Dr. Lee R. Krumholz, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been awarded the 1993 Doherty Professorship in Ocean Utilization from the MIT Sea Grant College Program.
Every year, the program selects one or two junior faculty members for an award of $25,000 per year for two to three years.
Dr. Krumholz's research interest is in microbial degradation of pollutants. Under the Doherty fellowship, his research will be directed towards developing novel, microbial-based technology for remediation of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and other chemically stable environmental pollutants in marine ecosystems. PCBs are a major, widespread environmental threat-both extremely stable and extremely toxic to fish and to humans who consume contaminated seafood.
The Doherty Professorship, endowed by the Henry L. and Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation, encourages promising, non-tenured professors to undertake marine-related research that will further innovative uses of the ocean's resources. The area of research is unrestricted and any aspect of marine use and/or management may be addressed, whether social, political, environmental or technological.
Professor Robert Fricke of ocean engineering was named Doherty Professor in 1992 in order to further his work on using ocean acoustics to explore the underside of sea ice.
A version of this article appeared in the May 5, 1993 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 37, Number 31).
