Dr Lynn Harris (PI) is a Professor at East Carolina University’s Program in Maritime Studies, Department of History since 2008. She received her BA and an Honors graduate degree in Archaeology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. She has an MA in Maritime Studies from East Carolina University and a Ph.D from University of South Carolina. Harris has worked for the Archaeology Unit of South African Museum, the National Monuments Council (now South Africa Heritage Resources Agency), and for 13 years with the Underwater Archaeology Division of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of South Carolina. In South Carolina she also taught history, archaeology, and anthropology courses at the Citadel Military College, the College of Charleston and Trident Technical Community College. Dr. Harris has worked on maritime archaeology projects and led field schools or study abroad programs in the US, Australia, Thailand, South Africa, Namibia, Costa Rica, and Dominican Republic. The time period range from pre-historic, to colonial and modern period topics like vernacular watercraft.
Dr. Jason T. Raupp (Co-PI) is an Assistant Professor at East Carolina University’s of Maritime Studies, Department of History. He holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Northwestern State University, M.A. in History from the University of West Florida, and Ph.D. in Archaeology from Flinders University. Over the past twenty years he has been involved with maritime and terrestrial archaeological research in the United States, Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean, and the Pacific region. Raupp’s research interests include historical and maritime archaeology of the Pacific Ocean, Latin America, and the Caribbean; culture contact; historic fisheries; military technologies; battlefield studies; and contact-period rock art.
Jeremy Borrelli (Staff Archaeologist) is the Staff Archaeologist at East Carolina University’s Program in Maritime Studies, Department of History. Jeremy received his B.A. in Anthropology from SUNY New Paltz, and his M.A. in Maritime Studies from East Carolina University. Before joining ECU, he worked as a maritime archaeologist for the Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project at the QAR Conservation Laboratory and NC Underwater Archaeology Branch. Over the past decade Jeremy has worked on archaeological projects in North Carolina, New York’s Hudson Valley, the Great Lakes, Africa and the Caribbean. His research interests include 18th and 19th century maritime history, the archaeology of ports, harbors, and landing sites, digital and 3D documentation methods, maritime landscape studies and public archaeology.
Olivia Livingston (Crew Chief) earned her Bachelor of Arts in anthropology with a minor in Spanish at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. While at Transylvania University, Olivia was able to do both terrestrial and maritime work. Olivia did historic and urban archaeology around Lexington, while also being able to work for Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc. as a lab technician. Along with this, she explored the world of maritime archaeology through projects in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Kentucky River. Once at East Carolina University, Olivia has participated in two field schools, working at the Mallows Bay-Potamic National Marine Sanctuary and Nelson’s Dockyard National Park. Her thesis research is in the backyard of ECU, focusing on the maritime infrastructure and reconstruction of Castle Island in Washington, North Carolina.
Dayan Weller (Crew Chief) grew up in the Monterey Bay area, where he developed an interest in the ocean and maritime history at an early age. He attended Cabrillo College, where he decided to pursue archaeology as a career and eventually enrolled in the 2014 field school on Santa Rosa Island & in Nipomo, CA and began working in CRM shortly after. He transferred to UC Santa Cruz where he graduated with a B.A. in Anthropology in 2018, and continued to work on CRM projects until moving to Greenville, NC to begin the Maritime Studies graduate program at ECU. His primary research interest is commercial whaling, and ultimately he hopes to work on the history of the shore whaling industry in central California.
Aero O’Hanlon is a first-year student at East Carolina University’s Program in Maritime Studies, Department of History. They hold a B.S. in Sociology and Criminology with a minor in Peace Studies and Social Justice from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). Aero is completing thesis research on 18th-century maritime graffiti on a water catchment West of Tank Bay in English Harbour, Antigua. At Tech, Aero pursued eclectic interests including undergraduate research in Volcanology with the Virginia Tech Geodesy and Tectonophysics Laboratory and traveling the US playing saxophone in the Hokies Pep Band and the Marching Virginians. Aero first took an interest in Maritime Studies in their youth when their scout troop toured and spent a night in hammocks aboard USS Constellation anchored in Baltimore, MD.
