Quonset Company Spotlight: Global Foundation
for Ocean Exploration
The Titanic and the Civil War-era U.S.S. Monitor are just two of the landmarks that engineers from the Quonset-based Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration has surveyed.
GFOE studies the ocean floor using a 6,000-meter Remotely Operated Vehicle, or ROV. Deep ocean exploration from anywhere in the world can be viewed by Rhode Islanders in near real time on GFOE’s website.
President Dave Lovalvo said they have documentarians who have turned their footage into films that have been viewed by people all over the world, including former President Barack Obama.
“[The ROV] films the seabed and collects biological and geological samples at the bottom of the ocean. All of the data that is collected is archived at the Smithsonian Institution,” said Lovalvo.
“Our location at the Quonset Business Park is fantastic,” Vice President Melissa Ryan said. “Quonset has made it easy for us to focus on our mission. There’s a real benefit to being surrounded by other folks in the ocean community with complementary businesses.”
For a deeper dive, head to