The people of MARSSAM are seagoing oceanographers and marine geologists. Our group has many decades of seagoing experience and our managers and facility advisors are all experienced principal investigators who have led many of their own coring or dredging cruises. The goal of our structure is to help you get the most productive use of your at-sea time. The following researchers and technicians manage our facility and make sure the cruises we support are successful.
Directors:
Co-PIs:
Project Manager:
Maziet Cheseby 
Maziet has been involved with the MARSSAM group for over 20 years, first as a coring technician and eventually as archival specialist serving as liaison with the Marine and Geology Repository. Maziet navigates curatorial needs of various expeditions and supports seagoing instrumentation such as the multi-sensor core logger and CT-scanner. She is an expert at navigating shipping of large equipment, including hazardous materials.
Research Technicians:
Dale Hubbard
Dale has been part of the MARSSAM coring team for over 25 years. He has expertise in complex multi-disciplinary expeditions and jumbo piston coring. He has sailed in support of marine geology in every ocean and has experience nearly everything that can happen during coring.
Chris Fanshier
Chris joined MARSSAM in 2019, and in the ensuing years has supported research cruises around the globe and built significant expertise in every type of coring supported by our facility. He is deeply competent and always cheerful. Chris is transitioning to a MARSSAM data and laboratory technician role starting in 2026.
Ben Freiberg
In a longstanding MARSSAM tradition, Ben was hired into the group upon the 2019 completion of his masters’ degree in Geology and Geophysics at OSU. He splits his time between MARSSAM and supporting the PacWave facility. Has broad expertise across many types of seafloor sampling, and always glad to give something new the ol’ college try. Ben has been leading the dredging engineering studies on shear pin and weak link designs.
Dan Wildrick
Dan joined the group after interning on a series of research cruises while completing his degree in Oceanography in 2023. Quickly proving an invaluable member of the team, Dan now has experience in most of the seafloor sampling devices supported by MARSSAM, and has supported cruises from Antarctica to the Baffin Bay. He is the resident expert in rock dredging in addition to his growing coring experience.
Sarah Gisler
Sarah joined MARSSAM in 2024 after obtaining her M.S. in mechanical engineering and completing a MATE internship with the R/V Sikuliaq. Sarah is quickly becoming experienced in all aspects of seafloor sampling.
External Advisory Panel:
