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I am a senior mechanical engineering student. I came to the Human Powered Submarine Team about 8 months ago with the intention of piloting the vessel during the upcoming races this June. As a result of my interactions with last year's design team, my spot on this year's team was secured.

I am currently the team leader, and I have a single goal: We're going to race this submarine in June for the first time in the history of the Human Powered Submarine project.

My duties on the team consist of :

Solidworks modeling of the existing hull.

Controller manufacture and programming.

Dive team training.

Web page design and maintenance.

Race activities coordination with ISR.

Drive train component fabrication.

Waterproofing the control system.

Ensuring compliance with ISR guidelines.

I have loved the water ever since I was a kid, learing to swim summers at Sebec Lake, Maine. I always loved to put on a mask and snorkel and a set of fins to plunge off my dock and come eye to eye with the bass lounging around the boulders on the bottom.

I joined the Navy in 1995 for the start of a four year tour aboard the USS Gettysburg, CG 64.

When I left the Navy in 1999, I started college at the University of Maine, Orono. I began school in the MET program, but after two years I decided that I would go for broke and entered the MEE program. In my mind, I saw more opertunity with a full engineering degree. I can assure you that it has not been an easy road.

During the summers, I signed on with the crew of the M/V Katahdin, an old steamer that still operates on Moosehead Lake, Maine. In my third year on board, I became the Chief Engineer of the vessel. She was converted to diesel in 1926, and repowered in 1957 with a pair of 6110 Detroit Diesel engines. The configuration is very unique in that the two engines drive a single screw by way of a Faulk marine gear. The electrical side consists of two diesel generators, one 45KW and one 75KW. They're really land based auxilliary generators that were donated to the vessel, and they have some unique "attitudes" toward the rocking and rolling of the vessel.