NEPTUNE Canada
Biography
Ben Biffard
Scientific Applications Programmer
Ben grew up on the west coast of British Columbia and has a natural interest in the exploration of the Ocean. He moved to Victoria to complete a B.Sc. in Physics from UVic that included co-op work terms in air and underwater acoustics, climate modelling and astronomy. His interest in underwater acoustics lead him to a graduate project with UVic professor Ross Chapman to deploy a seabed mapping system onboard the remotely operated vehicle ROPOS to map the extent of the Barkley Canyon gas hydrates, in partial collaboration with NEPTUNE/VENUS.
Ben’s ideas on improving the science behind acoustic remote sensing became the basis of his Ph.D. research. This research was conducted in collaboration with Quester Tangent, a local seabed mapping company. After completing his Ph.D. April 2011, Ben worked with Quester Tangent for a short time, gaining further experience in software development while incorporating the innovations from his research into a commercial software product.
Ben joined the NEPTUNE Canada team April 3, 2012. When Ben is not writing MATLAB code, he can be found surfing, playing ultimate or chasing around his young son.
Additional info
Staff and Consultants
NEPTUNE Canada staff are listed below. For more contacts, see our full listing of staff within VENUS, Ocean Networks Canada, and the Ocean Networks Canada Centre for Enterprise and Engagement.
Director
Kate Moran, director
- Karen Douglas, technical administrator
Science
Kim Juniper, associate director
- Dilumie Abeysirigunawardena, scientific data specialist
- John Dower, visiting scientist
- Françoise Gervais, marine ecosystems and biodiversity specialist
- Martin Heesemann, research theme integrator, plate tectonics & earthquake dynamics
- Maia Hoeberechts, research theme integrator , engineering and computational research
- Steve Mihaly, research theme integrator, ocean/climate dynamics and effects on marine biota
- Dwight Owens, web content manager
- Martin Scherwath, research theme integrator, gas hydrates and seabed fluid dynamics
Administration and Finance
Fern Johnson, associate director
- Claudio Alfaro, systems administrator
- Leslie Elliott, project coordinator
- Jason Rush, systems administrator
- Erika Tyree, accounting coordinator
- Marion Will, accounting coordinator
Engineering
Ian Kulin, associate director (interim)
- Ian Beliveau, marine equipment technologist
- Clio Bonnett, marine research and project analyst
- Ryan Flagg, mechanical engineering technologist (CO-OP)
- Reece Hasanen, scientific instrument manager
- Jarrett Little, marine equipment technologist
- Jonathon Miller, Marine Equipment Technologist
- Mohammad Mridha, mechanical engineering technologist (CO-OP)
- Richard Riddell, installation support specialist
- Albert Rusky, electrical engineering technologist (CO-OP)
- Matthew Uganecz, installation support specialist
- Jonathan Zand, Systems Integration Engineer
Engineering Consultants
The following external consultants have worked closely with NEPTUNE Canada in the past.
- Steve Bloomer
- Steve Lentz, network engineering consultant
- Peter Phibbs, systems engineering consultant
- Mike Wilson, engineering consultant
Information Technology
Benoît Pirenne, associate director
Li Yan, Visiting Scientist, China National Ocean Technology Centre
Software Team
Eric Guillemot, Manager, Software Team
- Ben Biffard, scientific applications programmer
- Jorge Conde, metadata and data consistency specialist (CO-OP)
- Tim Boesenkool, web technology specialist
- Yan Chen, senior software engineer
- Jonathan Cheng, junior software engineer
- Helena Jeeves, senior software engineer
- Reyna Jenkyns, scientific applications programmer
- Josef Krentz, junior software engineer
- Tim Lavallee, senior software engineer
- Tony Lin, intermediate software engineer
- Khai Yih Ong, intermediate software engineer
- Susan Perkins, intermediate software engineer
- Ronald Schouten, senior software engineer
- Michael Thorne, senior software engineer
- Mitozcelle Valenzuela, intermediate software engineer
Data Curation
- Andy Robertson, video specialist
- Meghan Tomlin, metadata specialist
Software Quality Control
Bob Crosby, Team Lead
- Murray Leslie, software quality control specialist
- Daisy Qi, software quality control specialist
- Yingsong Zheng, software quality control specialist
Systems
Martin Hofmann, systems manager
- Austin Henry, mission-critical systems administrator
- Shane Kerschtien, mission-critical systems administrator
- Nic Scott, mission-critical systems administrator
- Seann Wagner, mission-critical systems administrator
