Team Bio

Our team consists of a network of Explorer's club members, researchers, data analysts, and underwater scientists. Our team has a plethora of knowledge with 5-10 years of experience per member in geographic information systems, remote sensing, systems engineering, machine learning, underwater robotics, marine biology, vessel borne operations, underwater ecology, underwater science, scuba diving, and field research.

Stephen A. Daire

Stephen A. Daire holds an Evolutionary Anthropology BSc and Evolutionary Medicine Graduate Certificate from Rutgers University, a University of Southern California Geographic Information Science & Technology MSc, and is a Johns Hopkins MSc Systems Engineering Student. He has worked with Rutgers Paleoenvironmental Research Laboratory, National Geographic Society, International Institute of Astronautical Sciences, and international governments on remote sensing, geodatabase (GBD) programing, underwater surveying, and astronautics projects. He conducted analog astronautic underwater LiDAR and earth observation satellite cave surveys for his MSc thesis. He recently completed a Syracuse University engineering course for Unity AR/VR/XR Immersive Development & Design. Stephen founded Protean Industries to forward space exploration via cave diving and geospatial robotics. He is currently authoring chapters for the Handbook of Life Support Systems for Spacecraft and Extraterrestrial Habitats and studying virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality design with Syracuse University.

Breezy Grenier

Breezy Grenier, hailing from Southern New England, 200 ton licensed captain, United States Coast Guard Veteran. Earned a BSc from the University of Rhode Island in Geology and Geological Oceanography, with minors in Marine Biology and Underwater Archaeology. Explorer, entrepreneur, owner of Breezy SEAS- Science, Exploration, and Academic Support, as well as South Coast AI. Founder of the projects, Scientists are Superheroes too and Eco-Elders. In process of starting a non-profit Farm-a-Sea. NAUI Scuba Instructor, technical diver, and AAUS scientific diver.

Colin Bettis

Colin Bettis is a former active duty Air Force officer, turned federal civilian for the U.S. Navy. In his short professional career, he has had the opportunity to develop large-sized unmanned aircraft for the U.S. Air Force and currently works as an engineer and project manager on the U.S. Navy's hypersonic missile program. He holds an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, is an avid scuba diver, and is passionate about how emerging technologies can benefit the fields of exploration and conservation across the world's oceans.

Alec Payne

Alec Payne is a Phillip Griffiths Assistant Research Professor of mathematics at Duke University. He receives funding from the Simons Foundation for collaborative work linking geometry, analysis, and physics. He received a PhD in mathematics from New York University and a BA in mathematics from Princeton University. Alec is a caver and scuba diver with a keen interest in biology and the complex dynamics of ecological systems.

Tyson Anderson

Tyson holds a BS in International Relations from Florida State University and a Masters in Intelligence Studies from American Military University. I served for five years in the Army as a cryptologic linguist with the 101st Airborne including a tour in Afghanistan. I currently work with the Defense Logistics Agency as a program analyst. I have been SCUBA certified for over a decade and will be certifying for my NAS Underwater Archaeology certs in June. I was last on expedition in 2018, a follow on to a EC flag expedition, returning to the Loita Forest in South west Kenya, conducting counterpoaching evaluations with the Mara Loita Community Rangers.

Rae Hanson

Rae Hanson is a Field Biologist with a B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology and a minor in Chemistry. She has experience as an undergraduate organic chemistry researcher in pharmaceutical oncology, and a focus in marine microbiology in benthic environments. For the past two years Rae has worked as a North Pacific Fisheries Observer with NOAA in Alaska conducting research on various cold water fisheries. Rae was introduced to Sixgill Shark research at the Seattle Aquarium in 2011, where she joined the Sixgill research and outreach program. She is an avid SCUBA diver and aspires to continue her research in marine molecular mechanisms in deep sea environments, hydrothermal vents, and methane seeps.