After undergraduate work at Reed College, Dave received a master’s degree from Oxford University in Aegean and underwater archeology and then followed this with another Masters and then a Ph.D. in anthropology and archeology from Brown University.  While at Brown Dave began volunteering with the National Park Service Submerged Resources Units beginning in 1993 assisting with the extensive field seasons at Dry Tortugas National Park.  From 1993-1996 Dave split his summers between the Dry Tortugas and Greece where he was doing his Ph.D. research on Mycenaean Bronze Age maritime trade.  From 1997-1999 Dave lived in Greece and finished his Ph.D. dissertation. 

Following graduation from Brown University, Dave took a job as an underwater archeologist with the National Park Service but was detailed to the United States Navy as their Chief Field Archaeologist.  While with the Navy he helped plan and execute the recovery of the world’s first successful combat submarine, the Confederate submersible H.L. Hunley-lost off Charleston South Carolina in 1864. 

Following the Hunley project Dave moved to Santa Fe to join the National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Center and continue diving on shipwrecks around the country and around the world.  As an NPS diver, Dave has trained on and used many different types of diving equipment including scuba, open circuit mixed gas, closed circuit rebreathers, and commercial surface-supplied diving equipment.  Dave has completed several thousand scientific dives around the world at depths of up to 240 feet.   

In 2009 after the SRC moved from Santa Fe to Denver he assumed the position of Chief of the Center. Recent projects include documentation of RMS Titanic in 2012, work in South Africa and Mozambique, collaborative work in Peru, Colombia, Panama and Canada, as well as collaborative work with NOAA, BOEM, BSEE and numerous state and local agencies.  Dave is on the Board of Directors for the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology, The National Park Service’s National Dive Control Board, and is the archeological representative to both the National Ocean Council and President Obama’s National Ocean Plan; he is also one of the original members of the Slave Wrecks Project.  He lives in Boulder with his wife Michelle and their dog Luc. 

The Grandmaster Fiction Writers Roundtable

The Grandmaster Fiction Writers Roundtable is something that the CCCS experimented with at the 2006 convention with some success.

The roundtable is designed to be an informal critique and discussion group. Space at the convention location will be provided for this continuing event. All levels of writers interested in the adventure genre are welcome and a limited number of participates will be accepted.

Prior to the convention, participants will submit a chapter or short story (adventure-related genre) and will be given copies of each others work beforehand. The roundtable will begin with the moderator determining the time available for the critique and discussion process of each chapter/story. Each writer will be asked to give a very brief overview of his/her submitte

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