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I received a degree in Mechanical Engineering from
University of California, San Diego, in 1968. For most of my
engineering career, I have worked as a mechanical designer for
the Ocean Bottom Seismology (OBS) project at the Institute of
Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) on the Scripps campus
of UCSD. This opportunity has let me travel extensively, and
work in a beautiful location on the La Jolla coast.
Our group designs
and deploys instruments on the ocean floor to record seismic
data. This is basic research related to study of plate tectonics.
In 1999 we were awarded one of three National Science Foundation
contracts to build a fleet of equipment to be used as a resource
by the entire academic seismic community. We have built 82 units for this project, as well as
a small fleet of 18 for a British research group, and 20 units
for a French research group.
In September 2005,
I retired. This group has continued to expand the fleet, and
evolve the equipment. There are currently over 130 units in the
Scripps fleet, and each new generation is smaller, more powerful,
and able to be deployed for longer durations.
For several years, I occasionally went
to sea as needed for backup. I feel honored to have been a participant
in this ongoing project.
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