Florida Veteran Breaks Record for Time Living Underwater
As of May 12, associate professor Dr. Joseph Dituri of the University of South Florida has broken the world record for days spent living underwater. The previous record was 73 days, and Dituri plans to reach 100 before touching the surface again. Dituri spent 23 years of his career in the Navy, after which retiring as a Commander and obtained his B.S. in Computer Science and Masters Degree in Astronautical Engineering. Now with his doctorate in Biomedical Engineering, Dituri’s latest adventure takes place at 30 feet below the surface at the Jules Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Florida. Project Neptune 100, the mission making all of this possible, hopes to become “a long-term study of the physiological and psychological effects of compression on the human body.” Dituri has his own hypothesis on how the pressure will affect him, “This study will examine every way this journey impacts my body, but my null hypothesis is that there will be improvements to my health due to the increased pressure.” A big part of Dituri’s research is helping his fellow veterans with traumatic brain injuries.
Though he is pioneering marine science and the biomedical engineering field by offering his own body for scientific innovation, he misses the things we tend to take for granted. “The thing that I miss the most about being on the surface is literally the sun,” says Dituri. Being the only person in the resort for almost eighty days, the loneliness has also set in. He texts and Zoom calls with his mother, girlfriend, and daughters, but still misses seeing them in person. “‘My daughter’s in Caltech, graduates with a degree in physics in May. I’ll miss that.’” Dituri says. All the same, the sacrifices Dr. Dituri has made in the name of discovery and innovation is commendable, his title of “Academia’s Aquaman” and his self-proclaimed moniker of “Dr. Deep Sea” is well-earned, and Dr. Dituri will be in scientific journals relating to fields from biomedical engineering to space engineering from now until the very far future.
By: Danielle Reynolds
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