LaVerne “Vern” Kulm was the first graduate student of John Byrne. He earned his Ph.D. in Geological Oceanography at Oregon State in 1964. Vern dedicated his oceanographic career to Oregon State University, serving as co-director of the IDOE Nazca Plate Project, co-chief scientist on the Glomar Challenger deep sea drilling leg off Oregon and Alaska in 1971, and leading the research effort on fluid expulsion zones and active faults on the Oregon-Washington continental margin. He retired in 1997.