CHRISTOPHER P. HAMILTON
636 Commercial Street· Provincetown, MA 02657
508-241-5990 inthewildproductions@hotmail.com
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
• Leader of 15 international educational sailing voyages with a successful combination of coordinating, mentoring, teaching and traveling skills.
• Innovative teacher devoted to experiential education, field studies and personal growth.
• Business-minded entrepreneur credited with starting a charter yacht brokerage, a video production company and a business consulting company.
• Powerful negotiator having initiated, redesigned and transferred educational programs and provided consulting for executive-level organizational, educational and company leaders.
• Exceptional communicator who can present complicated subject matter in simple terms.
• Photographer and video producer with images and footage published in numerous venues.
• Writer, researcher and photographer for travel guidebooks.
EDUCATION
• Master of Geology (summa cum laude), University of California at Davis, 1997.
• SUPPORT AREA: Marine biogeochemistry.
• THESIS: A Geochemical Investigation of Gametogenic Calcite Addition in the Planktonic Foraminifera Orbulina universa. AND A Geochemical Model of a Fossil Orbulina universa Assemblage from the San Pedro Basin, California. AND Glacial to Interglacial Sea Surface Temperature Reconstructions Across the Subtropical Convergence in the Southwest Pacific Ocean.
• Full tuition, fees and stipend covered by departmental funds and NSF grants.
• Bachelor of Science in Geology (cum laude), University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 1992.
• THESIS: Potential for Contamination of the Dry Brook Aquifer by the Connecticut River in South Hadley, MA
• Conducted three independent research projects and was employed in three laboratories.
ACADEMIC/TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Coordinator & Marine Science Instructor, SEAmester Program, Long Island University and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 1999-2008.
• Led 14 highly successful nine week educational sailing voyages.
• Established voyage itineraries, arranged and led shore based activities and field trips and taught three 4-credit marine science courses per semester.
• Strengthened the academic rigor of the science courses and fieldwork.
• Designed and implemented an original method for teaching students to take strong field notes.
• Broadened the range of shore based opportunities (e.g. informational scavenger hunts, meaningful cultural exchanges, etc.) and took the program to many new places.
• Transferred the program to its new institutional home at UMass Dartmouth including heading the program’s marketing efforts.
• Courses taught include: (* indicates course developed by myself)
• Biological Survey of Atlantic and Caribbean Coastlines (Marine Science 211a)
• Coastal Geology* (Geology 207)
• Biology of Zooplankton* (Biology 231 and 308)
Academic Consultant, MassSail Program, Center for Coastal Studies, Provincetown, MA, 2004
• Initiated the concept and provided framework, financial models, itineraries and academic curricula for sixteen weeks of shipboard educational summer programs aboard the schooner Spirit of Massachusetts.
Head Teaching Assistant, Oceanography 111, University of California at Davis, 1994-1996.
• Led undergraduate oceanography discussions, laboratories and taught scientific research paper writing.
• Coordinated four other TAs; created and tested new laboratory demonstrations and discussions; designed the course web page.
Teaching Assistant (volunteer), Emergency Medical Technician Course, UC Davis, 1996.
Interpreter (volunteer), Invertebrate House, Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo, 1993-1994.
• Provided lectures and demonstrations to the public about the lifecycles, behavior and natural history of the animals on exhibit.
• Part-time keeper/feeder of the cephalopods and other marine invertebrates.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Research Assistant III: Harvard University, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, 1997-1998.
• Managed the daily activities of a biological oceanography laboratory including maintaining phytoplankton and zooplankton stocks and processing samples with gas extraction lines.
• Organized and participated in international and local research cruises investigating nitrogen nutrient cycling in planktonic systems.
• Coordinated the efforts of numerous undergraduates, interns and volunteers.
Research Assistant: University of California at Davis, Dept. of Geology, 1995-1996.
• Coordinated use of stable isotope laboratory and used gas extraction lines and mass spectrometers to analyze samples.
• Organized and prepared for field seasons.
• Researched the stable isotope biogeochemistry of foraminifera.
• Supervised the work of undergraduates and volunteers.
Graduate Field Research: Wrigley Marine Science Center, Catalina Island, California, 1994-1996.
• Collected planktonic foraminifera by scuba, maintained specimens in culture and conducted various experiments on their metabolism and shell geochemistry.
Graduate Archaeology Project: University of California at Davis, Dept. of Geology, 1995-1996.
• Discovered a correlation between the stable isotope composition of marble flake temper in pottery and the pottery’s firing temperature.
Museum Technician: Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, Department of Paleobiology, 1992-1994.
• Assisted in the research of fossil and collected foraminifera including laboratory processing and scanning electron microscope analysis.
• Designed slides, computer graphics and scientific illustrations for presentation and publication.
• Maintained the National Collection of Foraminifera and its library, wrote and formatted the department’s monthly newsletter, met the needs of visiting scholars and coordinated the efforts of numerous summer interns and volunteers.
Biomarine Workshop, American Academy of Underwater Sciences, 1993.
• Four days of dry suit diving in the kelp beds of the California Channel Islands with lectures on the local marine flora and fauna and research on new dry suit technologies.
