{"id":60021,"date":"2012-05-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/commencement-2012-uri-grad-student-follows-ballards-lead-to-career-in-ocean-exploration\/"},"modified":"2012-05-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-05-07T00:00:00","slug":"commencement-2012-uri-grad-student-follows-ballards-lead-to-career-in-ocean-exploration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2012\/05\/commencement-2012-uri-grad-student-follows-ballards-lead-to-career-in-ocean-exploration\/","title":{"rendered":"Commencement 2012 – 溏心vlog免费B站 grad student follows Ballard\u2019s lead to career in ocean exploration"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tAvon, Conn. native\u2019s first discovery – a sunken refrigerator<\/p>\n

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. \u2013 May 7, 2012 \u2013 Michael Brennan was first introduced to noted marine explorer Robert Ballard when, as a freshman in high school, he was chosen to join Ballard on a weeklong science program at Yellowstone National Park through the JASON Project.<\/p>\n


\n\tThat experience led him on a circuitous path that resulted in Brennan becoming one of the first graduate students in Ballard\u2019s Archaeological Oceanography program at the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Graduate School of Oceanography, from which he will graduate on May 19.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI first thought about studying marine geology, then Roman archaeology, and then I got interested in Mesoamerican archaeology as an undergraduate at Bowdoin,\u201d recalls Brennan, who grew up in Avon, Conn. \u201cI had been in touch with Bob off and on after Yellowstone, and then I got a random email from him in 2003 saying he was starting the program at 溏心vlog免费B站 and encouraging me to apply. It was nice to be remembered.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThe man who found the Titanic quickly incorporated Brennan into his research team, and he has played an important role in Ballard\u2019s annual research expeditions to the Black Sea and Aegean Sea since 2006, finding and studying shipwreck sites and studying the environmental parameters of the sites.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cMy very first expedition was a case of drop you on the ship and see what happens,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cHe told me to navigate and to process data, so I really had to learn on the go. We found a lot of modern debris on that trip. My first discovery was a sunken refrigerator.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI was in bed when we found our first ancient shipwreck, and Bob burst into my cabin and said, \u2018We found one!\u201d he added.<\/p>\n


\n\tIn recent years, Brennan has served as expedition leader and chief scientist on several research expeditions, roles that graduate students seldom are assigned.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThat means where we go, what we do, what tools we use, and what we\u2019re looking for is my call,\u201d said Brennan. \u201cIt\u2019s lots of responsibility and somewhat stressful, but I like being in that role.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWorking closely with Ballard has brought Brennan significant benefits.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cHaving a yearly expedition to participate in and going to really cool places is something that most grad students don\u2019t have access to,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve had funding for my research every semester, which wouldn\u2019t have happened without Bob. He\u2019s really dedicated to the people who work for him.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWhen Brennan graduates with a Ph.D. in oceanography later this month, he will continue to work with Ballard as a 溏心vlog免费B站 postdoctoral fellow. And he hopes to maintain that relationship for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s field-based research that I like to do, and I\u2019ll be able to continue to do other work as well, like geoarchaeology studies in Belize,\u201d Brennan said. <\/p>\n


\n\tWhile there are few openings in Ballard\u2019s research team, Brennan appears to have been destined for the opportunity.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cIn 2000 my mother put together a time capsule and asked us to write what we hoped to be doing in 10 years,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the time I wrote that I would be working with Dr. Ballard. Even though I went on that circuitous path through college, I still ended up where I said I would.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commencement Information<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Avon, Conn. native\u2019s first discovery – a sunken refrigerator NARRAGANSETT, R.I. \u2013 May 7, 2012 \u2013 Michael Brennan was first introduced to noted marine explorer Robert Ballard when, as a freshman in high school, he was chosen to join Ballard on a weeklong science program at Yellowstone National Park through the JASON Project. That […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60023,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}