{"id":711,"date":"2022-09-14T14:43:34","date_gmt":"2022-09-14T18:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/deepsubmergencelab\/?page_id=711"},"modified":"2025-08-26T13:46:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T17:46:24","slug":"engineers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/deepsubmergencelab\/engineers\/","title":{"rendered":"Engineers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Engineers<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\"bowen2_300\"\n\t

Andrew Bowen<\/a><\/h3>\n

Principal Engineer, Lab Manager<\/em><\/p>\n

Research Interests:<\/strong> Remotely operated submersibles, propulsion systems, application of close loop control of remotely operated vehicles, introduction of remotely operated systems for oceanographic research.<\/p>\n

Contact: abowen@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"bain_300x350\"\n\t

Will Bain<\/a><\/h3>\n

Research Engineer<\/em><\/p>\n

Research Interests:<\/strong> Autonomous vehicle capabilities and behaviors, machine vision and perception, localization and mapping, vehicle remote operations.<\/p>\n

Contact: william.bain@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"berkowitz_300\"\n\t

Zac Berkowitz<\/a><\/h3>\n

Research Engineer<\/em><\/p>\n

Research Interests: <\/strong>Development and operation of software and electrical systems of autonomous vehicles for scientific use.<\/p>\n

Contact: zberkowitz@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"billings_300_3\"\n

Andrew Billings<\/a><\/h3>\n

Research Engineer<\/em><\/p>\n

Research Interests: <\/strong>Mechanical design, electrical design, CAD and CAM with Autodesk software, Inventor and Fusion, underwater thruster design and hydraulic systems.<\/p>\n

Contact: abillings@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"cast_300_350_2\"\n

John Cast<\/a><\/h3>\n

Research Engineer<\/em><\/p>\n

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

Education:<\/strong> MSE, Robotics, Johns Hopkins University. B.S., M.S., Electrical Engineering, Stanford University.<\/p>\n

Contact: john.cast@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"OwenCesarano_DSL-website-photo\"\n

Owen Cesarano<\/a><\/h3>\n

Engineer II<\/em><\/p>\n

Research Interests:\u00a0<\/strong>Operations and AUV capability development relating to the MBARI-LRAUV. Technology for sustainable fisheries management and assessment. Mechanical and electrical design of undersea systems.<\/p>\n

Contact: owen.cesarano@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"colson_beckett2_300\"\n

Beckett Colson<\/a><\/h3>\n

Research Engineer<\/em><\/p>\n

Research Interests:<\/strong> Microplastics, instrument development, oceanographic engineering, spectroscopy, dissolved gases.<\/p>\n

Contact: bcolson@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"WHOI\n\t

Molly Curran<\/a><\/h3>\n

Research Engineer<\/em><\/p>\n

Research Interests:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

Contact: mcurran@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"dalpe_300\"\n\t

Allisa Dalpe<\/a><\/h3>\nResearch Engineer
\n<\/em>\n

Research Interests:<\/strong> Autonomous decision making, mission planning, path-planning, test and evaluations methods for autonomous systems.<\/p>\n

Contact: adalpe@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"daszak_300\"\n\t

Francesca Daszak<\/a><\/h3>\nEngineer I
\n<\/em>\n

Research Interests:<\/strong> Deep-sea vehicles, especially autonomous. Robotics engineering, primarily mechanical design and software development. Electrical assembly, including PCB population and detailed soldering work.<\/p>\n

Contact: francesca.daszak@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"denton_300\"\n\t

Frederick Denton<\/a><\/h3>\n

Research Engineer<\/em><\/p>\n

Research Interests: <\/strong>Mechanical design of oceanographic systems including ROVs and specializing in ROV LARS cranes, winches, umbilical cables and other portable structures mounted to oceanographic vessels.<\/p>\n

Contact: fdenton@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\n\t

Adam Ensminger<\/a><\/h3>\nEngineer I
\n<\/em>\n

Research Interests: <\/strong>Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, and rapid prototyping.<\/p>\n

Contact: adam.ensminger@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"fernandez_300_2\"\n\t

Mario Fernandez Jr.<\/a><\/h3>\n

Research Engineer<\/em><\/p>\n

Research Interests:<\/strong> Mechanical design engineering for ROV Jason<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Contact: mfernandez@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"fuji_300\"\n\t

Justin Fujii<\/a><\/h3>\n

Research Engineer<\/em><\/p>\n

Research Interests:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

Contact: jfujii@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"garcia_300\"\n\t

