I am pleased to announce that Dr. John
Proni will join the FIU community as the new Executive
Director of the Applied Research Center (ARC) on January
5, 2009. In his role as Executive Director, Dr.
Proni will be in charge of developing new opportunities
within the existing areas of ARC (Environmental Management,
Energy, Business Services and Military programs), as
well as in new areas such as interactions with our new
College of Medicine and our College of Arts & Sciences.
Dr. Proni obtained his Ph.D. from North
Carolina State University in Physics in 1970. He joined
the Bell Telephone Laboratories after graduation and
remained there for three years, carrying out research
in ocean acoustics. In 1972, he joined the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as a principal
investigator at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological
Laboratory (AOML) in Miami. There, he carried out research
in energy production, satellite observations of oceanic
features and the use of acoustics in pollution studies.
He served as the Director of the Ocean Acoustics Laboratory.
In 2006, he became the Director of the Ocean Chemistry
Division and has served in that capacity since. He has
been the leader of many research programs sponsored by
federal agencies such as the US EPA, the US Army Corps
of Engineers, the US Navy, DARPA and by local water and
sewer utilities.
Dr. Proni has written numerous scientific
papers and reports as well as made presentations at many
scientific meetings. He received the “Distinguished
Authorship Award” from the United States Department
of Commerce twice for his work on satellite and acoustical
observations. He received a US Department of Commerce
Bronze Medal for his role in studies of coral reefs.
In addition, Dr. Proni has served on the
External Advisory Board to ARC for over five years. He
has also served as a scientific advisor to several federal
and non-federal agencies and serves as the ocean and
atmospheric research line office scientific representative
to the NOAA committee on ocean energy.
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Proni to
FIU and wishing him success in his new role.
George E. Walker,
Senior Vice President for Research Development and Graduate
Education
Dean of the University Graduate School
