Page 57: of Marine Technology Magazine (Sep/Oct 2026)

TIM GALLAUDET

ON SCIENCE, LEADERSHIP

AND THE PEOPLE BEHIND

THE MISSION ear Admiral Tim Gallaudet, PhD, U.S. Navy ing of? cers, but junior sailors and civilians who’d really (Ret.), has spent much of his professional life taught me a lot about how to be as a person with charac- at the intersection of ocean science, technolo- ter and integrity.” gy and public service. His 32-year Navy career For the marine science and technology community,

R included command at sea, scienti? c research, leadership however, Holding Fast carries another thread. Gallaudet’s of Navy Meteorology and Oceanography Command and career is a story of a scientist who became a senior leader responsibility for what he described as the world’s larg- without losing his connection to science, technology or est ? eet of oceanographic underwater vehicles. Then, in the people doing the work.

2017, he moved into an entirely different environment when he was appointed to help lead the National Oce-

Science as the Common Ground anic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Gallaudet arrived at NOAA during the ? rst Trump

His new book, Holding Fast in Heavy Seas: Leadership for administration, a period he described as one of consid-

Turbulent Times, draws on all of it. But while the book is erable uncertainty for federal science agencies. One of built around leadership, Gallaudet is quick to point out his challenges was reconciling proposed White House that the lessons are not exclusively his. budget reductions with programs that he believed were “I wrote the book really because I was asked when I important to public safety and research. “We found cre- led this civilian agency, NOAA, every day about what I ative ways,” he said, and one of the clearest examples was thought on different leadership topics,” said Gallaudet. uncrewed technology.

Unlike the Navy, he said, scientists and civilians in fed- Gallaudet helped establish NOAA’s ? rst drone pro- eral agencies are not routinely immersed in formal leader- gram, initially funded at about $14 million annually. ship training. His NOAA colleagues wanted to hear what The program used aerial, surface and underwater vehi- he had learned. cles to monitor the ocean and ? sheries, map shorelines “So, it’s a memoir, but it’s really focused on my thoughts and coral reefs, study the atmosphere and improve hur- on leadership,” he said, particularly what he learned “from ricane track predictions.

really great people, not just senior of? cers and command- “We were dealing with some heavy seas in terms of the www.marinetechnologynews.com 57

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