 | President Carothers and Robert Ballard.
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Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard joins URI facultyMarine scientist and explorer Robert Ballard, who discovered the resting place of the Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck , and who was one of the discoverers of spectacular hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, has been named a full-time faculty member at the University of Rhode Island’s internationally acclaimed Graduate School of Oceanography. His appointment takes effect July 1.
In returning to his alma mater, where he earned a Ph.D. in marine geology in 1974, Ballard will establish an institute for deep-sea archaeology to continue his exploration and research for archaeological and other human cultural remains on the ocean floor. His responsibilities at GSO will also include involvement with graduate and undergraduate courses, advising students, and participating in the University’s outreach activities.
“Bob’s return to the University of Rhode Island will give our students the unique opportunity to work side-by-side with one of the most important of modern American explorers,” said President Robert L. Carothers. “Drawing upon the strengths of URI, Bob will be able to enrich and expand his research and create an even greater and lasting legacy.”
“I dearly enjoy reaching out to the public to tell them about the exciting things we have discovered in the deep sea,” Ballard said. “But I also need an academic home for my research, and URI offers the best place for me to do that.
“I am now convinced through my discoveries of the last 17 years that the deep sea contains more history in it than all the world's museums combined. Despite this amazing statistic, there is no University in the world dedicated to developing the technology needed to unlock this deep sea museum, learning about the importance of its contents, and then sharing those discoveries with the world at large. Well, beginning today, there's one in the world that can now make that claim and it is the University of Rhode Island,” said Ballard at the press conference announcement in late April.
The new institute will have unique deep-sea technologies and the capability to conduct studies on the ocean floor beyond the near-shore environment, thus leading to the exploration of even the deepest parts of the world’s oceans. Its activities will be intimately linked with GSO, including a proposed new program in deep-sea archaeology and the existing programs in marine geology, geophysics and ocean engineering. Researchers at the institute will lead expeditions to explore and study submerged archaeological sites around the world, such as the rich archaeological landscapes of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, as well as sites on the U.S. continental shelf.
“I am eager to work with the scientists and students of URI to discover, explore, and better understand these lost chapters of human history,” said Ballard. “Deep water archaeology is a new field of research. We hope to find some young minds eager to expand their academic horizons and join this exciting new field.”
One of the first projects the institute will undertake is a return trip to the Black Sea in the summer of 2002. Lacking free oxygen at the bottom, the Black Sea contains highly preserved ancient wooden ships, four of which Ballard discovered in 2000. He now believes that the Black Sea may have experienced a great flood of Biblical proportions 7,500 years ago.
To help in his explorations, Ballard is building a new undersea robot called Hercules that will be ready to go to sea in 2003. “Hercules will be the first remotely operated vehicle ever built that can carry out a deep water excavation to archaeological standards.” Hercules will be based at URI’s Bay Campus.
While Ballard’s research base will be at the Graduate School of Oceanography, his ongoing efforts in exploration will remain based at the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Conn. Ballard envisions initiating a variety of collaborative projects between the new URI institute and the Mystic Aquarium.
Throughout his career, Ballard has conducted more than 100 deep-sea expeditions using both manned and unmanned vehicles. He worked for 30 years at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where he helped develop manned submersibles and remotely operated vehicles for marine research. He went on to develop telecommunications technology to create a “telepresence” for his JASON Project, which allows millions of schoolchildren to accompany him from afar on undersea explorations around the globe every year.
By Todd McLeish
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