John R. Delaney

John Delaney is Program Director of the NEPTUNE Project and Chair of the Executive Team. He is a Professor of Oceanography at the University of Washington, specializing in marine geology. His research focuses on the deep-sea volcanic activity on the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the northeast Pacific Ocean. He received his B.A. degree in Geology from Lehigh University in 1964. He then attended the University of Virginia, where he received his M.S. in Geology while concurrently working as a Mineral Exploration Geologist in Charlottesville. In 1977 he earned his Ph.D. in geology at the Univ. of Arizona studying volatiles trapped in the glassy rinds of mid-ocean ridge basalts. He joined the Univ. of Washington faculty in 1977 at the School of Oceanography where he won the Teaching Award in 1980 and the Distinguished Research Award in 1991. He was a visiting scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute and Johnson Space Center from 1977 to 1980. As a marine geologist, his research focuses on the deep-sea volcanism of the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the northeast Pacific Ocean. He has served as chief scientist on 20 oceanographic research cruises, many of which have included the Deep Submergence Vehicle “ALVIN.” In the summer of 1998, Delaney led a joint expedition with the American Museum of Natural History to successfully recover four volcanic sulfide structures from the Ridge. This U.S./Canadian effort was the subject of a NOVA/PBS documentary. Other activities and honors include being named a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1995; co-directing REVEL, a program that provides middle-and high-school teachers with opportunities to participate in sea-going research; and having served on a NASA Committee that planned the Europa Orbiter Mission.