Employees

John W. Lavrakas – PresidentPhoto of John

Mr. Lavrakas is a leading authority in the field of Global Positioning System technology and an expert in marine science technology, including fishery information systems and wave energy. In 2011 he was selected as Oregon’s Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration. In 2010 he prepared an infrastructure assessment for the Oregon Wave Energy Trust on Oregon’s capability to support the wave energy industry. He has spoken at numerous national and international conferences, published articles, and served as an expert consultant to corporations, law firms, and trade periodicals. His thirty-five year career in software and systems engineering in the aerospace and ocean science industry includes thirty years in GPS, in which he provided engineering support in the development and maintenance of the GPS Control Segment in Colorado, activation and operation of the GPS Operations Center, development and marketing of the StarWatch Asset Location System integrating GPS with terrestrial and satellite communication technology. Mr. Lavrakas is a past president and fellow of the Institute of Navigation and is cofounder and chair of the Lincoln County Technology Solutions Alliance.  He serves as co-chair of the Yaquina Bay Ocean Observing Initiative, which seeks to establish Newport as a hub for ocean observing in the Pacific Northwest. His bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics are from Harvey Mudd College and Claremont Graduate University, respectively.
Contact: jlavrakas @ oregonarc.com


William J. Black – Engineer/Analyst 

 

 

Mr. Black specializes in both mathematics and oceanography, having earned a B.S. in Mathematics from Oregon State University and a Master’s degree in pure mathematics from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He also has a Master of Science degree in Marine Science from UC Santa Barbara with an emphasis on Physical Oceanography. His project involvements have included time-series analysis, geophysical fluid dynamics, ocean-optics, remote sensing analysis, and atmospheric science. His master’s thesis focused on upper-ocean physical and biological responses to open ocean hurricanes. After graduating, Mr. Black entered an industrial manufacturing setting as a Production Control Scheduler, developing scripts in Excel and FileMaker Pro. He has over five years experience programming in Matlab covering a wide range  of applications including data processing, Fourier and wavelet time-series analysis, data visualization and animation, numeric modeling, and map-making. Having grown up in Oregon, he has also taught mathematics at Oregon Coast Community College.

Terri Lippert- Engineer/Analyst

Terri Lippert has a strong background as Development Analyst, System Integration Engineer, and Project Manager.  She excels in the areas of testing documentation, research and development, and analysis of data.  She obtained her Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Information Systems at the University of Phoenix and has a wide range of programming skills, including C, C++, Java, and Oracle.  Ms. Lippert has managed all aspects of software development, working on up to 15 projects in a month involving hundreds of engineers.  Her love of the Pacific brought her from Colorado to the Oregon coast where she now lives in a house overlooking the ocean with her husband and two children.

Wendy Moidel – Administrative Assistant

 

Wendy Moidel supports our market research, human resources, accounting, and office management operations. Prior to joining Advanced Research she worked as an office coordinator for the American Red Cross and as Program Coordinator and administrative assistant for the Lincoln Commission on Children and Families.