Dr. Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm, currently Associate Professor for FIU’s College of Engineering and Computing will now join ARC as Interim Director of Research. Miralles comes to ARC with 15 years of experience in academia and industry with particular emphasis in technical, managerial and business development.  Prior to joining FIU as a tenured Associate Professor in 2005, he served as a member of the faculty at the University of Miami and Northeastern University. Over the past five years, he has been successful as Principal Investigator on extramural funds in excess of $5 million from the National Science Foundation, the National Park Service, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). He has served as advisor in water and environmental matters to the US Congress, governmental agencies and private corporations around the world. Dr. Miralles holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a Masters degree from the University of California, Irvine and a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Universidad Simon Bolivar, Venezuela.

Dr. Norman Munroe, Associate Professor, College of Engineering and Computing, has now been named Associate Director for ARC’s Fossil and Renewable Energy Division. He also served as the Associate Dean as well as the Chairman of the Mechanical Engineering and Materials Department for the past six years. Dr. Munroe received his Doctorate of Engineering Science, Process Engineering, and Chemical Metallurgy from Columbia University, his Masters of Science in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of British Columbia, a Masters of Philosophy in Ceramic and Mineral Engineering from the University of Leeds. He also earned his Bachelors in Science with Honors in Physics and Chemistry at the University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.

Dr. Rajiv Srivastava, ARC Program Manager as Associate Director, Environmental Remediation Division. Since coming to FIU in 1998, Dr. Srivastava has directed over $15 million in applied R&D projects funded by DOE, NASA, DoD, FAA, South Florida Water Management District, Florida Institute of Phosphate Research, Weston Solutions, Inc., CH2M Hill, Inc., and others. His previous research focused on modeling of photocatalytic waste destruction, fluropolymer degradation, and development of Halon replacement fire extinguishers. His research expertise includes high-level nuclear waste processing, non-newtonian rheology, gasification, water sampling and characterization.

Dr. David Roelant, ARC Program Manager, has now been named Associate Director for the Defense Technologies Division. Dave has been at FIU since 1999.  His 29 years of research and development experience includes the the Naval Research Laboratory, the University of Michigan, H.M. Technologies, and DOE and DoD contractors.  Dave has managed over $120 million of research and has ongoing research projects with the Navy, Army, Missile Defense Agency, Air Force, FAA, and DOE. He is a member of DOE and DOD technology expert panel. His primary applied research areas include: characterization, monitoring, sensors, sampling, and imaging technologies. He has developed solutions in this area which have been used in defense, environment, biomedical, and energy applications. His other areas of expertise include: environmental remediation, nuclear radiation, geophysics, sensor network theory, radioactive waste treatment and disposal, plasma physics, autonomous unmanned vehicles, and transport theory.   

Rob Rose, ARC Senior Program Manager, will now serve as Associate Director for the Waste Management Division. Prior to this, he gained four years experience leading the EES division at the Hemispheric Center for Environmental Technology (HCET.) As head of EES, he managed and directed a multidisciplinary organization consisting of 35 professional scientists and engineers. He focused on the development, demonstration, integration and deployment of improved technologies for environmental remediation of contaminated sites. In addition, he also worked on multiple environmental technology projects as well as development of programmatic strategic plans. He has been an FIU employee since 1998.

Dr. Walter Tang, Associate Professor, College of Engineering and Computing, will serve as Associate Director for ARC’s Water Resources Division. Dr. Tang received his Bachelor of Science, two Masters and Ph.D. degrees in environmental engineering with specialty in water and wastewater treatment processes and technologies. He has conducted extensive research in; water treatment, chemistry, toxicity, assessment, remediation, and economics. He served as the principal investigator for 14 research projects supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation.  He published 24 peer-reviewed papers and 41 conference papers, authored one book, co-authored one book, and contributed one chapter to a book.  He is a referee for 12 journals and served as a proposal reviewer for the NSF and the National Research Council.  He organized and presided over 11 sessions at various national and international conferences and was the invited speaker at nine different Universities including the University of Tokyo.  He supervised three post doctors, three visiting professors, and 35 graduate students in environmental engineering.  He received FIU’s Faculty Research Award in 1997, Faculty Teaching Award in 1998, and Chi Epson Teacher of the Year Award in 1998.

As part of this realignment, it was also announced that Dr. George Philippidis, who has led the Research Technology Division at HCET for the past 3 years, has been appointed as Associate Director of Research Development at ARC. In this role, Dr. Philippidis will focus on identifying new grant opportunities, organizing and managing the grant proposal process, and maintaining and developing key client relationships with the federal and private sectors. Dr. Philippidis has 16 years of experience in leading strategic business units in both the private and public sector.  In 1989 he joined DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Denver, where he directed biotechnology development and led a $29 million Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between the Department of Energy and the Amoco Corporation for ethanol fuel production from renewable energy resources.  In 1996 Dr. Philippidis moved to Boston to direct business development at a subsidiary of Thermo Electron Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, where he commercialized new consumer products and helped take the company public on the American Stock Exchange. Dr. Philippidis holds a Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from the University of Denver.  He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed papers and book chapters and holds nine US patents.