Mr. Blidberg received his BSEE degree in 1972 and became involved in ocean systems development. He began his career in industry where he developed underwater acoustic systems. He was also involved in a number of unique applications of that technology in the polar regions and acted as party chief for many survey operations in the Arctic and Antarctic areas. In 1976 he returned to the University of New Hampshire to start the Marine Systems Engineering Laboratory (MSEL) with Robert W. Corell. He was associate director of the laboratory and focused his research on intelligent systems technology for undersea applications. The current EAVE AUV system architecture concept resulted from that interest. He is now the Director of Marine Systems Engineering Laboratory at the Autonomous Undersea Systems Institute. His research interest continues to focus on the development of architectures for intelligent control.

Mr. Blidberg's professional activities in the national and international communities have been numerous. He has served on a number of committees and participated in various programs focused on undersea systems technology. He has chaired many sessions at conferences and meetings as well as organizing a series of international symposia on "Unmanned Untethered Submersible Technology", the 9th of which was held in September 1995. He has been guest editor for various journals and magazines and is currently the associate editor for the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering. He has served on the board of directors for the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems (AUVS) and the Autonomous Undersea Systems Institute. He is a current member of the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society and the Marine Technology Society. Previously he participated in a number of member activities with the ACM, AAAS, and SNAME professional societies. He has been an invited lecturer and visiting scientist in Sweden and Portugal. He has been invited to present papers for a number of conferences nationally and internationally. He has published over 40 papers and many technical reports for journals, conferences, and committees and consulted for a number of companies on AUV technology development.