techniques.

James Irish has a Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 1971.

• Research Professor, Ocean Engineering
• Oceanographer Emeritus, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Research Areas

Ocean instruments, their calibration, response and the methodology of their use. Buoys, moorings and modeling of moored observing systems. Physical oceanography of the coastal ocean, including waves, tides, currents and water mass property observations and analysis. Acoustic instrumentation for bottom sediment and bedload transport, for remote observations of sediment and for fish surveys.

Research Emphasis

Research involves defining scientific problems in conjunction with other researchers, developing and deploying new instrumentation to collect remote environmental data, understanding instrument calibrations, behavior, and response, and participating in the analysis of these data to improve our understanding of the various processes occurring in the ocean. Specific research activities include:

• Dynamic processes due to the tides and the associated stress, mixing, and advection of material.
• Tidal analysis and predictions from bottom pressure and ocean current observations.
• The generation and propagation of internal waves, internal tides and internal solitary waves.
• Sea-water heating and cooling, water mass formation, and stability and mixing.
• Sediment transport processes, particularly in the coastal ocean under wave forcing.
• Optical and acoustic imaging of suspended sediment, bedload sediment and bedforms in relation to wave and current forcing.
• Development, deployment and evaluation of new, remote oceanographic instrumentation systems utilizing microprocessors and telemetry.
• Development of analysis methods and tools to reduce oceanographic observations.
• A "knowledge-based system" approach to sampling the environment by taking advantage of the power of microprocessors to conditionally sample intermittent oceanic processes.
• Development and use of acoustic, fiber optics, radio, and satellite telemetry techniques to return data from the field and the control remote instruments in the field.
• Development of techniques for using new sensors in the ocean, including understanding the calibrations, calibration histories and the sensor behavior and response effects on data.

Charos Justin

Carl Kammerer is an oceanographer with the National Ocean Service's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) seconded to the Center. He is a specialist in estuarine and near-shore currents and presently the project manager for Southeast Alaskan surveys.

In addition to Alaskan surveys, his recent projects include a robust survey to ascertain the effects of large bulk cargo ships in Las Mareas, Puerto Rico. Working out of the Joint Hydrographic Center, he acts as a liaison between CO-OPS and the JHC and provides expertise and assistance in the analysis and collection of tides.

He has a B.S. in Oceanography from the University of Washington and an MBA from the University of Maryland.

John Kelley is a research meteorologist and coastal modeler with NOAA/National Ocean Service's Marine Modeling and Analysis Programs within the Coast Survey Development Lab.

Dr. Kelley has a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from Ohio State Univ. (1995), an M.S. in Meteorology from Penn State Univ. and a B.A. in Geography/Atmospheric Sciences from the The Univ. of Rhode Island. His research interests are in the area of coastal meteorology and oceanography and the application of GIS technology to these fields.

He was a UCAR Visiting Scientist in the National Weather Service/NCEP's Ocean Modeling Branch of the Environmental Modeling Center and is currently involved with the development and implementation of NOS' operational numerical ocean forecast models for estuaries, the coastal ocean, and the Great Lakes.

Barbara Kraft received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of New Hampshire. Her dissertation research used optical tomography and interferometry to spatially resolve 3-D density fields of turbulent jets.

She has taught several courses including digital signal processing and experimental measurement and data analysis. Most recently she has worked on the demodulation of voice and data transmissions for digital radio communications.

Nikki Kuenzel received a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Science with minors in Coastal Geology and Spanish from Coastal Carolina University, Conway SC in May of 2008.

She is very excited to be a part of the CCOM and UNH community in the upcoming fall 2008 to pursue a Master's degree in Earth Sciences (Ocean Mapping option).

Christina Lacerda graduated from Universidade Federal do Parana, in Curitiba, Brazil earning the title of Cartography Engineer. She then joined the Brazilian Navy where she worked for the past 4 years in the Brazilian Hydrographic Office. She is now pursuing a post-graduate degree in Ocean Mapping, as part of the GEBCO Program.

Carlo Lanzoni Carlo Lanzoni received his Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Hampshire in 2007.

His master's research was the design of a teaching platform for digital communications using software-defined radio concepts. He also received his B.S.E.E. degree from the University of New Hampshire in 2002.

Andrea Lebarge is helping out Larry Ward.

Tom Lippmann is a nearshore oceanographer with affiliation with the Department of Earth Sciences and the Ocean Engineering program.

He received a BA in Mathematics and Biology from Linfield College (1985), and a MS (1989) and PhD (1992) in Oceanography at Oregon State University. His dissertation research conducted within the Geological Oceanography Department was on shallow water physical oceanography and large scale coastal behavior. He went on to do a Post Doc at the Naval Postgraduate School (1992-1995) in Physical Oceanography.

