Kate Thompson

Kate Thompson is the education specialist and dive operations coordinator for the Alligator Project.  She has been working for the National Marine Sanctuary Program as an education liason since April of 2004.  Prior to moving to work at headquarters in Silver Spring, MD, Kate was the Education Coordinator for the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve a sanctuary designated specific to the protection of over 100 shipwrecks in the cold waters of Lake Huron, Michigan.  While at Thunder Bay, Kate was involved in many expeditions in parthership with the Dr.  Robert Ballard's Institute for Exploration and many other groups to document and explore known and unknown shipwrecks.

She  is  a  National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration  Working  Diver  and a certified underwater archaeologist which enables her to bring the experiences of  diving and documenting shipwrecks into the classroom. She  has worked with teachers and students a like in bringing the  preservation ethic to the education world.  She received her Master's of Science degree in Park, Recreation Tourism Management with a specialization in Cultural Resource Management from Michigan State University.  While persuing her Master's she also studied abroad in a Coastal Resource Management Program in Anguilla British West Indies.  Kate received her Bachelor of Arts degree in History at Lake Superior State University, and is a native of the sweetwater seas of Michigan.