Thomas Beavers received a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from the University of Florida. Since then he has worked as a programmer for corporate clients. He currently works in the marketing field developing interfaces and background processes that help support clients’ marketing efforts. Thomas grew up around sailboats and began racing at the age of 9 in the Miami area.
Geoff Sutcliffe is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Miami. He received a BSc(Hons) and MSc from the University of Natal in South Africa, and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Western Australia. His interests in computing include Artificial Intelligence, Mobile Computing, and Distributed Reasoning Systems. Outside of his academic life, Geoff owns a 1973 Bristol 30', and is an active sailor on Biscayne Bay just south of Miami. He also crews (mainly on the foredeck) on various boats in both short and longer races. He was Commodore of the Coconut Grove Sailing Club from 2018-2019.
Chris Branning is has amassed more than 60,000 nm navigating offshore sailing races including the TransPacific, TransAtlantic, and Rolex Fastnet races. His podium finishes include winning the Middle Sea Race, Hong Kong-Vietnam, Barn Door for the TransPacific Race and the elapsed time record for the Pacific Cup. He was the navigator for Morning Light and All American Ocean Racing and twice recruited for the Volvo Ocean Race, and has had a long time passion for meteorology. He currently lives in Miami, FL.
Dr. Ubbo Visser is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Miami. He received his PhD in Geoinformatics from University of Münster in 1995, and his MSc in Landscape-Ecology from University of Münster in 1988. He invents and develops technologies in several domains including "autonomous robotic systems" where robots (also software agents) act and react in highly dynamic, uncertain, adversarial, and real-time environments. He has published over 100 articles in journals, magazines, conference proceedings and workshops and won several awards for research and development of innovative AI software. Ubbo comes from a sailing family and learned to sail at an early age, and is also a co-founder of pioneering software companies.