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What's the purpose of this
investigation? Well we're

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interested in developing new
techniques to study the very,

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very deep ocean, and we're
perfectly situated here in Puerto

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Rico to make this study, because
it's the deepest part of the

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Atlantic Ocean is only 100 miles
north of the island of Puerto

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Rico, and so we want to make
studies in the island in the

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trench of Puerto Rico, and also
develop new techniques to use all

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over the world in the very deep
ocean. Is this the first time

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that you're going to make this
kind of research? Well actually

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this is an ongoing work that I've
been conducting since 2006, but

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we have just now received the
funds to move forward and fully

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develop, and fully realize the
project. I have a collaborator in

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the Department of Electrical
Engineering, Dr. Manuel Jimenez,

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and he and I have assembled a
team of students. We have one PhD

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student, two master students, and
currently three undergraduate

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students that are assisting us.
So now we have a team, and we're

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able to move forward into the
next phase of this project to

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really ramp it up, and realize
the goal of making studies in the

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Puerto Rico trench. An important
part of this project is the new

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technologies that you're going to
develop to go into the deep

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ocean? Exactly, exactly. In the
past, we have had to have very,

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very large ships, and very large
budgets to study the deep ocean,

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because we would always attach a
cable to the instruments that we

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would use, and Dr. Jimenez, and I
are developing techniques where

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we don't need a cable. We put the
devices into the water

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completely, unattached to the
boat, and they fall to the bottom

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on their own, and they come back
on their own. So this makes it

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possible to work from small
vessels, which allow us to have

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much smaller budgets, and make
more frequent samplings than

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would be possible with a large
ship, and a large budget. For

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that you receive money from a
federal agency, and I know it's

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competitive. Tell me a little bit
more about it. Well this was from

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the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, and

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they have a special office that
deals with this type of work

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that's called the Office of
Exploration and Research. They

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have approximately every two
years they open a call for

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proposals in which investigators
from all over the world submit

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proposals to conduct research in
various parts of the world, and

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Dr. Jimenez, and I submitted a
proposal to do this work in the

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Puerto Rico trench. Now what are
your expectations concerning the

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prototype? Well we feel very
strongly that it's a solid

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design, and we're now looking to
augment it in a few ways. In the

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past, we've used simply timing to
determine the different stages of

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the deployment, and now we're
working with essentially a

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navigation suite that has an
accelerometer, gyroscope, and a

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magnetometer to allow the
instruments to determine itself

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when it's falling through the
water column, when it's on

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bottom, when it's surfacing, and
when it's on the surface again,

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and that allows us to minimize
our power consumption. For

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instance, when we want to turn on
the signaling light we want to

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wait until we're at the surface
to turn on the signaling light.

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Well if we have this navigation
suite we can let the instrument

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determine itself when to turn on
the signaling light rather than

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use time. How deep is the Puerto
Rico trench, and what is the

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important to study? The Puerto
Rico trench is approximately

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8,500 meters, or 8.5 kilometers,
and so then roughly approaching 6

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miles in depth, and the pressures
are extreme in these types of

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waters, 12,000 pounds per square
inch. There's absolutely no

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light, so it's completely dark,
and it's very, very cold, and yet

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there's organisms that thrive at
these depths, and biologist are

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very interested in sampling these
organisms to help understand how

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they can develop and thrive at
such extreme temperature,

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pressure, and lack of light.
They're also a new branch of the

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pharmaceutical industry that
specializes in natural products,

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and many of the natural products
in recent times have been

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developed from organisms in the
very, very deep ocean, perhaps,

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because there's so poorly
sampled, and because they

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developed in these extreme
conditions. So we definitely want

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to make biological samples. We're
also interested in making

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geologic samples, because Puerto
Rico trench is known to be an

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area of high seismicity that is
to say earthquakes and

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potentially tsunamis. So with the
entire Caribbean region, and the

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eastern seaboard of the United
States, any geologic information

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we can gain from the Puerto Rico
trench will help us plan for

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potential tsunami threats in the
future. Then we also were

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interested in setting the
physical oceanographic, the

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characteristics of the Puerto
Rico trench, and that's my

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specialty is physical
oceanography. Essentially that's

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the study of the waves, tides,
currents, temperature, solidity,

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dissolved nutrients, and that
sort of thing. What are the

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characteristics of these
prototypes that you think may go

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to the deep ocean? Right, well in
the past in order to provide

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buoyancy, the lift to bring
things up from the deep ocean,

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we've depended on foam, things
like Styrofoam, but in the very,

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very deep ocean the foam is
crushed by the high pressure. Now

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we're using glass spheres for our
buoyancy, and they're essentially

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pervious to the pressure, and so
we have the two glass spheres

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that we use for our buoyancy, and
they're hollow on the inside, so

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we can put our instruments on the
inside, and they're protected

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from the pressure, and below that
we have our instrument that

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actually makes the measurements
of the ocean, and it's

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essentially the payload. Then
below that we have the weight, or

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the anchor that takes the whole
device down to the bottom, and

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the trick is to be able to
release the anchor once you're on

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the bottom so that everything can
come back up. Professor, tell me

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a little bit more about the role
of the students in this

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investigation. Well today we have
depended very strongly on the

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undergraduate engineering
students of Dr. Jimenez, my

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colleague, and they have helped
us develop these prototypes that

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we're using now, and now one of
the students has decided to go

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forward with his master's degree
under the advice of Dr. Jimenez

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and myself, and we've also
recruited another master student

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who is going to work on the
project with us, and then we have

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a team of three undergraduate
students that are also going to

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be participating, and then I have
another mechanical engineering

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student who is just completing
his master's degree, who is going

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to work with me for his PhD
degree. So we have this great

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team now, all more or less
engineers, but going forward once

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we actually start testing the
prototype, and developing the

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final version we'll be able to
start recruiting students from

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biology, chemistry, physics,
geology, marine science for

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undergraduate thesis, and for
graduate work. Very mind opening

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to the students from different
perspectives. Right well

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hopefully so, hopefully so, and
we definitely have the potential

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for many biology projects, any
geology projects, many chemistry

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projects, and many physics
projects because of the newness

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of the study, and just in the
general inner disciplinary nature

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of the marine science. We both
know that we'll hear about that

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more, so if the space is open to
you for future interview once you

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know more about the trench of
Puerto Rico. Thank you for being

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with us. Thank you Mariam.