He worked as a Research Oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (1995-1999) in the Center for Coastal Studies, and retains a research associate with the Integrated Oceanography Division at SIO. He was then a Research Scientist at Ohio State University (1999-2008) jointly in the Byrd Polar Research Center and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. & Geodetic Science.

Dr. Lippmann's research is focused on shallow water oceanography, hydrography, and bathymetric evolution in coastal waters spanning inner continental shelf, surf zone, and inlet environments. Research questions are collaboratively addressed with a combination of experimental, theoretical, and numerical approaches. He has participated in 14 nearshore field experiments and spent over 18 months in the field.

Elizabeth Lobecker

Bernice Mahabier

Mashkoor Malik is working on processing Multibeam sonar data with major emphasis on studying anthropogenic effects on sea floor.

Larry Mayer has a broad-based background in marine geology and geophysics that is reflected in his association with both the Ocean Engineering and Earth Science Departments.

He graduated magna cum laude with an Honors degree in Geology from the University of Rhode Island in 1973 and received a Ph.D. from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in Marine Geophysics in 1979. At Scripps his schizophrenic future was determined as he worked with the Marine Physical Laboratory's Deep-Tow Geophysical package, but applied this sophisticated acoustic sensor to problems of the history of climate. After being selected as an astronaut candidate finalist for NASA's first class of mission specialists, He went on to a Post-Doc at the School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island where he worked on problems of deep-sea sediment transport and paleoceanography of the equatorial Pacific.

In 1982, he became an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Oceanography at Dalhousie University and in 1991 moved to the University of New Brunswick to take up the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Ocean Mapping.

In 2000 he became the founding director of the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire and the co-director of the NOAA/UNH Joint Hydrographic Center. Dr. Mayer has participated in more than 50 cruises (over 60 months at sea!) during the last 30 years and has been chief or co-chief scientist of numerous expeditions including two legs of the Ocean Drilling Program and four cruises on the Icebreaker HEALY mapping unexplored regions of the Arctic seafloor in support of a potential U.S. submission for an extended continental shelf under the Law of the Sea Treaty.

He has served on, or chaired, far too many international panels and committees and has the requisite large number of publications on a variety of topics in marine geology and geophysics. He is the recipient of the Keen Medal for Marine Geology, an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Stockholm, the University of New Hampshire's Research Excellence Award and the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography's Distinguished Alumni Award.

He served on the President's Panel for Ocean Exploration, chaired a National Academy of Sciences committee on "National Needs for Coastal Mapping and Charting" and is currently co-chairing NOAA's Ocean Exploration Advisory Working Group.

His research deals with sonar imaging, remote characterization of the seafloor, advanced applications of 3-D visualization to ocean mapping problems and of late, applications of seafloor mapping to Law of the Sea issues.

Andy McLeod is the Ocean Engineering Lab manager. Andy spent nine years in the U.S. Navy as a leading sonar technician and then earned a B.Sc. in the Dept. of Ocean Studies at Maine Maritime. He has a Masters degree in Marine Geology from the University of North Carolina.

At UNH, Andy is responsible for maintenance and upgrading of the major laboratory facilities including the test tanks, small boat operations, and assistance with some courses.

Dandan Miao received a Bachelor of Science degree in Geographic Information System in Wuhan University, China in June of 2009.

She is quite happy that to continue her education at UNH to obtain a Master's Degree in Ocean Engineering (Ocean Mapping direction).

Colleen Mitchell received a B.A. in English from Nyack College in Nyack, NY and a Master's in Education from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. Colleen began working at UNH in 1999 as the Program Coordinator for the Recycled Materials Resource Center. In 2002, she became the Communications Coordinator for the Environmental Research Group (ERG) and all of its centers.

Colleen was hired in July 2009 to be the CCOM/JHC graphics person and now divides her time between ERG and CCOM.

Dave Monahan is Program Director for the Nippon Foundation General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) training program in oceanic bathymetry and Affiliate Professor.

