Jeff Bozanic
Dr. Jeffrey Bozanic has been selected by the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) as the recipient of its Conrad Limbaugh Memorial Award for Scientific Diving Leadership.
The Limbaugh Memorial Award is presented each year to an individual who has made a significant contribution to diving safety and leadership on behalf of the scientific diving community.
Jeff first became qualified as a scientific diver in 1978 at Humboldt State University. He has personally led or participated in more than 70 scientific diving expeditions around the world, which has resulted in the collection of more than 200 new species of animals, gathering important data on dive equipment reliability and effectiveness, exploration and mapping of several underwater cave systems, and development of new procedures for gathering scientific data while using advanced diving equipment and techniques or in extreme environments. The award recognizes that Jeff has selflessly given his time, expertise, and knowledge to the scientific diving community for the past 35 years.
In addition to scientific diving, Jeff is a NAUI scuba instructor. He has staffed or directed over three dozen NAUI ITC’s and served eight years on the NAUI Board of Directors. He has received both NAUI’s Outstanding Service Award and Continuing Service Award, and was inducted into the NAUI Hall of Honor in 2002. Jeff received the NAUI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.
As an author, Jeff has contributed more than 200 articles on dive safety, and has been a featured editor in California Diver Magazine. He’s spoken at many AAUS scientific diving conferences, and has participated as an invited speaker or panelist at workshops for NAUI, DAN, NOAA, NPS, and UHMS.
The Limbaugh Memorial Award is named in honor of Conrad Limbaugh, who was an underwater naturalist and chief diving officer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where he was the head of the diving program. He passed away during a scuba diving accident in the Mediterranean in 1960.
Congratulations, Jeff!