Dr. Crisman, the Nautical Archaeology Faculty Fellow, specializes in Western hemisphere seafaring from 1500 to the present.

His related areas of interest are

• ship construction;
• lake, river and canal water craft;
• seafaring communities and shipboard life;
• the maritime history of the Great Lakes;
• Western River Steamboats; and
• historical archaeology.

He has directed or participated in the underwater investigation of numerous wrecks, including sailing merchant craft, naval ships, steamers, and canal boats.

He has completed and published studies of two War of 1812, 20-Gun Brigs and an early-19th century horse-powered ferry boat sunk in Lake Champlain. He is currently directing the excavation of an an 1832 Western River Steamboat in the Red River of Oklahoma.

Dr. Crisman teaches courses in New World seafaring, post-Medieval European seafaring, and rigging and outfitting ships.