Dr. John Proni appointed Executive Director of ARC

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

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