Prior to joining CCOM, he served 33 years in the Canadian Hydrographic Service, working his way down from Research Scientist to Director. During that time, he established the bathymetric mapping program and mapped most Canadian waters, built the Fifth Edition of GEBCO, led the development of LIDAR, developed and led the CHS Electronic Chart production program, and was Canadian rep on a number of International committees and boards. He has mentored a few people who became Directors, steered CHS through the conversion to NAD 83 and the introduction of GPS, with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory he performed the first world-scale comparison of satellite and acoustic bathymetric data. He designed an algorithm for contouring bathymetry data from random, widely-spaced tracks, made the over ice spot sounding survey pattern more efficient, conducted field studies and authored papers on sea floor geomorphology all around Canada, in adjacent oceanic basins as well as off Senegal/Gambia, Peru and Guyana. Dave also wrote an International Hydrographic Bureau standard, published over ninety maps and a hundred papers and got Canada to ratify UNCLOS. He also did a lot of management things large and small but has no real memory of them.

Before joining the Canadian government he was research assistant to the late Mike Keen at Dalhousie University during the exciting period when the theory of Plate Tectonics was the subject of hearty debate.

With degrees in Science, in Arts and in Engineering, he is almost diverse enough to understand how little humankind knows about the ocean. He has been Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geography at Carleton University and continues to hold a similar position in the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering at the University of New Brunswick.

Abby Morris

Brian O'Donnell pursuing an MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He received his BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2005.

Brian is working with Dr. Christian de Moustier and Dr. Lloyd Huff on data analysis of the Klein Long Range Side Scan Sonar.

Abby Pagan-Allis received her BS in Management at Granite State College, NH in 2007. She joined CCOM-JHC in 2002, and is responsible for the administrative operations for the center.

She enjoys kayaking, gardening and is a volunteer at Frisbee Memorial Hospital in Rochester.

Shachak Pe'eri received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. from the Tel Aviv University in Geophysics.

His Ph.D. research was on the monitoring the current uplift and deformation of Mt. Sedom salt diapir using Ineterferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). The research was done with Stanford University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

His M.Sc. research was measuring the current plate motion across the Dead Sea Fault using continuous GPS monitoring.

Dr. Pe'eri's areas of interest are: Remote Sensing, Geophysics and Geodesy. Currently focusing on the Acoustic-LIDAR intercomparisons.

Presentations

• Lidar Simulator

Lester Peabody is from Londonderry, NH and currently lives in Dover, NH.

Lester studies all sorts of music and is striving to be a guitar virtuoso.

He feels "Computers are fun and make for a good job" and so is currently pursuing a BS in Computer Science at UNH, however his heart is where the music is!

Daniel Pineo

Matt Plumlee has a B.S (1995) and Ph.D. (2004) in Computer Science, both from the University of New Hampshire. He currently works part-time on software development and infrastructure in support of the Chart-of-the-Future project, GeoZui4D, and other visualization projects.

Matt enjoys experiencing new people, places, and ideas; then philosophizing about them; and then shuffling his life around and trying something new again. He will be spending time running the Programming Assistance Center for the UNH Computer Science department starting in the fall.

Linda Prescott is the Program Support Assistant. She joined the CCOM-JHC team in May, 2005.

In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her daughter. They like to take long walks in the woods or at the beach, and share their mutual love of the outdoors (and SpongeBob Squarepants)

Rachel Quimby

Yuri Rzhanov received a Ph.D. in Semiconductor Physics from the Russian Academy of Sciences, in 1983. Before joining the University of New Hampshire in 2000, he worked at the Heriott-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Dr. Rzhanov has a very wide range of computing skills and has built a number of applications for higher education that are presently in use at universities around the world.

Currently he is an Associate Professor at CCOM-JHC. His research interests include optical methods of seafloor mapping, blending techniques for construction of photomosaics from imagery acquired underwater, seabottom structure reconstruction from multiple views.

Most importantly Dr. Rzhanov has been developing models for sonar-seabed interaction for bathymetric and sidescan sonars (including the Klein 2000/5000 systems) as well as software for automatic mosaicking of video imagery and sidescan sonar data.

Val Schmidt is pursuing a PhD in Ocean Engineering under professors Chris d'Moustier and Larry Mayer.

Before coming to CCOM, Val served in the US Submarine Service aboard the USS HAWKBILL (SSN-666). In this capacity, Val participated in two dedicated science ("SCICEX") missions to the Arctic in 1998 and 1999. He has since worked for Qwest Communications developing applications for Voice Over IP technologies and more recently as a research engineer for the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory where he built instrumentation, installed navigation and communications systems, and designed data systems for oceanographic research ships.

Val is the lead author of the MB-System Cookbook. The Cookbook provides documentation for the open source swath mapping data processing suite. He also co-developed SWAP - the "Ship-to-Ship Wireless Access Protocol" - a wireless mesh-networking system for the UNOLS oceanographic research fleet.

Val has a terrific and beautiful wife, Alice and a mean cat, Kokua.

