John Potter

Dr. Potter has a joint honours Mathematics and Physics Degree from Bristol University (1979) and a PhD in Glaciology and Oceanography from Cambridge, UK (1985) based on research into the ice mass balance of the Antarctic, where he spent four consecutive summers, and was awarded the Polar Medal by Queen Elizabeth II. Dr. Potter worked at the NATO Undersea Research Centre 1986-1991, then he sailed across the Atlantic, through the Panama canal and up to San Diego where he worked at Scripps Institution of Oceanography on Ambient Noise Imaging and marine mammal acoustics. He built the first ambient noise video camera, culminating in an ASA award for best scientific paper for a Scientific American article. SIO is also where his interest in the impact of noise on marine mammals was born, supporting the Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate (ATOC) project. In 1996 Dr. Potter sailed across the Pacific and on to Singapore where he founded the Acoustic Research Laboratory (ARL). Dr. Potter headed the ARL and was an Associate Director of the Tropical Marine Science Institute for 12 years. In 2004-2005 he took a year ‘sabbatical’ with his family to circumnavigate the Indian Ocean by sailboat on a sponsored expedition of marine environmental research, public outreach and education, in support of improving awareness and our stewardship of the oceans and our planet. In 2007 Dr. Potter returned to Italy as a consultant and in 2009 took up a full-time post at NATO STO CMRE, managing the project on communications and networking. In 2014 Dr. Potter was reassigned as Principal Strategic Development Officer for CMRE. Dr. Potter is a Senior Member of the IEEE, an Associate Editor for the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer and an International Fellow of the Explorer’s Club, among other things. It is no longer true that he neither owns nor operates a television.