12-year-old student finds a Titanic mentor

When you want to find out about a profession, sometimes it's best to go straight to the expert.

It was 1985 when underwater explorer Robert Ballard made his discovery of the Titanic shipwreck and Kris Ludwig was growing up in Colorado.

Four years later, a 12-year-old Ludwig wrote a letter to Ballard, seeking information about becoming an oceanographer.

To her surprise, he replied.

It was the start of a lifelong mentorship and, eventually, a friendship.

Ballard remembers it was Ludwig's enthusiasm and passion to follow the same career path he had followed that prompted him to answer her questions.

"Children do what they think their parents or teachers want them to do," he said, "but it's the passion that comes through."

Besides writing back, Ludwig said, it was nice that Ballard took her seriously and advised her to get good grades in math and science and to study oceanography in graduate school.

"I took his advice," she said, "and it's been a fun road."

On Tuesday morning, Ludwig introduced her friend during a student presentation at Benaroya Hall. Ballard was in Seattle this week as part of the "National Geographic Live!" speaker series. Ludwig is a graduate student in oceanography at the University of Washington.

Ludwig, 31, told the audience of more than 1,400 middle school students about writing Ballard and asking him if she could join his next expedition.

"He did tell me that I had to wait until I was older to go with him on an expedition," she said, "but he didn't say no."

So she waited, and in 1993, she joined Ballard and his crew on an expedition to study undersea hydrothermal vents in the Guaymas Basin off Baja California as part of her participation in the JASON Project, a nonprofit subsidiary of the National Geographic Society.

The JASON Project connects young students with explorers to inspire and motivate them to learn science. Named for the mythological Greek explorer, it was established by Ballard in 1989.

Ludwig's association with Ballard did not end in 1993. She also has worked as a host researcher on JASON broadcasts in Alaska and Channel Islands National Park in California. In 2005, she was a scientific researcher broadcasting from Ballard's Aegean Sea expedition to study hydrothermal vents.

"It was nice to sort of come full circle," she said, "from being a student to being co-host on the broadcast and turning around being a role model to the students who were participating."

Earlier this month, Ludwig defended her dissertation about deep-sea hydrothermal vents to complete her doctoral program at the UW.

"She went from Kristen to Kris," Ballard said, "and now to Dr. Ludwig."

Ballard understands the importance of respecting children when they reach out for career advice.

When he was in high school, he said, he wrote to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and one of the scientists there answered his letter.

He was 17 when he received a scholarship to participate in a summer program at Scripps.

"It changed my life, and I felt like I had to return the favor," said Ballard, who now directs the Institute for Archaeological Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island.

Along with happy memories of working with Ballard, Ludwig remembers he would conclude presentations to school groups and end his letters with the words, "Study hard."

"Thankfully," Ludwig said, "he doesn't do that to me anymore."

COMING UP

Future speakers for the spring season of "National Geographic Live!" are herpetologist and TV personality Brady Barr (March 31, April 1), National Geographic executive editor Dennis Dimick (April 20, 21) and photographer Annie Griffiths Belt (May 11,12). Ticket information: seattlesymphony.org.