Dr. Craig Young (Professor, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, University of   Oregon) is the project director for this grant and the Chief Scientist for the expedition. He is a deep-sea biologist who specializes in the reproduction and embryology of invertebrate animals. Craig has been working with deep-water animals using submersibles for more than 30 years. His role on this cruise is to coordinate all aspects of the expedition and to collect and culture the larvae of deep-sea animals.

Dr. Richard Emlet (Professor, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, University of Oregon) is a co-Principal Investigator. Richard is an ecologist, developmental biologist and evolutionary biologist with special interest in the larval forms of echinoderms and other invertebrates. Richard will culture larvae, participate in feeding experiments, and use high-speed video to determine how larvae capture tiny food particles.

Dr. Michelle Wood (Professor, Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Oregon) is a co-Principal Investigator of this project. An oceanographer, physiologist, ecologist and evolutionary biologist, Michelle is an authority on cyanobacteria and other tiny organisms that live in the open sea. Her role is to assess the potential foods for invertebrate larvae, to culture those foods for feeding experiments, and to measure the distributions of cyanobacteria with depth.

Dr. George von Dassow (Scientist, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology,  University of Oregon) investigates the development and cell biology of  invertebrate embryos. George will participate in larval  collection and culture, and study the embryos and larvae of  the vestimentiferan tube worms that live around seeps.

Professor Bob Carney (Louisiana State University)

Dr. Shawn Arellano, Postdoc (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

Dr. Kelly Goodwin, (NOAA Scientist) is investigating methanotrophs (methane-oxidizing bacteria) in the water column and in CH4 ice worms.