Expedition Personnel

Jonathan Bird, President of Oceanic Research Group, Inc., is a professional Emmy Award-winning underwater cinematographer with experience in all aspects of underwater wildlife cinematography and still photography. A frequent contributor to several diving magazines, and author of a coffee-table book, Jonathan is also widely published on marine life subjects. As president of O.R.G., he produces educational films about marine life for use in schools and libraries, as well as television and satellite learning. He has shot and produced films for television which have aired all over the world. Bird's most recent television film, Endangered Mermaids: The Manatee Paradox, will be released in late 2000. He is an adjunct professor in the broadcasting department at Massachusetts Communications College, in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

 

Art Cohen, writer and producer, has a long list of television credits for PBS, A&E, The Family Channel, WGBH-TV, and WCVB-TV. He has won two Emmy awards. He produced The Western Tradition, a 52-part series on the history of Western civilization for PBS. He has a degree in history.
Mark S. Miller was born in Gig Harbor, Washington, where he learned to scuba dive in 1975. Since 1989 he has worked as a commercial diver, scuba instructor, and underwater photographer, logging more than 5,000 dives in places such as Kwajalein, Pohnpei, Palau, Guam, Chuuk, Bikini, Washington, British Columbia, Maine, Massachusetts, and Mexico. Mr. Miller currently resides in Salem, Massachusetts, and is working towards a graduate degree in Marine Biology. His publications include "In the Arms of the Sea, a Historical Guide to the Shipwrecks of Kwajalein Atoll," and "Central Puget Sound: A Diver's Guide."

Tom Krasuski

Tom is co-founder and treasurer of Oceanic Research Group, Inc. He is also an Emmy award winning cinematographer. For "The Silent Wrecks," Tom is the project leader and captain of "Spare Time", the expedition vessel. Tom is currently employed as a Systems Engineer for a Radar Site on Kwajalein. He holds a M.S. in ocean engineering and a M.S. in electrical engineering.

 

Cliff Simoneau began diving in New England waters at the age of 12. His love of diving fueled his decision to make it a career. At eighteen he qualified to train and evaluate instructors. Since that time he has prepared and certified hundreds of instructors as air, nitrox, advanced nitrox, staged decompression, extended range, tri-mix and rebreather educators. The broad scope of his career has encompassed multiple dive retail store ownership, charter boat operation, dive travel, expedition coordination, dive staff education, and new equipment innovations.

Currently, Cliff provides sales, marketing and career development services to dive retailers, commercial diving firms, many of today's leading dive manufactures, as well as human factor engineering to defense contractors investigating the commercialization of cutting edge technology. Cliff enjoys public speaking, new dive product testing and development, and dive career training in exotic locations worldwide. Cliff is vice-president of Technical Diving International (TDI) and Scuba Diving International (SDI).

Dr. Christine Rooney Project Researcher & Expedition Physician Christine was certified to dive in 1992 when she was a first year medical student. She has worked with ORG on projects around the world since 1999. On this project, she has been researching the history of the battle and helping to contact veterans for interviews. On location, she is an underwater assistant and has been certified to dive with a rebreather. When she isn't exploring the ocean, she works as a family practice physician. Because of this, she is the "expedition physician" who fixes up members of the film crew who injure themselves, a full-time job in itself!
Greg "Gator" Brunshidle has collaborated on several Oceanic Research Group television productions and expeditions. He has a BS in imaging technology and is currently working towards a second degree in documentary film at Columbia College. During "The Silent Wrecks" production, Gator will be the second unit underwater cinematographer and will step in as surface audio and lighting technician. Additional responsibilities will include webmaster and web design while on location.
Brian Greene has been dutifully sworn in as an associate member of this expedition. Brian is a 3rd. year zoology major at the University of Hawaii concentrating in marine biology. His primary study interest is deep water reef fish and his goal is to explore and identify new species of fish in water depths deeper than has currently been achieved. Brian has already been credited with identifying a new species of Pseudenthias in his native Kwajalein waters. Although he was born in Philadelphia, he has spent his entire 20 years growing up on Kwajalein and considers Kwaj home.