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www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 23 cy, particularly once it's realized that Dr. Ballard's genera- tion was the first to offer a doctorate in oceanography.

Work to establish the Archeological Oceanography doc- torate program at URI was launched nearly four years ago, but this, too, is still in its infancy, as the program to date has six students and two tenure track faculty positions, with a third — on Coastal Anthropology —pending. The numbers simply cannot paint an accurate picture, though, as the undertaking at URI is truly unique.

The premise of the program is to bring together three distinct disciplines: Social Sciences; Oceanography; and

Engineering, under the same roof. "The idea is to bring social sciences into our world," Dr. Ballard said. "You can- not be an archeologist in the deep sea unless you are an oceanographer." "My grandmother used to say 'Great is the person who plants the tree knowing they will never sit in its shade' … that's what I'm doing: planting trees," Dr. Ballard said.

Dr. Robert Ballard, far left, is spearheading an innovative doctorate program in Archaeological Oceanography at the

University of Rhode Island. Pictured with Dr. Ballard are two of the program’s students, Mike Brennan and Katy Croft. (Photo: Greg Trauthwein)

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