Reed Intermediate School students glimpsed a portion of the world that is far from their classroom on Friday, February 17, through the eyes of Robert Ballard - director of the Center for Ocean Exploration, president of the Ocean Exploration Trust, and a National Geographic explorer-in-residence, according to the website for his most recent endeavor, NautilusLive, a nonprofit organization.Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, Dr Ballard said his parents brought him to view a submarine, but it did not live up to his expectations of the fictional Captain Nemo's Nautilus.nautiluslive.orgWith the purpose of discovery in mind, Dr Ballard said he decided to build a program for people to go where no one has been. Dr Ballard described his work with the Ocean Exploration Trust and

Dr Ballard's grandson, Blake Ballard, is a member of Jessica O'Connell and Carrie Usher's fifth grade cluster. The entire cluster gathered to listen as Dr Ballard described how his interest in the ocean floor began when he was young and led him to explore the deep sea, eventually discovering ocean features and wrecks, like the Titanic. He shared pictures from some of his findings and pictures of the technology he has used to explore.

Dr Ballard's parents encouraged his interest from a young age, he shared. After he read author Jules Verne's

"You must follow your passion," said Dr Ballard, before telling stories of his experiences with the Army, Navy, and his studies. Later he said, "My passion was to get to the bottom alive."

Over his career, Dr Ballard said he has worked in a number of different submarines. He shared pictures of some, including one named Alvin. Once, he told the students, a swordfish tried to go in Alvin's window, but the fish only succeeded in getting stuck. The researchers had to resurface to move it, as the fish was blocking the researchers' observation.

"I've got a job to go where no one has gone before on planet Earth," said Dr Ballard.

Nearly every time he goes down to the ocean's depths he sees a fish no one else has seen before, he said.

Pulling up images in a slideshow, Dr Ballard told the students he wanted to give them a sense of the world, so he shared images of features under the ocean compared to more familiar images from the land above. He showed pictures of Mount Everest and the Grand Canyon dwarfed when compared to features under the ocean.

"Your generation will explore more of the Earth than any previous generation," said Dr Ballard, adding, "that is, if you do your homework."

Next Dr Ballard spoke to the students about the mid-ocean ridge, which he said covers 23 percent of the Earth's total surface area. Humans, he countered, did not explore the mid-ocean ridge until after an astronaut hit a golf ball on the moon. He spoke about plate tectonics, and shared images from expeditions to explore the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Ridge.

Dr Ballard also shared a picture of extremophiles discovered during one expedition, and other "cool creatures."

Eventually Dr Ballard said his attention turned toward human history.

"What I wanted to be able to do was I wanted to build a technology that was able to use robots," said Dr Ballard. Until then, as Dr Ballard described to the students, expeditions meant hours in extremely close quarters. He compared a 12-hour round trip to "going up and down an elevator." So, he said, he built Argo, a submersible with a transmitting camera. Argo was used to discover the Titanic.

Going where the body cannot go, Dr Ballard said, will be something the students' generation will expand on, thanks to advancing technology. The United States government, Dr Ballard said, estimates there are three million wrecks in the ocean. Dr Ballard admitted he has found more wrecks than anyone, and he has only found "a couple hundred."

, which broadcasts expeditions online and uses technology to enhance the number of experts available for input. The next expedition, he said, is being planned for May. While the expeditions are broadcast online, Dr Ballard said educational opportunities are also made available through NautilusLive, a nonprofit organization.