Calm sea under a clear blue sky, horizon barely visible. The water is gently rippling, conveying a serene and tranquil atmosphere.
Directors/Associates

Board of Directors  

Misty M. Jackson, Ph.D. President mmjackson@cmurm.org
Kenneth J. Vrana Chair and Treasurer vrana@cmurm.org
William Farrant Secretaryfarrant@cmurm.org
Brian Abbott Board Member abbott@cmurm.org
The board of directors is responsible for carrying out the mission of CMURM as well as facilitating the development of research, education, and service projects. Profiles of the board of directors are provided below.
Resumes of the CMURM directors and other associates (including publication lists) are available upon request by organizations and individuals interested in particular CMURM services, or in comprehensive project development.

Misty Jackson, Ph.D.

CMURM President Principal, Arbre Croche Cultural Resourceshttps://arbrecroche.com
Dr. Jackson received her Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University in 2005, specializing in the historical archaeology of the Great Lakes Region. Her dissertation, entitled Classifications by Historical Archaeologists and Eighteenth-Century Montreal Merchants and Military Personnel in New France: Emic and Etic Approaches, focused on the French colonial period. In 2013, she joined CMURM to participate in the archaeological excavation of underwater Site 20UM723, to determine whether it represented La Salle’s Le Griffon.
Prior to that time, and currently, she is proprietor and principal investigator for the cultural resources management (CRM) firm Arbre Croche Cultural Resources based in Leslie, Michigan. Jackson has over 30 years of experience in cultural resources management (CRM). She holds (or has held) positions on the boards of the Center for French Colonial Studies and the Michigan State Historic Preservation Review Board. She is a member of the Conference on Michigan Archaeology, a professional, invitation-only organization.
Dr. Jackson’s research interests include ethnohistory, and she has served as an expert witness in a Michigan Native American treaty case for a member of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community involving farming rights.

Kenneth J. Vrana

CMURM Director Principal, Maritime Heritage Consulting  
Mr. Vrana retired from Michigan Technological University (MTU) in fall 2019 as a Professor of Practice, with administrative responsibilities as the director, Isle Royale Institute (2009 - 2022); and director, Ford Center and Forest (2015 - 18). Mr. Vrana was formerly employed by Michigan State University as a research and outreach specialist and director of CMURM (1994 - 2000), and as an underwater preserve specialist with the Michigan Sea Grant Extension (1989 - 1994). During that time, he played an instrumental role in the establishment of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the first NOAA marine protected area in the Great Lakes region to focus on historic shipwrecks and other underwater cultural heritage.
In 1984, Mr. Vrana was selected by the U.S. National Park Service from a nationwide pool of applicants as its first archaeological research diving technician, and served in that capacity until 1989 for the prestigious Submerged Cultural Resources Unit on cultural resource management studies throughout the United States and in the western Pacific. He began his professional career at Isle Royale National Park as a park ranger and operational scuba diver specializing in the management and public interpretation of natural and cultural resources within federal wilderness areas and surrounding waters of Lake Superior (1976 - 1984).
  • Participated in numerous underwater archaeology and maritime heritage management projects since 1979 as operational scuba diver, archaeological research diving technician, project coordinator, principal investigator, or consultant on sites throughout the United States, and in the North Atlantic, Caribbean basin, and western Pacific. During a 40-year career, Vrana has logged nearly 1,000 operational and scientific dives on historic shipwrecks and other underwater heritage sites.
  • Co-director of the Titanic Mapping Project with Paul-Henri Nargeolet for RMS Titanic, Inc. (2006 - Present). The initial phases of work on this project were featured on the National Geographic Special Drain the Titanic (2015).
  • Project manager of the Le Griffon Project in 2013 - 14; consulting underwater archaeologist for Titanic Expedition 2010, Carpathia Expedition 2007, and Titanic Expedition 2004; and project coordinator for the first civilian expedition to Edmund Fitzgerald in 1989.
  • Author or editor of over 100 academic, technical, and popular articles dealing with historic shipwrecks, underwater archaeology, maritime heritage management, recreational scuba diving, coastal and heritage tourism, marine parks and protected areas, and heritage education.
  • Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) Tutor for the former underwater archaeology program at Northwestern Michigan College (heritage law and CRM)
  • ABD Park, Recreation and Tourism Research, Michigan State University (MSU), 2000
  • M.S. Park, Recreation and Tourism Resource Management, MSU, 1992

