News Release

David Jourdan, president of Nauticos LLC, has been appointed chair of the Johns Hopkins Engineering Programs for Professionals (EPP) Advisory Council, assuming the post during the council's most recent meeting. Now in its fourth year, the nine-member council brings together leaders from engineering companies, technology organizations, the government and higher education institutions in an ongoing effort to chart the course for future development of EPP and its programs. "It is an honor to be a member of this council, and I appreciate the opportunity to help lead our efforts over the next three years," Jourdan said. "It is a great chance to give back to the EPP program for the benefits I have gained as a graduate, and I hope we can continue to be of service."

"The Advisory Council serves a critical role for EPP because the members bring to us an external perspective that can open our eyes to issues that we might otherwise overlook," says Allan Bjerkaas, associate dean for EPP in the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins. "Dave is especially well qualified to lead the council since his career has included an array of engineering roles, giving him a broad view of the settings in which our students and their employers find themselves."

Jourdan is a charter member of the council as well as a graduate of EPP's applied physics program. A native of Baltimore, Jourdan earned a B.S. in engineering physics from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1976. He then served a tour of duty on the U.S.S. Kamehameha, a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, before joining the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. At APL, Jourdan worked in the Navy Ocean Engineering Program for six years, becoming an expert in the analysis and use of large undersea environmental data sets.

In the mid-1980s, Jourdan and two other APL scientists launched Meridian Sciences Inc., a start-up company that would be renamed Nauticos Corp. almost 10 years later. With the new company, Jourdan was able to focus fully on his devotion to deep ocean exploration, concentrating on remote sensing and underwater navigation.

In addition to working on classified government projects, the company expanded its mission to cover deep- sea search and recovery projects. Nauticos teams found the World War II Japanese carrier Kaga, the Japanese submarine I-52 loaded with 2 tons of gold, and the Israeli submarine Dakar. Its teams also completed undersea work for a Discovery Channel special on the Titanic. In 2002, and again in 2006, Nauticos personnel joined other experts in the search for Amelia Earhart's lost Lockheed Electra aircraft, an endeavor that continues today. Jourdan sold Nauticos Corp. to Oceaneering International in 2003, but still continues to develop ocean projects as president of Nauticos LLC and as president of the SeaWord Foundation, a nonprofit organization he established to support science and educational programs in ocean exploration.

Jourdan's business acumen has been recognized with a number of awards, including the Small Business Administration's Maryland Small Businessman of the Year, and Ernst and Young's Science and Technology Entrepreneur of the Year for the Maryland region.

Part of the Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering, the Engineering and Applied Science Programs for Professionals offer masters degrees in 14 distinct disciplines. There are currently more than 2,200 students enrolled in EPP programs at seven education centers throughout the Baltimore/Washington area. For more information on EPP programs and functions, contact Associate Dean Allan Bjerkaas at 410-540-2960, visit the Web site at www.epp.jhu.edu.

Johns Hopkins University news releases can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/    Information on automatic e-mail delivery of science and medical news releases is available at the same address.

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