Center for Underwater Science

Email:

wjfritz@iu.edu

Biography

Wyatt Fritz is a Master’s student at Indiana University, currently studying under a Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship for Haitian Creole with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS). He graduated from Indiana University in May 2023 with degrees in Media (Film Production) and Underwater Archaeology. Wyatt is a sixth-year research associate with Indiana University’s Center for Underwater Science. He also teaches underwater videography and is a PADI Openwater Scuba Instructor with the University's Academic Diving Program. As a documentary-filmmaker and ethnographer, his research interests include French-Creole culture in the Americas and the effect of tourism on maritime communities in the Greater Antilles.

Diving Experience 

SCUBA Certifications: Open Water (SDI), Advanced (PADI), Rescue (PADI), Emergency Oxygen Provider (DAN), Basic Life Support - CPR&AED (DAN), Hazardous Marine Life (DAN), Neurological Assessment (DAN), Underwater Videographer (PADI), Enriched Air (PADI), Dry Suit Diver (PADI), Divemaster (PADI), Emergency First Response Instructor (EFR), Instructor (PADI)

Wyatt has 11 years of dive experience, totaling 180 dives (113 hours underwater), predominantly in the Dominican Republic and local freshwater quarries. He has training in submerged archaeological data collection and scientific diving (totaling 59 hours of scientific dives) and has done seasonal work as a dive guide in Bayahibe, the Dominican Republic.

Current Research

Wyatt is the Center for Underwater Science’s lead videographer and is responsible for the archival digitization of the Center’s physical media as well as the Center’s YouTube channel. His research currently focuses on oral histories, mixed media archival editing, and documenting the effects of archaeological surveys, salvage, and tourism on East End, Grand Cayman's maritime landscape.