William Farrant

CMURM Director Former IT Director, Jackson County ISD
● Jackson County Intermediate School District● Advanced Information Technologies and Robotics● Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) Level II Avocational Training● M.A. Education (Information Technology), Siena Heights University

Brian Abbott

CMURM Director Principal, Abbott Underwater Acoustics, LLCwww.abbottunderwateracoustics.net
● Remote sensing professional● Michigan small-business proprietor ● M.S. Civil Engineering, University of Colorado, 1998● B.S. Civil Engineering, University of Colorado, 1996● B.S. Geophysics, Oregon State University, 1981

CMURM Associates

CMURM associates include research and education professionals employed within universities and the private sector. The associates collaborate as needed on often complex multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary projects involving maritime, coastal, and underwater resources. Current CMURM associates include the following professionals:
(Listed in Alphabetical Order)

Dr. Porter Hoagland

● Former Research Associate, WHOI Marine Policy Center● Ph.D. Marine Policy, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)

Dr. Mark W. Holley

  • ● Former academic instructor in cultural anthropology and underwater archaeology at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC)
  • ● Senior instructor for the Nautical Archaeology Society
  • ● Awarded a medal of scientific merit for the archaeological survey of Loch Awe (Scotland) by HRH Duke of Edinburgh
  • ● Ph.D. Underwater Archaeology, University of Edinburgh (UK), 1998
  • ● B.A. Anthropology, University of Michigan, 1991

James R. Reedy, Jr.

● President, R2 Underwater Consultants, with a specialty in underwater excavation● M.A. Maritime History and Underwater Research, East Carolina University

Dr. Gail Vander Stoep

● Associate Professor (Retired), Dept. of Community Sustainability, Michigan State University● Ph.D. Recreation Resources Development, Texas A&M University

Former Directors and Associates

CMDR. Paul-Henri (PH) Nargeolet

CMURM Director
Commander Paul-Henri Nargeolet was the leader of six expeditions to the RMS Titanic site for RMS Titanic, Inc. (1987, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2010). He was in charge of deep-water recovery operations, and lectured at Titanic exhibitions around the world.
In 1986, Nargeolet joined IFREMER, a French oceanographic institution, as the director of deep submersible equipment and operation, and became a professional deep diver. Besides his scientific assignments, he led several search and recovery expeditions involving both civilian and military ships, and aircraft from several countries.
Later, he became the director of AQUA+, a subsidiary of CANAL+, where he continued his work on RMS Titanic and led expeditions to Royal Captain, a 19th-century British ship, and the WWII Japanese battle ship Yamato. Nargeolet was also a member of an expedition to Borneo to examine a 15th-century Chinese junk as well as participated in the first diving expedition to the World War II battleship Bismarck.
Prior to his work with RMS Titanic, Inc. and IFREMER, Nargeolet spent 25 years in the French Navy. As a naval officer, he functioned as a clearance diver, deep-sea diver, and a submersible pilot. During his career in the French Navy, he dove on and studied several modern shipwrecks, beginning with those from World War I. In 1982, he was a founding member of the GRAN (Naval Archaeological Research Group).
During his career, Nargeolet was a member of numerous search and recovery expeditions, including the search for the black boxes on Air France Flight 447, and the historic shipwrecks CSS Alabama, a Confederate vessel from the U.S. Civil War; Slava Rossii (1780), a vessel of Catherine the Great; and La Baleine (1710), a frigate of Louis XIV. He discovered and was a member of the first expedition to La Lune (1664), a vessel associated with Louis XIV. Nargeolet has also worked on the Lomellina (1516), a sixteenth-century Italian ship, and on the wreck of the battleship Magenta (1875). He discovered and dove on several Roman wrecks in the Mediterranean carrying thousands of amphoras.

Phillip J. Wright

● Co-Founder, Archaeology & Maritime Heritage International, LLC● Founder, Mount McGovern Co., Ltd., Ontario Canada● Senior Archaeologist, Ontario Marine Heritage Conservation Program ● Regional Archaeologist, Province of Ontario Ministry of Culture, Canada● M.A., Anthropology, McMaster University, Ontario, CA

Hawk Tolson

● Consulting nautical archaeologist with a specialty in materials conservation ● Co-Founder, CMURM● M.A. Anthropology (Nautical Archaeology), Texas A&M University