David Naar obtained his PhD in Earth Sciences from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego and a BA in Geological Sciences from UC Santa Barbara. He serves as a co-director for the University Center for Exemplary Mentoring (UCEM) at the University of South Florida. He is Sephardic and fluent in French and English. His research interests are as follows: Deep Ocean: Mid-ocean microplate tectonics, small and large offset propagating rifts, and hydrothermal venting and other mid-ocean ridge processes. Shallow Ocean: High-resolution multibeam studies of: 1) benthic habitats of coral reefs and fish; 2) paleoshorelines & sea level rise; 3) scour & burial of mines, artificial reefs, & pipelines; 3) shallow water hydrothermal venting, and 4) paleoshorelines. These research interests have been addressed with oceanographic seafloor mapping expeditions to the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Analyses of multibeam, magnetics, gravity, side-scan sonar are made in conjunction with insight from a seafloor spreading analog wax model. Previous projects include: Plate tectonic reconstruction of the Pacific-Nazca plates, Off-axis volcanism along the Easter Seamount Chain, Deep submersible investigations of hydrothermal activity and exposed oceanic crust, Benthic habitat studies of Pulley Ridge, Florida Middle Ground, Panama City Beach, American Samoa, Papua New Guinea, and the Maldives. David has been awarded 65 grants totaling over $9M from National Science Foundation (NSF), Office of Naval Research (ONR), National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the United States Geological Survey (USGS). He has published 56 articles and eight book chapters (all peer-reviewed). He has served on 97 international, national, and local oceanographic cruises most as chief scientist or co-chief scientist. David received an Editor’s Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for the Journal of Geophysical Research (Solid Earth) in 2000 and the ARCS STEM Collaborative Award: Gulf Oil Spill First Responders in 2013. He has served as Associate Editor for the Journal of Geophysical Research, Marine Geophysical Researches, and the European Geophysical Union Solid Earth Online Journal. He also served for several International Ocean Science Drilling Programs (ODP and IODP) as a member of the United States Scientific Advisory Committee and the International Science Site Survey Committees and well as the NSF Ridge 2000 Steering Committee and numerous NSF Panels.