Nominations are open for the Doherty Professorship in Ocean Utilization. Nontenured MIT faculty members from any department are eligible.
Endowed by the Henry L. and Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation, the two-year chair opens the way for nontenured professors to undertake marine-related research that will promote innovative uses of the ocean's resources. There are no restrictions on the area of research; any aspect of marine use and/or management may be addressed, whether social, political, environmental, economic or technical.
Those appointed to the chair receive $25,000 per year for two years, beginning July 1, 2002. Incumbent chair holder Bernhardt Trout, assistant professor in chemical engineering, was awarded a Doherty to study the formation and dissolution of hydrates--ice-like materials--in the ocean. The other incumbent, Assistant Professor Julian Sachs of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences, received a Doherty for his proposal to analyze ocean bottom sediments to reconstruct past episodes of abrupt climate change and determine their cause.
Department heads may submit one nomination every year. The deadline for applications is November 1. Final selection will be made by a committee that includes the vice president and dean for research, the dean of engineering, the dean of science, the chairman of the Sea Grant Committee and the director of the MIT Sea Grant College Program, following a review and recommendation from the full Sea Grant Committee. The vice president and dean for research will announce the new Doherty Professor in early 2002.
While serving as the Doherty Assistant or Associate Professor of Ocean Utilization, the incumbent cannot hold another MIT-funded chair.
Anyone wishing to be nominated should contact his or her department head for procedures and selection criteria. For more information, contact ReRe Quinn, Room E38-300, x3-9305, rere@mit.edu, or go here.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on September 26, 2001.
