Val Schmidt
Val Schmidt received his Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of the South, Sewanee TN in 1994. He served as an officer in the US submarine fleet aboard the USS HAWKBILL from 1994 to 1999. In 1998 and 1999 the USS HAWKBILL participated in two NSF sponsored “SCICEX” missions to conduct seafloor mapping from the submarine under the Arctic ice sheet. Val served as Sonar and Science Liaison Officer during these missions. Val left the Navy in 1999, working for Qwest Communications as a telecommunications and Voice Over IP engineer from 2000 to 2002. In 2002 Val began work as a research engineer for the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, where he provided science and engineering support both on campus and to several research vessels in the U.S. academic research fleet. Val completed his Master’s Degree in Ocean Engineering from the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire in 2008. His thesis involved development of an underwater acoustic positioning system for tracking tagged whales. Val continues to work as an engineer with the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping.
Val Schmidt leads the Center’s marine robotics program, where he and a team of engineers and graduate students solve problems to “make autonomy practical.” Val holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics with Honors, from the University of the South, (Sewanee, TN, 1994), and a Master of Science in Ocean Engineering, with an emphasis in Ocean Mapping, from the University of New Hampshire’ s Category A Hydrographic program, (Durham, NH, 2008). From 1994-2000, Val served in the U.S. Navy as an Officer in the U.S. submarine fleet, as Radiological Controls Officer and later Sonar Officer aboard the USS Hawkbill. Since 2008, he and his team at CCOM have deployed un-crewed vehicles, from shore and from ships at sea, for marine science and seafloor mapping missions around the world, including recent missions with autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) from NOAA Ship Fairweather (2018), Exploration Vessel Nautilus (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 x3), NOAA Ship Shearwater (2017), and NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson (2019 and 2022). Val has also deployed ASVs from shore in NOAA Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary (2019 and 2021), and countless other day deployments from our own vessel and from shore off the New Hampshire coast.
Selected Publications
Schimel, A. C. G., Beaudoin, J., Parnum, I. M., Le Bas, T., Schmidt, V., Keith, G., & Ierodiaconou, D. (2018). Multibeam sonar backscatter data processing. Marine Geophysical Research, 39(1-2), 121-137. doi:10.1007/s11001-018-9341-z
Randeni P., S. A. T., Forrest, A. L., Cossu, R., Leong, Z. Q., Ranmuthugala, D., & Schmidt, V. (2018). Parameter identification of a nonlinear model: replicating the motion response of an autonomous underwater vehicle for dynamic environments. Nonlinear Dynamics, 91(2), 1229-1247. doi:10.1007/s11071-017-3941-z
Reed, S., Schmidt, V. E., & IEEE. (2016). Providing Nautical Chart Awareness to Autonomous Surface Vessel Operations. In OCEANS 2016 MTS/IEEE MONTEREY. doi:10.1109/OCEANS.2016.7761472
Englert, C. M., Butkiewicz, T., Mayer, L. A., Schmidt, V., Beaudoin, J., Trembanis, A. C., . . . IEEE. (2013). Designing Improved Sediment Transport Visualizations Binding a GIS data model with human perception research. In 2013 OCEANS - SAN DIEGO. Retrieved from https://www.webofscience.com/
Schmidt, V. E., Weber, T. C., Trembanis, A. C., & IEEE. (2012). Automated Optimal Processing of Phase Differencing Side-scan Sonar Data Using the Most-Probable Angle Algorithm. In 2012 OCEANS. Retrieved from https://www.webofscience.com/
Schmidt, V. E., Rzhanov, Y., & IEEE. (2012). Measurement of Micro-bathymetry with a GOPRO Underwater Stereo Camera Pair. In 2012 OCEANS. Retrieved from https://www.webofscience.com/
Schmidt, V., Weber, T. C., Wiley, D. N., & Johnson, M. P. (2010). Underwater Tracking of Humpback Whales (Megaptera Novaeangliae) With High-Frequency Pingers and Acoustic Recording Tags. IEEE JOURNAL OF OCEANIC ENGINEERING, 35(4), 821-836. doi:10.1109/JOE.2010.2068610
Weirathmueller, M., Weber, T. C., Schmidt, V., McGillicuddy, G., Mayer, L., Huff, L., & IEEE. (2007). Acoustic positioning and tracking in Portsmouth Harbor, New Hampshire. In 2007 OCEANS, VOLS 1-5 (pp. 898-901). Retrieved from https://www.webofscience.com/