essment. In addition, he has been a member of the U.S. Scientific Steering Committee for the National Science Foundation's Joint Global Ocean Flux Study, a program to study the ocean's role in the global carbon cycle. He was on the International Science Advisory Council for the Coastal Rhythms Exhibition at the New England Aquarium, and was involved with the joint NOAA/NASA project studying the Health, Ecological, and Econonic Dimensions of Global Change. Recently, he helped put together a Podcast for the COSEE-NOW website and was invited to present a lecture at the Library of Congress which was entitled "Observing the Living Oceans from Space" which is available as an online webcast. An appropriately named Maniac Lecture lecture entitled "Satellites, Seabirds and Seals: A thirty year retrospective of Ocean Color from Space" was given on June 27, 2012 at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.
One of his favorite collaborations involved working with Ned Potter on the one year anniversary story for Peter Jennings and the ABC World News Tonight.
Gene has been involved in using the World Wide Web (since January, 1994)
and other emerging technologies to reach out to a wider audience. He is
the creator of the JASON Project Home Page, which in collaboration with
Dr. Robert Ballard, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who led the team that found the wreck of the R.M.S. Titanic,
and The JASON Foundation for Education, are using advanced interactive
telecommuncations to educate and excite students about science and technology.
As part of his JASON experiences, Gene has had an opportunity to participate in a number of JASON expeditions including JASON IV to the Gulf of California,
where the underwater mysteries of hydrothermal vents were explored. During
JASON V Expedition to Belize, Gene ran fiber optic cables through the rain forest of Belize to establish JASON's Jungle Computer Lab that was used during the live expedition broadcasts. As part of the JASON VI: Island Earth Expedition, Gene helped develop the Spiders of the World interactive exercise that involved students in an online data gathering and sharing activity and coordinated the first JASON broadcast live via the Internet.
In addition to his continued involvement with the online components of
the 1996 expedition,
JASON VII: Adapting to a Changing Sea, which included the web-based Aquatic Field Study and Exploring the Steel Reef, Gene participated
in an all day dive to the bottom of the sea on the Navy's nuclear research submarine, the NR-1
While at the JASON VII expedition site in Key Largo, Florida, Gene came face to face with one of the legends of the silver screen......the African Queen.
The Union Jack still flies proudly, high above the deck of the African Queen. The old steam boiler still needs to be kicked occasionally, lest it
blow itself and all the inhabitants of the Queen into oblivion. However,
it isn't Humphrey Bogart that is doing the kicking anymore, nor is it wood cut
from the shores of a dark, leech-infested African river that keeps the old girl
Rather, it is James Hendricks and his bags of African
Queen charcoal briquets that keep the legend alive.
Most days, the African Queen rests peacefully on her cradle under
a faded canopy at the dock beside the Key Largo Holiday Inn.
However, the African Queen, that 30 foot collection of steel,
wood, rope and character is not one to rest on her laurels. Under the
watchful eye of Jim Hendricks she has plied the world's waterways from
New Orleans to the English Channel and I was fortunate enough to be
one of the lucky ones to follow in the footsteps of Bogart and Hepburn.
Gene has had a number of very productive collaborations with the Smithsonian Institution. Working with the Institution's Office of Environmental Awareness, he helped create the Smithsonian's first electronic exhibition, "Ocean Planet Online", which has been called one of the most comprehensive and technologically advanced exhibitions of its kind. In appreciation for this work, the Smithsonian Institution awarded Gene the James Smithson Bicenten