Mark Patterson
Associate Professor of Marine Science
College of William & Mary
Teaching with Technology Recipient
Mark R. Patterson is Associate Professor of Marine Science at the College of William & Mary, where he has taught for 16 years. He directs the Autonomous Systems Laboratory at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. In 1996, he received the Phi Beta Kappa Award for the Advancement of Scholarship for his work on how corals feed and respond to water currents. In 2008, Dr. Patterson was honored with the Lockheed Martin Award for Ocean Science & Technology for the “highest achievements in the field of ocean science and engineering,” specifically his sustained creativity in the field of underwater robotics, a discipline he helped create.
Dr. Patterson is an underwater explorer, inventor, and entrepreneur. A world-class scientist with 37 publications and two patents, he is a gifted teacher who uses technology to engage students in the excitement of exploration and discovery. The robots he developed, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), are revolutionizing oceanography and underwater national defense. While using his robots for cutting-edge research on the health of marine ecosystems from the Chesapeake Bay to Antarctica, Dr. Patterson co-founded a small business, Sias Patterson, the first company to sell small AUVs. This created jobs in the Hampton Roads area, including significant downstream effects at Northrop Grumman, the region’s largest private employer. His economic development activities are substantial, including involvement with organizations that are working to bring high-paying jobs in unmanned systems to the region.
An aquanaut, he has spent 79 days living in underwater laboratories for his research. With support from the Living Oceans Foundation, he taught college classrooms from the bottom of the ocean to universities across the planet. During another teaching experiment conducted with the noted explorer Dr. Bob Ballard, he reached half a million K-12 students. He continues to experiment with new methods for education including YouTube videos, webinars, and remote control of his robots over the internet by novices.
Dr. Patterson received his A.B. magna cum laude, A.M., and Ph.D. from Harvard. He lives with his wife Susan, and daughters, Linnea and Sarina, in Williamsburg.
"I noticed that students sat up and paid close attention when science was taught in the context of a story or adventure that happened in the field. I am lucky that I have had several opportunities to experiment with telepresence from the field to bring expeditionary science alive to a remote audience."