Christopher J. Triplett is an interdisciplinary archaeologist attending ECU’s Maritime Studies Program in order to further his education and become a skilled maritime archaeologist.Chris is from Virginia Beach, Virginia and earned his A.S. in Social Sciences from Tidewater Community College in 2018 and his B.S. in Anthropological Sciences and Geospatial Science from Radford University in 2020. After graduating from Radford University, Chris immediately began work as a Field Archaeologist and Geophysical Archaeologist for several cultural resource management firms on various high profile archaeological projects throughout the United States including: rediscovering Harriet Tubman’s childhood home in Dorchester County, Maryland; locating the unmarked graves of enslaved African Americans at the Historic McLeod Plantation in Charleston, South Carolina; and excavating a late archaic-early woodland period Native American occupation site in Raleigh, North Carolina. Upon completing the Maritime Studies Program at ECU, Chris currently plans to reenter the field of Cultural Resource Management/
Krysta Rogers is a prospective graduate student of ECU’s Maritime Studies Program. She graduated from NCSU with a B.S. in Biological Sciences in 2021, and is currently working for Labcorp doing leukemia/lymphoma testing in the Research Triangle. Her interest in ECU’s Maritime Archaeology program was piqued throughout her time as a visiting student in spring 2021, during which she completed the scientific diving course. Since then she has continued to dive at the Fort Fisher Aquarium as a volunteer diver, and is hoping that attending the 2023 field school will help her narrow down her field of study.
Brett Hood graduated from East Carolina University with a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and certification in cultural resource management. Brett’s interest in cultural resource management was sparked after a field school with Dr. Charles Ewen and his work on the Abandoned African American Cemetery in Ayden North Carolina to restore this lost resource to the community. He will be finishing his first year of the master’s program in Maritime Studies at East Carolina University in the Spring of 2023. Brett will be studying the land and seascapes of WWII memorialization focusing on underwater memorials and the cultural, social, and political motivations behind these sites. As well as looking at how memorialization has been managed in the past and what regulations and controls exist in the present. Brett will be developing a StoryMap that he hopes will benefit the community of Saipan and that may be shared with the public and future generations. He is also a National Association of 16 Underwater Instructors Divemaster, American Academy of Underwater Sciences Scientific Diver and a Scuba Diving International Ice Diver.
Geoffrey Anthony is the son of a career Air Force officer born abroad in the Philippines and growing up across the United States before settling in Texas for college. He was a 1991 graduate of Texas A&M University with a BS in Political Science. He immediately joined the Marine Corps serving for 28 years, commanding an air support squadron, and retiring as a colonel in 2020. During this time, he also earned three Master’s degrees in International Relations and other national security-related fields, was a Center for Strategic and International Studies Fellow, and served four combat tours in the Middle East during the Global War on Terror. Post-retirement he has shifted focus to pursuing his lifelong interest in Maritime Archaeology and Military History. An avid diver, first certified in 1984, he looks forward to combining his love of the ocean and diving with his love of Military History as he gets his second wind.
Alex Owens is the Assistant Editor of the Program in Maritime Studies’ newsletter, Stem to Stern. He graduated from the University of Georgia with a BA in Anthropology and certificates in Historic Preservation and Geographic Information Science (GIS). Alex’s interest in Maritime Archaeology began in high school, where he volunteered at the National Civil War Naval Museum. In 2020, Alex had a dual internship with the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) and the American Anthropological Association (AAA), researching WWII aircraft carrier qualifications, previous archaeological studies, and historic salvage efforts of the Battle of Valcour Bay. In 2021, he interned with the Athens-Clarke County’s Inclusion Office creating public engagement tools like the Photovoice Project, which combined community input stories and pictures within a GIS platform. Alex plans to utilize 3D modeling and Geospatial analysis for thesis work using the plans and remains of Civil War blockade runners.
Thomas Fosdick received his BA in American Studies and Political Science from Christopher Newport University (Newport News, VA) in 2021. He spent the following year as an Archival Intern at The Mariners’ Museum and Park where he primarily worked with Dr. Jay Moore on cataloging expedition reports and material related to the discovery and recovery of USS Monitor as well as items pertaining to the era of steam power. Additionally, he worked at St. Luke’s Historic Church and Museum as an Educator and Digital Assistant where he taught and wrote about the early American religious experience in the context of the British colonies.
Alex Morrow is a first-year graduate student in East Carolina University’s Program in Maritime Studies. He graduated with a B.A. in History and minors in Political Science and Statistics from Villanova University in 2019. Alex spent two years with Naval Air Systems command writing technical manuals for Unmanned Air Systems support equipment before he came to ECU. In March 2023, Alex participated in a joint DPAA-ECU-Task Force Dagger mission in Saipan, Northern Marianas Islands, as part of an effort to recover the remains of an American pilot who was lost during the Battle of Saipan in World War II. His research interest is focused on the site formation processes of submerged military aircraft.