Maritime Heritage Reconstruction & Imaging Initiative (MaHRI)

What is MaHRI?

Founded in 2021, MaHRI is comprised of a group of committed students and faculty within East Carolina University’s (ECU) Maritime Studies Program (MSP) who are seeking digital solutions to research problems or are looking to present digital maritime heritage information to the public in innovative ways.

The MaHRI initiative seeks to do the following for students and faculty in ECU’s MSP:

  • Support the development of skills in the use, manipulation, and presentation of maritime heritage site digital data.
  • Foster the creation of a community of maritime heritage site reconstruction and imaging experts willing to share their knowledge and expertise; and,
  • Create a platform to showcase the results of maritime heritage site reconstructions and imaging.

MaHRI intends to support the development of projects including, but not limited to the use of the following datasets and techniques:

  • Remote sensing datasets;
  • Vector illustration techniques;
  • Raster manipulation;
  • Computer-aided design (CAD)-based modeling;
  • Photogrammetry, structure from motion (SfM), and Polynomial Texture Mapping (PTM)/Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI)
  • Geographic Information Systems (GIS);
  • 3D mapping techniques; and,
  • Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

Who can be involved?

  • Any ECU MSP graduate student or faculty member utilizing digital data in maritime heritage focused research, and willing to share their expertise; and
  • Any ECU MSP graduate student or faculty member seeking to start a maritime heritage-themed site reconstruction or imaging project

How to get involved
(* for students enrolled in ECU’s Maritime Studies MA or History MA programs only)

  • Become a member of the Microsoft Teams site: contact Dr. Nathan Richards (richardsn@ecu.edu) to be added to our Microsoft Teams site. Teams is one of the platforms we use to communicate, share resources, and created shared projects.
  • Join our MaHRI listserv: contact Dr. Nathan Richards (richardsn@ecu.edu) to receive directions to be added to our MAHRI-L listserv. The listserv is one way we communicate meeting times, trainings, and events.
  • Join our Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/groups/694950661674065. We use this private Facebook group to share ideas, and to showcase examples of maritime heritage reconstruction & imaging projects with potential application to research.