Robert Sarmast is an author and explorer specializing in ancient history, world religions, and comparative mythology. He gave up a promising career in architecture in order to pursue his lifelong passion and the search for lost civilizations. Leaving behind more conventional pursuits, the author read widely and traveled extensively for over a decade in search of facts, sources, and knowledge on a variety of ancient mysteries. After these years of open-ended research, Sarmast narrowed his focus to solving one of the world's greatest riddles: the perennial mystery of Atlantis. His research led him to a small section of the sea floor of the eastern Mediterranean region--a sunken land mass stretching between Cyprus and Syria, and his work with the leading experts in the field resulted in the world's first detailed 3D maps and models of the eastern Mediterranean basin.

The multi-million dollar "Cyprus-Atlantis Project" began shortly after his ground-breaking book, Discovery of Atlantis: the Startling Case for the Island of Cyprus (Origin Press, 2003), became a number one best-selling book in Cyprus and created a global media frenzy. Wanting to realize his aim of discovering Atlantis, Sarmast moved to Cyprus in February of 2004 to form an actual expedition and created a fire-storm of controversy and excitement on the island.

With the financial support of the government of Cyprus, numerous private investors, and some of the top geophysicists in the world, Sarmast organized and executed the world's first and only scientific Atlantis expedition, using the latest sonar technology available for deep sea research.  In 2006, he collaborated with NBC News Productions to produce a two-hour documentary featuring his work on this famed expedition, "Quest for Atlantis: Startling New Secrets," hosted by Natalie Morales. A few months later, in collaboration with the History Channel, he organized and led a second and more challenging Atlantis expedition in the eastern Mediterranean. His expedition became the feature story for the two-hour season premier of "Digging for the Truth," the History Channel's top program. 

The Cyprus/Atlantis Project has been featured on the Discovery Channel, The National Geographic, The History Channel, The New York Times, CNN, BBC World Service, Reuters, FOX News, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, MSNBC, NPR, Coast to Coast AM, Radio Europe, Der Speigel, Al Jazeera, The Sunday Telegraph, The Guardian, and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. 

Robert is also the president and CEO of First Source Enterprises, LLC, which was founded in 2004 to promote more extensive research in the eastern Mediterranean. The forty-one year old author currently splits his time between Los Angeles and Cyprus.