Spring Botany Field Course, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 1991.
• Examined temperate to sub-tropical coastal ecosystems of the eastern United States with emphasis on Florida’s mangroves.
Summer Field Course in Marine and Coastal Geology, Shoals Marine Laboratory, Maine, 1991.
• Collected and sampled marine sediment cores and researched the geologic history of Appledore Island.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL/BUSINESS EXPERIENCE
President: The Underwood Group, 2007-present.
• Business consulting for the natural skin care and personal care products industry on the environmental impacts of business practices and issues of supply chain sustainability.
Writer/Photographer: The Rough Guides, 2006-present.
• Researching, photographing and writing Caribbean guidebook updates and travel related stories.
Owner/Executive Director: Studio 6 Video, 2006-present.
• Video duplication company offering transfers between various media and DVD duplications.
Owner/Executive Director: In the Wild Productions, 2002-present (Co-owner 1999-2002).
• Photography and video production company specializing in recording outdoor adventures and wildlife and providing stock photography and stock video footage.
• Increased annual sales by 50% since taking sole control of the business, expanded range of services offered and upgraded facilities to digital technology.
Co-founder/Director/Webmaster: In the Wild Adventures, 2001-2002.
• Charter yacht brokerage specializing in educational, adventurous and unique crewed sailing vacations.
• Started this business and developed it into a significant player in the industry.
Publisher’s Representative: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998-1999.
• Campus representative for Boston area colleges and universities.
• Achieved 108% of annual sales goal in only eight months.
AWARDS AND GRANTS
• Graduate Student Fellowship (full tuition and stipend), University of California at Davis 1995-1997.
• Geological Society of America Graduate Student Research Grant, 1995.
• Award in Recognition of Exemplary Service, Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, 1993.
• L. R. Wilson Award for Outstanding Senior in Geology, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, 1992.
PUBLICATIONS
• Hamilton, Christopher P., Spero, H.J., Bjima, J and Lea, D.W. (2008) “Geochemical Investigation of Gametogenic Calcite Addition in the Planktonic Foraminifera Orbulina universa,” accepted by Marine Micropaleontology, May 2008.
• Hamilton, Christopher P. (1997) “A Geochemical Investigation of Gametogenic Calcite Addition in the Planktonic Foraminifera Orbulina universa” AND “A Geochemical Model of a Fossil Orbulina universa Assemblage from the San Pedro Basin, California” AND “Glacial to Interglacial Sea Surface Temperature Reconstructions Across the Subtropical Convergence in the Southwest Pacific Ocean,” Masters of Science Thesis, University of California at Davis.
• Hamilton, Christopher P., Spero, H.J., and Lea, D.W. (1996) “Gametogenic Calcification in the Planktonic Foraminifera Orbulina universa,” Geological Society of America, Annual Meeting, Abstracts with Programs, 1996.
• Hamilton, Christopher P., Spero, H.J., and Sikes, E.L. (1996) “Foraminiferal Stable Isotopic Interpretation of the Glacial to Interglacial Shift in Water Column Characteristics of the Southern Subtropical Convergence at the Chatham Rise, New Zealand,” CalPaleo Abstracts.
• Huber, Brian T., Hodell, D.A. and Hamilton, C.P. (1995) “Mid to Late Cretaceous Climate of the Southern High Latitudes: Stable Isotopic Evidence for Minimal Equator-to-Pole Thermal Gradients,” Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 107, no. 6, p. 1164-1191.
• Hamilton, Christopher P., Spero, H.J., and Lea, D.W. (1995) “Experimental Quantification of Gametogenic Calcite in the Planktonic Foraminifera Orbulina universa,” American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, Abstracts with Programs.
• Hamilton, Christopher P. (1992) “Potential for Contamination of the Dry Brook Aquifer by the Connecticut River in South Hadley, MA,” Geological Society of America, Northeastern Section, Abstracts with Programs.
RELEVANT SKILLS
• Proven leadership, teaching and research skills.
• Sea time and field experience includes 135 weeks aboard traditionally rigged schooners, 20 weeks aboard scientific research vessels, approximately 500 3 hour trips aboard whale watching vessels, two summers at a remote station on Catalina Island and numerous week long or shorter trips.
• International travel experience includes having visited most of the Caribbean island nations, lived in Havana for two months, backpacked the Fiji Islands, Europe, Turkey, Panama and Mexico multiple times.
• Shipboard research activities include deployment and recovery of CTD rosettes, piston corers and plankton nets, nutrient analyses, experimenting with collected specimens, filtering and fishing.
• Smithsonian-trained scientific research SCUBA diver. Experience diving on Caribbean and South Pacific coral reef environments, California kelp forests and New England waters.
• Emergency Medical Technician certification (now expired) and experience assisting with SCUBA diving related emergencies at the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber.
• Several years experience sailing small craft and handling small boats in coastal and nearshore waters.
• Basic Spanish speaking and comprehension (short course at the University of Havana).
• Professional web site designer (e.g. www.studio6video.com, www.inthewild.org and www.inthewildproductions.com) and web site marketer (including search engine placement.)
References: Available upon request. |