Kurt Schwehr Kurt Schwehr received his PhD from Scripps Institution of Oceanography studying marine geology and geophysics and received a B.S. in Geology from Stanford University. Before joining CCOM, he worked at JPL, NASA Ames, the Field Robotics Center at Carnegie Mellon, and the USGS Menlo Park. His research has included components of computer science, geology, and geophysics. He looks to apply robotics, computer graphics, and real-time systems to solve problems in marine and space exploration environments. He has been on the mission control teams for the Mars Pathfinder, Mars Polar Lander, Mars Exploration Rovers and the Phoenix Mars Lander. He has designed computer vision, 3D visualization, and on-board driving software for NASA's Mars exploration program. Fieldwork has taken him from Yellowstone National Park to Antarctica. He is currently working on a range of projects including the Chart-of-the-Future, the maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS), visualization techniques for underwater and space applications, marine geology, and Mars spacecraft. Here is a link to his home page

Ben Smith is the Captain of CCOM-JHC research vessel Coastal Surveyor, and Research Technician specializing in programming languages and UNIX-like operating systems and services.

Rachel Soraruf completed a B.A. in Geology from Mount Holyoke College. After receiving her bachelor degree she went on to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and earned an M.S. in Geosciences.

Her thesis focused on paleo-climatology, specifically concentrated in isotopic ratios derived from a 6.2ka speleothem from NW Costa Rica. After completing her degree at UMass, Rachel moved to Washington, DC and began working for NOAA in the Office of Coast Survey as a cartographer. Following that, she accepted a position at the Hydrographic Survey Division (HSD), which better suited her growing interest in hydrography.

Rachel is currently pursing a Masters degree in Earth Science/Ocean Mapping.

Briana Sullivan received her undergraduate degree in Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell in 2002 and finished her master's in computer science at UNH in 2004.

She is now employed at CCOM full-time with two major responsibilities. The first one is in the Data Visualization Research Lab where she is currently working on human factors research with Colin Ware and the chart of the future with Matt Plumlee and Kurt Schwehr.

Her second responsibility is being the CCOM outreach specialist. In this capacity she is in charge of informing the public of the work going on here at CCOM-JHC. This is done through the design and maintenance of the web-site, adding an outreach section to the web-site (coming soon), and helping design and build museum exhibits for marine/science centers.

She loves traveling, yoga, outdoor activities of all kind, and is an avid telemark skier and snowboarder.

Naoto Ujihara

Rohit Venugopal

Larry Ward has a Ph. D. from the University of South Carolina (1978) in Marine Geology. Primary interests include estuarine, coastal, and inner shelf sedimentology and surficial processes.

Dr. Ward's most recent research has focused on estuarine sedimentological processes and depositional environments, coastal geomorphology and erosion, the physical characteristics of inner shelf bottom habitats, and the stratigraphy, sea level history and Holocene evolution of nearshore marine systems.

Teaching interests ranges from introductory geology and oceanography courses to graduate level coastal and estuarine sedimentology and surficial processes course.

Dr. Ward is an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences and is a member of the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping and Jackson Estuarine Laboratory

Colin Ware is a member of the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping and Director of the Data Visualization Research Lab. Dr. Ware's position is split between the Ocean Engineering and Computer Science Departments.

Dr. Ware has a background in human/computer interaction (HCI) and has been instrumental in developing a number of innovative approaches to the interactive 3-D visualization of large data sets.

As a founding member of the University of New Brunswick Ocean Mapping Group, Dr. Ware designed many of the algorithms and interactive techniques that were that were incorporated into Fledermaus, a 3D visualization package and into CARIS HIPS, the most commonly used commercial hydrographic processing package.

Here is a link to his home page

Tom Weber received his PhD in Acoustics at The Pennsylvania State University in 2006 and has B.S. (1997) and M.S. (2000) degrees in Ocean Engineering from the University of Rhode Island. He joined the Center in 2006.

His research interests are generally related to high frequency acoustics. Since arriving at the center his work has been focused on three different areas: the use of multibeam sonar for investigating the water column (fish, bubbles, kelp, and other scattering mechanisms); shallow water (harbor) acoustic tracking; and acoustic propagation through bubbles.

Monica Wolfson graduated from Eckerd College with a B.S. in marine science and a concentration in marine geology. After a short stint as a lab technician she went on to get her master's in geological oceanography from the University of South Florida. While working as an oceanographer for the Naval Oceanographic Office, she realized she missed research and thought it was about time to get another degree. As a result, she is now here, pursuing a PhD in oceanography. Her focus will be on optical/acoustic approaches to seafloor characterization.

Shanika Wright

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