Dive and Discover : Expedition 4 : Interview

“For as long as I can remember, I have loved to tinker with things to see how they work,” said Yogi. Now 50 years old, Yogi has worked on 60 oceanographic expeditions. At home with his wife and two teenage children in Falmouth, Mass., he volunteers as the technical director for a local theater group.

Question:
Did you enjoy building things as a child?

Yogi:
I always liked taking things apart then putting them back together, as well as building things from scratch. Once I built a spaceship out of a picnic table. That was fun, even though it never got off the ground.

Question:
What did you do after high school?

Yogi:
I went to college for three years at Southern Tech in Georgia and learned a lot about electronics. Then I joined the Navy for four years. I was assigned to a destroyer tender ship (a support ship that travels with a naval destroyer ship). My assignment was to fix anything that broke on the destroyer.

I received additional training in electronics and learned a lot about radar technology and cryptology instrumentation (devices used to code and decode messages transmitted to and from the destroyer when it is at sea). In my Navy classes, I was a top student and that built my confidence.

Question:
Did you see much of the world when you were in the Navy?

Yogi:
Oh yes! I really liked that. Our ship put into many domestic and foreign ports, including Long Beach and San Diego California, Hawaii, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines.

When we were in San Diego, I decided to check out a sailing class at the Coronado Sailing Club. That’s how I met my wife Peggy. She was taking the same class. When I went back out to sea, we wrote and when I got out of the Navy, I stayed in San Diego and eventually we got married. We have been married for 23 years and have two children, Kris, 17 and Genoa, 19. Both are interested in science careers.

Question:
What path did you take to become an engineer?

Yogi:
When I was 26 years old I went to work for Burroughs (now Unisys), a very large company that designed and built mainframe computers. I worked with a small group of people doing research on bubble memory modules for computers. I worked there for two years then went back to college.

Question:
What university?

Yogi:
I enrolled in San Diego State University. Two years later, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. Then I decided that I wanted to pursue either oceanography or work in the film industry on special effects for science fiction movies.

Question:
Why science fiction movies?

Yogi:
The Star Wars films had just come out. But I never could make connections to the right people in the movie business. So I called every firm in Sorrento Valley, California whose name had something to do with the ocean. I guess my love of sailing and my experience in the Navy had me interested in ocean exploration and technology.

Question:
How did you connect with WHOI?

Yogi:
One of the firms I called said that the Marine Physical Lab (MPL) at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California might be looking for someone with my skills. In late 1980, I interviewed for a position as an engineer with the Deep Tow Group (“Deep Tow” is a towed ROV developed by MPL in the early 1970’s. It could be considered a prototype for the Argo vehicle we now use).

It was pouring rain when I went for my interview. I showed up on time wearing my rain gear. The director, Dr. Fred Spiess, must have liked it that I was prompt and prepared. There were 40 applicants but I got the job. I worked with the Deep Tow Group until 1987.

Then Bob Ballard hired me to work as an engineer at the Deep Submergence Lab of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. I couldn’t pass on the chance to help develop Argo and Jason.

Question:
What do you like the best about your work?

Yogi:
I really love being part of a small group, doing something important, making it possible for scientists to explore and study the ocean floor. I especially enjoy the close relationships I develop with the people I’m working with, and am delighted by the resourcefulness of people when they are confronted with challenging technical and scientific problems. It’s neat that they must solve problems with whatever tools, supplies and information are available on the ship.

Question:
What is the hardest part of your job?

Yogi:
I miss my family. But then it’s so great when I see them again after a long sea trip. There’s also a lot of stress at sea, knowing that so much of the success of the trip revolves around our equipment working properly.

Question:
What do you think were the keys to your success in this line of work?

Yogi:
Oh, having a dream, developing a plan and pursuing that plan with perseverance.

Question:
How did you get the nickname “Yogi?”

Yogi:
When I first started at WHOI in 1987, I wanted a reputation as someone who got involved in things, rather than as someone who sat on the sidelines and let things happen. In 1988 Peggy and I co-chaired the WHOI summer picnic. One day at work, someone asked where I was and Billy Lange responded “Yogi (after the cartoon character Yogi Bear), he is out doing his picnic thing.” The name stuck. One of the side effects of that nickname is that when people work with me for a long time, they end up being called “Booboo.”