Dr. Robert D. Ballard is president of the Institute for Exploration at Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration in Mystic, Connecticut. While best known for his 1985 discovery of the Titanic, he has succeeded in tracking down numerous other significant shipwrecks, including the German battleship Bismarck, the lost fleet of Guadalcanal, the American aircraft carrier Yorktown, and John F. Kennedy's PT 109.

Bob and his team from the Institute for Exploration have also initiated a series of live expeditions and new telepresence efforts, including the Immersion Institute Project, developed in collaboration with the National Marine Sanctuaries Foundation, NOAA and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. This ongoing project has so far wired two of the 13 National Marine Sanctuary with live robots and Internet II video feeds.

Bob spent 30 years at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and has a Ph.D. in marine geology and geophysics from the University of Rhode Island, in addition to 13 honorary degrees.