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Engineers

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Andrew Bowen

Principal Engineer, Lab Manager

Research Interests: Remotely operated submersibles, propulsion systems, application of close loop control of remotely operated vehicles, introduction of remotely operated systems for oceanographic research.

Contact: abowen@whoi.edu

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Will Bain

Research Engineer

Research Interests: Autonomous vehicle capabilities and behaviors, machine vision and perception, localization and mapping, vehicle remote operations.

Contact: william.bain@whoi.edu

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Zac Berkowitz

Research Engineer

Research Interests: Development and operation of software and electrical systems of autonomous vehicles for scientific use.

Contact: zberkowitz@whoi.edu

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Andrew Billings

Research Engineer

Research Interests: Mechanical design, electrical design, CAD and CAM with Autodesk software, Inventor and Fusion, underwater thruster design and hydraulic systems.

Contact: abillings@whoi.edu

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John Cast

Research Engineer

Research Interests: Autonomous underwater robotics, collaborative real-time mixed reality, perception, ROS development, enhanced research and educational outreach tools powered by computer vision and artificial intelligence.

Education: MSE, Robotics, Johns Hopkins University. B.S., M.S., Electrical Engineering, Stanford University.

Contact: john.cast@whoi.edu

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Beckett Colson

Research Engineer

Research Interests: Microplastics, instrument development, oceanographic engineering, spectroscopy, dissolved gases.

Contact: bcolson@whoi.edu

WHOI mechanical engineer, Molly Curran poses with autonomous underwater vehicle, Nereid Under Ice (NUI) in the Blake auto bays. Curran has worked with WHOI for more than six years adding crucial elements to vehicles like Nereid, including hydraulic pumps that help the vehicle's manipulator arms move during missions (Daniel Hentz, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Molly Curran

Research Engineer

Research Interests: Design and operation of autonomous, hybrid, and remotely operated underwater vehicles and mechanical support equipment. Design and construction of underwater hydraulic power systems. Mechanical Finite Element Analysis.

Contact: mcurran@whoi.edu

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Allisa Dalpe

Research Engineer

Research Interests: Autonomous decision making, mission planning, path-planning, test and evaluations methods for autonomous systems.

Contact: adalpe@whoi.edu

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Francesca Daszak

Engineer I

Research Interests: Deep-sea vehicles, especially autonomous. Robotics engineering, primarily mechanical design and software development. Electrical assembly, including PCB population and detailed soldering work.

Contact: francesca.daszak@whoi.edu

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Frederick Denton

Research Engineer

Research Interests: Mechanical design of oceanographic systems including ROVs and specializing in ROV LARS cranes, winches, umbilical cables and other portable structures mounted to oceanographic vessels.

Contact: fdenton@whoi.edu

Adam Ensminger

Engineer I

Research Interests: Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, and rapid prototyping.

Contact: adam.ensminger@whoi.edu

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Mario Fernandez Jr.

Research Engineer

Research Interests: Mechanical design engineering for ROV Jason.

Contact: mfernandez@whoi.edu

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Justin Fujii

Research Engineer

Research Interests: Systems level design of autonomous, manned, and unmanned underwater vehicles. Hydrodynamics and propulsion optimization of underwater vehicles. Improved payload and power plant interchangeability. Design deployment and recovery systems of autonomous underwater vehicles.

Contact: jfujii@whoi.edu

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Joe Garcia

Engineer I

Research Interests: Python-based data processing and analysis, Big data system architectures, Linux kernel drivers and systems programming, embedded systems integration, radio-frequency and acoustic communications.

Contact: jogarcia@whoi.edu

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Renee Gruner-Mitchell

Engineer I

Research Interests: Mechanical design and operation of autonomous underwater vehicles and autonomous surface vehicles. Mechanical support equipment design. Electromechanical systems integration.

Contact: renee.grunermitchell@whoi.edu

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Matthew Heintz

Senior Engineer

Research Interests: Design, construction, and operation of deep diving research submersibles including ROVs, AUVs, HOVs, and hybrid vehicles.

Contact: mheintz@whoi.edu

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Michael Jakuba

Senior Engineer

Research Interests: Design and operation of autonomous and remotely operated underwater vehicles, navigation and control, lightweight tether design and tether dynamics, operation in polar environments and under ice, long range marine robotics.

Contact: mjakuba@whoi.edu

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Timothy Joyce

Engineer II

Research Interests: Computer graphics, ROS Robotic Vehicle Development, C++ Application and Library Design, vehicle navigation.

Contact: tmjoyce@whoi.edu

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Robin Littlefield

Senior Engineer

Research Interests: Development of new technologies and hardware to improve underwater vehicles and systems.

Contact: rlittlefield@whoi.edu

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Rosemary Loer

Engineer I

Research Interests: Mechanical design of underwater vehicles, CAD and Finite Element Analysis, part fabrication.

Contact: rloer@whoi.edu

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Casey Machado

Research Engineer

Research Interests: Mechanical and systems engineering of innovative Remotely Operated and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles to enable access to unique environments, full ocean depth and under ice robotics, at sea vehicle operations and logistics. Ocean Worlds exploration. Creating inclusive work environments. Project organization and resource management.

Contact: cmachado@whoi.edu

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Victor Naklicki

Engineer II

Research Interests: Long endurance autonomous vehicles, battery systems, fiber optics, and under ice sampling.

Contact: vnaklicki@whoi.edu

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Kevin Nikolaus

Engineer II

Research Interests: Kevin is an electromechanical engineer with experience designing and operating distributed geophysical sensing systems in the deep ocean and in Greenland and Antarctica. He has a strong interest in embedded electronics, sensor integration, and power systems.

Contact: knikolaus@whoi.edu

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Hugh Popenoe

Research Engineer

Research Interests: Development, testing and operations of oceanographic vehicles, ROV electrical and fiber optic system architecture, electro-optical and mechanical design.

Contact: hpopenoe@whoi.edu

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Mathew Schwartzman

Engineer II

Research Interests: Swarm Systems, Deep-Sea exploration, Big Data Processing/ML, and Remote Robotics operations.

Contact: mathew.schwartzman@whoi.edu

Matthew Silvia

Research Engineer

Contact: msilvia@whoi.edu

Shefali Singh

Engineer I

Research Interests: Software architecture and design, machine learning, ethical machine learning.

Contact: shefali.singh@whoi.edu

Michael Skowronski

Research Engineer

Contact: mskowronski@whoi.edu

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Stefano Suman

Research Engineer

Research Interests: Development, management and use of cost-effective and user-friendly instrumentation and software.

Contact: ssuman@whoi.edu

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Amanda Sutherland

Engineer II

Research Interests: Mechanical design and testing of subsea vehicles.

Contact: asutherland@whoi.edu

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Christopher Taylor

Research Engineer

Research Interests: Undersea vehicle design, electrical systems design.

Contact: cltaylor@whoi.edu

Chris Thierauf

Research Engineer

Research Interests: Robot decision making for long-term autonomy, Human-Robot Interaction, Machine learning applications, Symbolic AI.

Contact: christopher.thierauf@whoi.edu

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Isaac Vandor

Engineer II

Research Interests: Dynamically adjustable autonomy, multi-agent systems, remote sensing and sampling, sensor fusion, asynchronous computing, deep reinforcement learning, underwater communications.

Contact: ivandor@whoi.edu

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Korey Verhein

Engineer II

Research Interests: Remotely Operated Vehicles, deep-sea videography/photography, fiber optic telemetry systems, vehicle control systems software/hardware, video distribution/routing/monitoring/recording, single board computers.

Contact: kverhein@whoi.edu