David Sellepack

dsellepack@rbmaritime.org

Marine Science 1 Instructor

Marine Science 2 Instructor

Hello, my name is David Sellepack. I am a science teacher at Riviera Beach Maritime Academy (third year). This year I will be teaching Marine Science 2, Marine Science 1, Drafting 1, Drafting 2, and Drafting 3. Here is a little about myself, I have a BS degree from Grand Valley State University and have been to graduate school at Central Michigan University, FAU, and Colorado State University. Over the years I have done many different jobs including working for NOAA and NMFS as a Fisheries Biologist in the Bearing Sea and Gulf of Alaska. I also have worked in the Automotive Industry and the Boating Industry for 15 years as an engineer and manager. I hold several patents in plastics and manufacturing processes. I have been building watercraft since I was 12 years old when I built my first boat, a kayak. My hobbies include SCUBA diving, rugby, hiking, and collecting rocks and fossils. If I were to come up with a slogan for my life it would be "seemed like a good idea at the time but." and I have a few stories (and scars) that will seem to coincide with the thought.

At RBMA this year I will be involved in the SCUBA Club and the ROV (underwater robotics) Club as an advisor. We are planning several field trips including several trips to the Keys, Sea World, Jenny Springs, the Everglades, and Venice (to find ancient shark's teeth). In Marine Science 1 & 2 we will be looking at local ecosystems and determining the health of the systems based on scientific analysis. Some ecosystems studied will be soft and hard bottom intertidal areas, epipelagic zones, subtidal zones, hadel zones and coral reefs.

This year we will be working on many projects in my classes, from completing the artificial reef from last year to completing a set of activities from MIT's Woods Hole Institute. Students will also employ a fuel cell for a source of mobile power. In marine science today AUV's (autonomous underwater vehicles) are being developed to do tasks from laying cables, monitoring seismic activities, water temperatures, salinity, and marine organisms. These systems rely predominately on battery power. Given light fades very quickly at depth, solar power is not practical for these vehicles. A new trend in these vehicles is to power them by fuel cells. This is an alternative that allows the vehicle to stay deployed longer. This is accomplished by having a hydrogen generator on the vehicle that will split the water into it's components (hydrogen and oxygen) which is then used via the fuel cell to generate electricity. The fuel cell will be used to power a ROV. Students will learn how a fuel cell works and the drawbacks of the power (lack of hydrogen sources). The marine science class will then design and build an ROV .