Joe Garcia<\/a><\/h3>\nEngineer I
\n<\/em>\n

Research Interests:<\/strong> Python-based data processing and analysis, Big data system architectures, Linux kernel drivers and systems programming, embedded systems integration, radio-frequency and acoustic communications.<\/p>\n

Contact: jogarcia@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"gruner-mitchell_300\"\n\t

Renee Gruner-Mitchell<\/a><\/h3>\nEngineer I
\n<\/em>\n

Research Interests: <\/strong>Mechanical design and operation of autonomous underwater vehicles and autonomous surface vehicles. Mechanical support equipment design. Electromechanical systems integration.<\/p>\n

Contact: renee.grunermitchell@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"jakuba\"\n\t

Michael Jakuba<\/a><\/h3>\nSenior Engineer
\n<\/em>\n

Research Interests:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

Contact: mjakuba@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"joyce_300_2\"\n\t

Timothy Joyce<\/a><\/h3>\nEngineer II
\n<\/em>\n

Research Interests:<\/strong> Computer graphics, ROS Robotic Vehicle Development, C++ Application and Library Design, vehicle navigation.<\/p>\n

Contact: tmjoyce@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"littlefield_300_2\"\n\t

Robin Littlefield<\/a><\/h3>\nSenior Engineer
\n<\/em>\n

Research Interests:<\/strong> Development of new technologies and hardware to improve underwater vehicles and systems.<\/p>\n

Contact: rlittlefield@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"loer\n\t

Rosemary Loer<\/a><\/h3>\nEngineer I
\n<\/em>\n

Research Interests: <\/strong>Mechanical design of underwater vehicles, CAD and Finite Element Analysis, part fabrication.<\/p>\n

Contact: rloer@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"nikolaus\n\t

Kevin Nikolaus<\/a><\/h3>\nEngineer II
\n<\/em>\n

Research Interests:\u00a0<\/strong>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.<\/p>\n

Contact: knikolaus@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"popenoe_300\"\n\t

Hugh Popenoe<\/a><\/h3>\nResearch Engineer
\n<\/em>\n

Research Interests:<\/strong> Development, testing and operations of oceanographic vehicles, ROV electrical and fiber optic system architecture, electro-optical and mechanical design.<\/p>\n

Contact: hpopenoe@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\n\t

Matthew Silvia<\/a><\/h3>\nResearch Engineer
\n<\/em>\n

Contact: msilvia@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\n\t

Shefali Singh<\/a><\/h3>\nEngineer I
\n<\/em>\n

Research Interests:<\/strong> Software architecture and design, machine learning, ethical machine learning.<\/p>\n

Contact: shefali.singh@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\n\t

Michael Skowronski<\/a><\/h3>\nResearch Engineer
\n<\/em>\n

Contact: mskowronski@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"sutherland2_300\"\n\t

Amanda Sutherland<\/a><\/h3>\nEngineer II
\n<\/em>\n

Research Interests: <\/strong>Mechanical design and testing of subsea vehicles.<\/p>\n

Contact: asutherland@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"taylor_300_2\"\n\t

Christopher Taylor<\/a><\/h3>\nResearch Engineer
\n<\/em>\n

Research Interests:<\/strong> Undersea vehicle design, electrical systems design.<\/p>\n

Contact: cltaylor@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\n\t

Chris Thierauf<\/a><\/h3>\nResearch Engineer
\n<\/em>\n

Research Interests: <\/strong>Robot decision making for long-term autonomy, Human-Robot Interaction, Machine learning applications, Symbolic AI.<\/p>\n

Contact: christopher.thierauf@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"vandor_300_2\"\n\t

Isaac Vandor<\/a><\/h3>\n

Engineer II<\/em><\/p>\n

Research Interests: <\/strong>Dynamically adjustable autonomy, multi-agent systems, remote sensing and sampling, sensor fusion, asynchronous computing, deep reinforcement learning, underwater communications.<\/p>\n

Contact: ivandor@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"verhein2_300\"\n\t

Korey Verhein<\/a><\/h3>\nEngineer II
\n<\/em>\n

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

Contact: kverhein@whoi.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Engineers 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 Will Bain Research Engineer Research Interests: Autonomous vehicle capabilities and behaviors, machine vision and perception, localization and mapping, vehicle remote operations. Contact:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/deepsubmergencelab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/711"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/deepsubmergencelab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/deepsubmergencelab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/deepsubmergencelab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/deepsubmergencelab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/deepsubmergencelab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1390,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/deepsubmergencelab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/711\/revisions\/1390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/deepsubmergencelab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}