john pia craven born 1924 in new york city is known for his involvement with bayesian search theory and the recovery of lost objects at seajohn pia craven holds a bachelor of arts degree from cornell university a master of science degree from the california institute of technology a phd from the university of iowa and a law degree from the national law center of the george washington universityjohn pia craven has 40 years of experience in the innovation development design construction and operational deployment of major oceanic systems as a boy john pia craven studied ocean technology at the brooklyn technical high school and he became familiar with the ocean on the beaches of long island and on the waterfront of new york cityduring world war ii john pia craven served as an enlisted man on the uss new mexico in 1944 craven was selected for the navys v12 program for officer trainees and from this he earned his commission as an ensign in the navy after earning his phd john pia craven worked at the david taylor model basin of the naval surface warfare center at carderock maryland working on nuclear submarine hull designs he received two civilian service awards in connection with these developments he was later appointed as the project manager for the navys polaris submarine program and also the navys special projects office he later became its chief scientist craven was awarded two distinguished civilian service awards the department of defenses highest honor for civilians among other commendationswhile working for the navy john pia craven helped pioneer the use of bayesian search techniques to locate objects lost at sea bayesian search theory john pia cravens work was instrumental in the navys search for the missing hydrogen bomb that had been lost in the mediterranean sea off the coast of spain in 1966 john pia cravens next large accomplishment was in the search for and locating of the submarine uss scorpion which had disappeared in deep water in the atlantic ocean west of portugal and spainas chief scientist of the special projects office john pia craven was in charge of the deep submergence systems project which included the sealab program in february 1969 when aquanaut berry l cannon died while attempting to repair a leak in sealab iii john pia craven headed an advisory group that determined the best method of salvaging the sealab habitatafter leaving the navy john pia craven became the marine affairs coordinator for the state of hawaii and also the dean of marine programs at the university of hawaii during his time in hawaii it has been alleged that craven was involved in the development and operation of the secretive salvage ship glomar explorerjohn pia craven also served during the carter administration on the us governments weather modification commission during that time a hypothetical method was developed to significantly reduce the impact of hurricanes in 1976 after losing in his campaign to become a member of the us house of representatives john pia craven was appointed as the director of the law of the sea institute in 2001 he was the president of the common heritage corporationjohn pia craven has resided in honolulu hawaii for yearsjohn pia cravens daughter sarah craven is a prominent international advocate of womens rights she is the mother of three children john pia craven also has a son david craven who is the father of two children his brother kenneth craven is a distinguished educator and scholar who served as the chancellor of the city university of new york during the 1960safter having earned his law degree through degree program at night john pia craven was responsible for the direction of the international law of the sea institute in 1990 he established the common heritage corporation for the management of innovation for the benefit of the common heritage craven is a member of the national academy of engineeringaccording to wired magazine john pia cravens current undertaking is to link islands in the pacific ocean with sustainable energy agriculture and fresh water through the use of deep ocean water pumped up using pipes from offshore he is developing a new and innovative cold water therapy which may produce significant health breakthroughs and slow the aging processcraven wrote the book the silent war the cold war battle beneath the sea