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= Bruce Strickrott =

Bruce Strickrott (born December 18, 1964) is an American Ocean Engineer, U.S. Navy Deep Submergence Vehicle Pilot and deep sea explorer. He is the Chief Pilot and program manager of the DSV Alvin Group at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Mr. Strickrott is an honorably discharged U.S. Navy veteran whose great uncle, Robert Henry Barringer, was aboard the submarine USS Bullhead (SS-332), the last United States Navy vessel sunk by enemy action during World War II, likely on the same day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, 6 August, 1945. He is a maternal descendant of notable English whaler, Tristram Coffin, known for the purchase of Nantucket Island in 1659.

Early life
Bruce lived in suburban Maryland, outside of Washington, D.C., until his family moved to upstate New York in 1972. At an early age he developed a fascination for adventure, space travel, advanced technologies, and extreme vehicles. Bruce was a devoted follower of NASA and the Apollo missions to the moon, which inspired his interest in physics and astronomy. His exposure to deep sea science and exploration began with the National Geographic magazine articles documenting the discovery of deep sea hydrothermal vents and Dr. Robert Ballard's dives to the RMS Titanic in Alvin. His love of science was further inspired by Dr. Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. As a young boy Bruce was an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy novels including Jules Verne's 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. In the summer of 1977, he traveled with his mother and older brother to visit his American father in Tehran, Iran, who was leading an effort to modernize Iran's banking systems. The family was considering a move to Tehran, but the Iranian Revolution of 1978 altered their plans, and ultimately Bruce graduated from Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park, New York in June of 1982.

Military service
Mr. Strickrott enlisted in the U.S. Navy in May, 1986 and after completing recruit training in San Diego, California, he was transferred to Naval Station Great Lakes where he qualified as a Fire Control technician. During six years of active duty he served on two Belknap-class guided-missile cruisers, the USS Horne (CG-30) and the USS Fox (CG-33). His tour of duty included two deployments to the Persian Gulf during Operations Earnest Will (aboard the USS Horne) and Operations Desert Shield / Desert Storm (aboard the USS Fox). Bruce was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in May of 1992 as a Petty Officer First Class (E-6).

Education
Following Bruce’s service in the U.S. Navy, he attended Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in Boca Raton, Florida studying Ocean Engineering. Bruce graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Ocean Engineering and was subsequently inducted into the Tau Beta Pi and Phi Kappa Phi national honor societies. While at FAU he worked as a SCUBA diver aboard the R/V Oceaneer IV, performing ocean engineering projects and training students on technical diving exercises. Bruce holds a private airplane pilot's license for both land and seaplanes.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
September 1996 Bruce joined the DSV Alvin Group at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as an ocean engineer and Alvin Pilot in Training (PIT). In December 1999 he officially qualified as a U.S. Navy Deep Submergence Pilot, becoming the 56th civilian to earn the U.S. Navy Deep Submergence Officer Insignia. . As of April 2021 Bruce has completed a total of 376 dives in Alvin, with 348 dives acting as Pilot-in-Command of the submersible.

Achievements
Bruce has sailed on over 125 scientific research expeditions aboard the R/V Atlantis (AGOR-25) as an Alvin pilot and Expedition Leader. . He piloted Alvin on a number of the dives used to film Volcanoes of the Deep Sea, shot during multiple expeditions from 1999 to 2002. Bruce has participated in six major overhauls of DSV Alvin, including the 2011-2012 major upgrade to the submersible at WHOI that implemented the first major systems improvements for dives to 6,500 meters (21,326 feet). In March of 2020, Bruce returned to WHOI to lead the team completing DSV Alvin's conversion for dives to 6,500 meters, with initial deep-water dives scheduled for September 2021 in the Puerto Rico Trench and Cayman Trough.

Notable Expeditions
During his career as an Alvin Pilot, Bruce has visited many of Earth's extreme deep sea environments: Atlantic Ocean: New England Seamounts, Atlantis Massif  , Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Atlantic Coast , Blake Ridge , George's Bank Pacific Ocean: Guaymas Basin , East Pacific Rise , Galapagos Rift    , Davidson Seamount , Axial Seamount  , Juan de Fuca Ridge , Gulf of Alaska  , Pito Deep , Costa Rica margins  , Dorado Outcrop   Gulf of Mexico: Hydrocarbon Seeps  , Deepwater Horizon oil spill

Notable Dives
Bruce piloted Alvin during the first dives to the Lost City Hydrothermal Field a new form of deep sea vent discovered with Alvin and ROV Argo II, in December 2000, and a follow on expedition to the Lost City site in 2003.

In August 2004, during an Alvin dive series along the Gulf of Alaska seamounts, Bruce collected a very large sample of a new species of bamboo coral. The large coral is now displayed in the Smithsonian Institution Sant Ocean Hall.

In March of 2005, during Alvin dive number 4089 along the southern East Pacific Rise,  Bruce captured a new species of deep sea hagfish, the first to be discovered at a Hydrothermal vent. The new species of hagfish was named Eptatretus strickrotti, "Strickrott's Hagfish", in recognition of his piloting and sampling expertise. Additional dives during the expedition discovered a new biological family of Crustacean, Kiwa hirsuta, the "Yeti Crab". A second species of Yeti Crab, Kiwa puravida, was discovered with Alvin in 2006 and described in 2011.

On DSV Alvin dive 4196 during the Expedition to the Deep Slope in the Gulf of Mexico, a new species of octopus was discovered in the mixing layer of a deep sea brine pool.

In August 2018, during the Project Deep Search Alvin dive series, Bruce and two scientific observers discovered a previously unknown extensive deep sea coral reef off the coast of South Carolina.

SS El Faro
In April 2016 Bruce was a member of the WHOI team that collaborated with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to survey the wreckage of the SS El Faro, after its sinking during Hurricane Joaquin in the Bahamas. The team aboard the R/V Atlantis successfully located the Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) and completed an extensive survey of the lost vessel and surrounding debris field. The search utilized two deep sea vehicles, the AUV "Sentry" and a tethered ROV called the "Observation Vehicle". The successful recovery of the VDR by the U.S. Navy enabled the NTSB to obtain the full transcript of the El Faro's final hours. At the conclusion of the mission, the search team assembled on the bow of the R/V Atlantis to ring the ship's bell thirty-three times to honor the mariners who perished in the disaster.

Publications

 * The Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin, an Advanced Platform for Deep Sea Observation and Research

Film

 * Volcanoes of the Deep Sea
 * Acid Horizon
 * Untitled Bruce Strickrott documentary - Director: Joshua Seftel, Woods Hole Film Festival, Film and Science Initiative, in production 2021

Video

 * Discover Wonder: The Octopus Garden
 * TechKnow - Deep sea gold rush
 * Dive Deeper in Alvin
 * Atlas Obscura: Eating lunch at 14,000 feet below sealevel
 * Great Big Story: What it feels like 10000 feet under the sea

Podcasts

 * Time to Eat the Dogs - Human Exploration in the Deep Sea
 * Ask a Biologist - Exploring the Dark Side of the Earth
 * Listen In - The Creepy, Unbelievably Inspiring World of Deep Sea Parasites
 * Short Wave - A Quick Dive into How Submarines Work