Navigation: Yesterday and Today
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Join us for a panel discussion with scholars and officers from Yale University’s Naval Reserve Officer Training Corp to learn more about the evolution of maritime navigation. Attendees will learn about how sailors traveled in the earliest days of oceanic exploration, as well as how cutting edge technology has evolved life at sea. This panel will be moderated by New York Times bestselling author and scholar Eric Jay Dolin, author of Black Flags, Blue Water (2018) and Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution. This program is produced in conjunction with our exhibition, Charting Your Course: Cutting Edge Navigation and Seafaring, which will be on view from Feb. 24 to May 11, 2024.
Panelists:
Eric Jay Dolin: Moderator
Eric Jay Dolin is the author of sixteen books, including Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, which was chosen as one of the best nonfiction books of 2007 by the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe, and also won the 2007 John Lyman Award for U.S. Maritime History, and was an “Editor’s Choice” selection by the New York Times Book Review. His most recent book before Left for Dead is Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution, which was awarded the Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award and the Samuel Eliot Morison Book Award for Naval Literature, given out by the Naval Order of the United States; and was a finalist for the New England Society Book Award and the Boston Authors Club Julia Ward Howe Book Award. Rebels was also selected as a “Must-Read” book by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. Before Rebels came A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America’s Hurricanes, which was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, and was chosen as one of the 50 notable books of non-fiction of the year by The Washington Post, and as one of the Best Science & Technology Books of 2020 by the Library Journal and Booklist. It was also selected as a “Must-Read” book, an “Editor’s Choice,” and was the winner of Atmospheric Science Librarians International Choice Award for History. His forthcoming book, to be published on May 7, 2024, is Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World. Dolin lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with his family.
COMMANDER SCOTT M. RYAN, United States Navy: Panelist
Commander Ryan has accumulated more than 2,100 flight hours in the MH-60S and TH-57B/C helicopters and the T-34C aircraft. His awards include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (4), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (2), and other unit and campaign awards. In 2018, Commander Ryan reported to USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) as the Combat Direction Center Officer and deployed in 2019 to FIFTH FLEET. Commander Ryan returned to the Naval War College in February 2020, attending the College of Naval Warfare and graduated in March, 2021. In June 2021 Commander Ryan reported as Executive Officer of the Naval ROTC Unit at Yale University.
LIEUTENANT NICK GIOIA, United States Navy: Panelist
Lieutenant Nick Gioia was born in southern California and raised in Medford, Oregon. He graduated with honors from the University of Oregon in 2017, where he double-majored in Political Science and Russian Studies. In 2018, he was commissioned through Officer Candidate School as a Surface Warfare Officer. For his first tour, he served as the Strike Warfare Officer onboard USS COLE (DDG-67) out of Norfolk, Virginia. Following this, he served as the Damage Control Assistant onboard the forward-deployed minesweeper USS PATRIOT (MCM-7), homeported in Sasebo, Japan. While onboard PATRIOT, he supported six multinational exercises in the Seventh Fleet area of responsibility. In 2022, he was selected as the Mine Countermeasures Squadron Seven Junior Officer Tactician of the Year. Lieutenant Gioia reported to the Naval ROTC Unit at Yale University as the Surface Warfare Officer in February, 2024. Lieutenant Gioia’s personal awards include the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and other unit and campaign awards.
LIEUTENANT RYAN BUCK, United States Navy: Panelist
Lieutenant Ryan C. Buck was born and raised in Westerville, OH. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University and commissioned from their NROTC Unit in May 2018 as a Submarine Warfare Officer. Lieutenant Buck completed the nuclear training pipeline at Nuclear Power School and Nuclear Power Training Unit aboard the MTS-626 in Charleston, SC. Following Prototype, he reported to Submarine Officer basic Course in Groton, CT. He received orders and reported to his first boat, USS MICHIGAN (SSGN-727) BLUE in Bangor, WA in November of 2019. Onboard MICHIGAN, he served as the Electrical Assistant, Special Operations Forces Division Officer, Quality Assurance Officer and Assistant Engineer. He completed a Major CNO Availability and Sea Trials on MICHIGAN. Additionally, he augmented the crew of the USS CONNECTICUT (SSN-22) and completed a WESTPAC deployment supporting a mission vital to national security. In August of 2022, Lieutenant Buck reported to the Naval ROTC Unit at Yale University as the Submarine Warfare Officer and Nuclear Programs Officer.
