Wayne R. Lusardi, MA
Alpena, Michigan
In November 2002, Wayne Lusardi became the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve’s Maritime Archaeologist. Wayne works for the Michigan Department of History, Arts, and Libraries as part of the NOAA/State partnership to mange submerged cultural recourses located off Alpena. As Sanctuary archaeologist, Wayne is responsible for the research, documentation, preservation, and management of as many as 100 shipwrecks located in Thunder Bay. He is involved in all aspects of fieldwork, research, education, and outreach. As a state employee, Wayne is also responsible for submerged cultural resources throughout Michigan.

Wayne has an extensive background in underwater and terrestrial archaeology, artifact conservation, and material culture studies. Before arriving at Thunder Bay, Wayne was employed as an archaeological conservation for the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia. He led the museum’s excavation of the USS Monitor’s turret after its recovery in August 2002. Prior to working on the Monitor project, Wayne spent four years on the Blackbeard shipwreck project in North Carolina. He also worked as an archaeologist for Tidewater Atlantic Research, Texas A&M University, and the Illinois State Museum. He received his MA degree in Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology from East Carolina University in 1998, and a BS in Anthropology from Illinois State.
 

Andrew J. Weir
Jackson, Michigan
Andrew was born and raised in southern Michigan.  He started working part time for Commonwealth Cultural Resources Group when he was sixteen and has barely looked back since.  In 1998, he received his bachelors degree from Western Michigan University in Anthropology and Comparative Religion. After graduation he was hired full time for CCRG. In 2000, he decided that he wanted to pursue a different angle in archaeology.  He enrolled in Maritime History Master’s program at East Carolina University, where he concentrated on Maritime Archaeology.  He returned to CCRG and has since been trying to get the company more involved with Maritime Archaeology in the Great Lakes.  He is currently working as a Project Archaeologist and the Marketing Coordinator for CCRG.  This is his first of (hopefully many) cooperative field schools.
 

John R. Halsey, PhD
Lansing, Michigan
John R. Halsey holds a BA and MA in Anthropology from the University of Michigan and PhD in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Prior to becoming Michigan’s States Archaeologist with Department of State in 1976, Dr. Halsey was Director of Salvage Archaeology at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. He has extensive upland site excavation experience in Michigan, North Carolina, and Wisconsin and is also author or editor of more than 140 publications including in 1990, Beneath the Inland Seas: Michigan’s underwater Archaeological Heritage and in 1999, as editor and contributor, Retrieving Michigan’s Buried Past: The Archaeology of the Great Lakes State. In his time with the Michigan Historical Center in addition to being State Archaeologist, he has also served as Environmental Review Coordinator, Freedom of Information Act Coordinator, State Historic Preservation Officer, and most recently as Michigan’s representative on the Joint Management Committee for the Thunder Bay National Marine! Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve and a member of the Marine Protected Area Federal Advisory Committee. With changes in Michigan law beginning in 1980, he became a pivotal figure in the management, protection, and interpretation of Michigan’s underwater archaeological heritage. His involvement with the Thunder Bay Great Lakes Bottomland Preserve and its successor, the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve dates to the late 1970’s.
 

Ryan Riordan
Bethesda, Maryland
Ryan just graduated High school in June 2005. He is also a member of the Boy Scouts of America. Ryan will also be attending Frostburg State University in the fall where he will be studying Athletic Training.

Stephen Riordan
Bethesda, Maryland
Stephen just graduated high school in June 2005. He is also a member of the Boy Scouts of America. Stephen will be attending a technical school in the fall.

Sheli O. Smith, PhD
Columbus, Ohio
Dr. Sheli O. Smith has a strong background in museum work and archaeological interpretation for both K-12 and public audiences. Her particular research interests include lifeways at sea and the ways those are reflected in the layout of ships, and trade networks in the Pacific in the 18th and 19th centuries. For the past 20 years, Dr. Smith has focused primarily Gold Rush-era shipwreck sites, located in California, the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean. Among the projects she has worked on in her career are the1779 American privateer brig Defense (located in Maine), the c. 1710 Ronson Ship (New York), the 1864 American clipper ship Snow Squall (Falkland Islands), the 1859 American barque La Grange (Sacramento), the 1855 American barque Julia Ann (Tahiti), and the Emerald Bay, California State Underwater Park.