Academy of Underwater Arts & Sciences Presenter of the NOGI Award

 

ARTS: Richard Ellis

A distinguished artist whose marine life paintings are exhibited all over the world, author of many books, research associate in the American Museum of Natural History's division of paleontology, special advisor to the American Cetacean Society, and U.S. delegate to International Whaling Commission from 1980 to 1990.

 

 

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE: Lad Handelman

Founder of two premier offshore underwater contractors, Oceaneering International and Cal Dive International, which pioneered much of the deep-diving technology that has become industry practice today, including saturation diving, the use of remote-operated vehicles and one-atmosphere diving suits. Also co-founder the Marine Mammal Consulting Group (MMCG) in Santa Barbara, California.

 

 

SCIENCE: Richard Vann, PhD

Venerated diving physiologist with numerous publications (43 Refereed Publications, 61 non-refereed publications, numerous dissertations, abstracts and web-based training materials) and major contributor to Divers Alert Network (DAN).

 

 

 

SPORTS/EDUCATION: Mike Hollis

CEO of Oceanic, Aeris, LavaCore and Pelagic Pressure Systems, who started his career as a commercial saturation diver working in the oil fields, who applied his knowledge of physics to start Pelagic Pressure Systems, which produced the DataMax, the first electronic dive gauge before developing 300 different dive computers and introducing two new rebreathers – the “Prism” for tech divers and the revolutionary “Explorer” for the recreational market.

 

 

ENVIRONMENT: Bill Macdonald

Long-time film producer with a focus on educational programming on watershed awareness, and producer of the series “Sea Pulse,” which includes “Our Synthetic Sea,” featuring the problem of marine debris with a focus on the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, which won an award for excellence at the Santa Cruz Environmental Film Festival.