Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
When I was invited to join Deep Sea News two years ago I must admit I hesitated. I took a deep breath and held it for like 45 seconds in a simulated free dive. Then, I said "yes, wow, what an amazing idea". Craig's passion for the deep-sea is obviously contagious. Who would have thought we could fill 5 pages a week with Deep Sea News?
Here we are 2 and a half years and almost a thousand posts later. Readership has increased by an order of magnitude, and we're bringing on a third guy. The addition of Kevin Zelnio to the Deep Sea News staff is a sign of growth in the blogosphere.
Like Craig says, we're not just getting bigger, we're getting better. We're getting deeper, too. I surveyed the gang and Kevin Zelnio gets the Sea Pen award for the deepest diver among us. We've all been in submarines before, but Kevin's been the deepest, down to 2500m in the Alvin submersible. Craig's been to 1050m, and my personal record is 1700m. Craig is the deepest worker among us, with a sample recovery from 5400m depth and ROV record at 3206m.
Kevin brings lots of other credentials, too, but those will unfold as you know him. He's part of Chuck Fisher's Laboratory at Penn State University, one of the most productive and interesting deep-sea research groups around. We look forward to hosting his stuff here. Between the three of us, you can expect an engaged and passionate champion of the spineless millions before you practically each and every day. See the picture. Welcome, Kevin!
Comments
Little did I know last weekend when I met you and Kevin that such things were in the works - fabulous news, and Kevin will be a great addition. Plus, I hear he's a pretty good musician to boot (although probably not in that diving suit).
Posted by: Abel Pharmboy | January 25, 2008 8:02 PM
Welcome, Kevin! I'll be looking forward to seeing more of your awesome posts here (as well as a fuller explanation of why bluegrass is the heavy metal of country).
Posted by: Laelaps | January 26, 2008 8:40 AM
Welcome to Kevin!
I learned at the Friday dinner - at least I scooped Abel!
DSN just goes deeper and deeper....
Posted by: Coturnix | January 26, 2008 10:09 AM
Kevin also has the best photo, every proper deep sea researcher should wear reflectors :)
With great joy I read Deep Sea News every day. I do expect the blog to bring at least 33% more joy now that a third member has joined the crew. Good luck Kevin :)
Posted by: Pepijn | January 26, 2008 3:21 PM
Whoo! I scooped Bora! Just one of the many perks of being a co-moderator of "Real-Time Blogging in the Marine Sciences" at the SBC. Congrats, Kevin, I'll be watching with interest from the surface world.
Posted by: Karen James | January 27, 2008 12:59 PM
Congrats Kevin! It will be nice to have all the deep guys in one place.
BTW, here's one if any one of you has 40 k of EUR to spare. A personal submarine: http://www.bolha.com/oglas2859092
Posted by: romunov | January 27, 2008 1:58 PM