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At a glance

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Michael Girard is an explorer, writer, and public speaker whose work investigates caves, flooded mines, and overlooked historical places. He combines field observation, archival research, and underwater robotics, then brings audiences into the search through books, articles, films, and talks.

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Biographical background

Three ways to introduce Michael.

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Short · about 50 words

Michael Girard is an explorer, writer, and public speaker whose fieldwork investigates caves, flooded mines, and overlooked historical places. Combining archival research with underwater robotics, he contributes to scientific and historical inquiry, then brings readers and audiences into the process of discovery through books, articles, films, and illustrated talks.

Medium · about 100 words

Michael Girard is an explorer, writer, and public speaker drawn to places where geology and history leave questions unfinished. His work in caves, flooded mines, and historical landscapes combines field observation, archival records, and remotely operated underwater vehicles. In Mexico's Sistema Calera, he has helped investigate a cave system with Late Pleistocene fossil evidence; closer to home, he follows old accounts into overlooked caves and mine workings. Girard writes and speaks about both the evidence and the journey of finding it. His Sistema Calera fieldwork and ROV Robo-Teddy feature in The Crypt of the Megafauna, written by Luis and Jordi Espinasa.

Extended · about 220 words

Michael Girard is an explorer, writer, and public speaker who follows scientific and historical questions into caves, flooded mines, and places that have slipped from common memory. A nineteenth-century map, an old field report, a change in the rock, or an opening below the waterline can begin an investigation. From there, the work may mean comparing archival accounts, returning to a site with collaborators, or using a remotely operated underwater vehicle to bring back images from passages beyond ordinary access.

Girard's fieldwork includes investigations of Sistema Calera in Mexico, where cave passages hold Late Pleistocene fossil evidence, as well as caves and historic mines in the northeastern United States. He treats what the camera can show, what the historical record says, and what remains an interpretation as distinct parts of the story. His collaborators include documentary filmmaker Mike Sandone, whose films have brought several of these expeditions to wider audiences.

Girard and his ROV Robo-Teddy are featured in The Crypt of the Megafauna, written by Luis and Jordi Espinasa. Girard is a member of The Explorers Club, the National Speleological Society, and the American Spelean History Association. Through writing, films, and public speaking, he invites audiences to experience the search as it unfolded: the preparation, the surprises, the evidence, and the questions still open at the end.

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Portraits and fieldwork.

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Michael Girard seated at The Explorers Club
portraitPortrait · The Explorers ClubMichael Girard at The Explorers Club, New York, 2026.
Photo: Michael Girard
Michael Girard in a helmet and field gear underground
portraitPortrait · In the fieldMichael Girard underground during fieldwork.
Photo: Michael Girard
Michael Girard examining a fossil skull in a cave
fieldSistema Calera · Fossil contextField investigation of fossil evidence in Sistema Calera, Mexico.
Photo: Mike Sandone
Michael Girard working with an underwater ROV at a cave sump
fieldSchoharie · ROV deploymentPreparing an underwater ROV at the Schoharie Cavern sump, New York.
Photo: Mike Sandone
Michael Girard and a teammate operating an underwater ROV at Lake Luis
fieldLake Luis · Field collaborationROV fieldwork at Lake Luis, Sistema Calera.
Photo: Mike Sandone
Michael Girard climbing out of Sunk Mine with equipment
fieldSunk Mine · Return to daylightLeaving Sunk Mine after an underwater exploration run.
Photo: Mike Sandone

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