DOHERTY PROFESSORSHIP IN OCEAN UTILIZATION

The purpose of the Doherty Professorship in Ocean Utilization is to provide development opportunities through research support for selected non-tenured MIT faculty members.

The Doherty Professorship was established to encourage young faculty members to apply their expertise to the development of meaningful uses of the seas for the benefit of this country and mankind. We believe the capabilities and enthusiasm of the Institute’s non-tenured faculty members will contribute to solve the problems currently faced in ocean utilization and coastal zone development. Faculty versed in these areas are of particular importance in teaching students that factual knowledge must be coupled with the ability to find workable solutions that are compatible with societal needs.

A grant to MIT from Henry L. and Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation, Inc. has established a fund to support the Henry L. Doherty Professorships in Ocean Utilization.

ELIGIBILITY

Persons interested in an ocean-related issue and holding an MIT assistant professor or non-tenured associate professor appointment in any academic department may be nominated for the Professorship, as long as they do not hold another MIT-funded chair concurrent with the Doherty.

NOMINATION AND SELECTION PROCEDURE

Nomination of a non-tenured faculty member for the Doherty Professorship must be submitted by the head of his/her academic department. Each department may nominate up to two non-tenured faculty members each year.

The nomination is to be in writing and presented in four parts:

a description of the research or study program proposed by the nominee,
an annual budget for each year of support requested,
the professional resume of the nominee, and
an evaluation and endorsement by their department head.

The research program description should include a statement of the program’s objectives, an outline of the planned approach, and an explanation of the need for the proposed research (why it is important). The applicant is to indicate in the research description any current or past funding he or she has had in the area of the proposed research. Even though a faculty member may be well established in one field, the Doherty provides an opportunity to branch into a new area. The nomination, evaluation and endorsement by the department head is the first step in the selection process.

The second step in the selection process is the review of nominations by a committee appointed and chaired by the MIT Sea Grant Program Director. The MIT Sea Grant Director will select four faculty members from among the Institute faculty at large to assist in the final selection of the winning candidate for the Doherty. These faculty members will be recruited on the basis of their broad interests in the marine, environmental, and coastal areas. The Director will summarize the results of their review and recommendations regarding the final award and present these findings to the Provost for final approval.

Selection will be based primarily on the nomination statement, on the relevance of the proposed research to important issues; potential applicability of the results; and the professional benefit to the recipient. It is intended that the Professorship provide seed research support in new and significant marine-related subjects.

SUPPORT PROVIDED

The Doherty Professorship will be awarded for a two-year period effective on July 1 following the appointment. Requests for nominations will be sent to all department heads in the previous fall, and appointments will be made early in the spring term of each year.

Each Professorship will provide funding at the level of $75,000 per year for two years. Overhead is not charged on the funding but salary charges are subject to employee benefits. When used for salary and employee benefits for the academic year, these funds cannot be used by the cognizant department or accounting center. The funds granted may be used for the non-general fund share of the recipient’s salary, and for the following support items: the salary of a research assistant and/or a secretary, domestic travel, and materials and service. Also, foreign travel and research equipment may be supported if specifically identified in the original project outline and approved in the final selection action.

The Professorship will be funded through an account established by the MIT Sea Grant College Program office.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Each Doherty Professor will present a written annual report to the Director of the MIT Sea Grant College Program by 1 August of each year. This report will summarize the work performed, results achieved, publications made and plans for the next year (when applicable). Technical reports and journal articles should be published in cooperation with the MIT Sea Grant Program.

DOHERTY PROFESSORS


YEAR	PROFESSOR	RESEARCH TITLE
2024	Faez Ahmed	Navigating Towards Sustainable Maritime Design: A Generative AI Approach
2024	Brady Weissbourd	New technologies for understanding and controlling marine larval settlement
2024	Aristide Gumyusenge	Developing Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) for Detecting Perfluoroalkyl Substances in Marine Environments
2023	Kaitlyn Becker	Soft robotic design and fabrication for marine biology
2021	Serguei Saavedra	Reverse Engineering to Maintain and Restore Marine Ecosystems
2020	Fadel Adib	Backscatter Positioning for the Subsea Internet-of-Things
2019	Wim van Rees	Design and Control of Soft Underwater Autonomous Vehicles
2018	Andrew Babbin	The Roles of Nitrogen Dynamics in Governing Coral Reef Health
2017	Themistoklis Sapsis	Design of Optimal Experiments for Determining Extreme Event Statistics in Complex Systems
2016	Otto Cordero	Systems Ecology of Particle Attached Microbial Communities
2015	Caroline Uhler	Bayesian Gaussian Graphical Model Selection and Ocean Energy Utilization
2014	Niels Holten-Andersen	Metal-Coordinating Polymers: Using Marine Biological Tricks to Assemble New Functional Materials
2013	Jonathan Runstadler	Influenza Ecology in the Ocean Environment: Environmental Persistence, Viral Adaptation, and Transmission between Seabirds and Marine Mammals
2012	Timothy Lu	Engineering Hybrid Biological-Electrical Systems for Ocean Engineering
2011	Kripa Varanasi	Nanoengineered Surfaces for Hydrate Mitigation in Subsea Oil and Gas Operation
2010	Janelle Thompson	Host-associated microbial communities (microbiome) in corals, their activity in response to environmental stress and to lesions caused by White Plague disease
2009	Pierre Lermusiaux	Adaptive Sampling Using Swarms of Smart Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
2008	Eric J. Alm	Modeling and Harnessing Genetic Diversity in Ocean Bacteria
2008	Franz S. Hover	Autonomous Underwater Intervention in an Unstructured Environment
2007	Roman Stocker	Insights in the Life of a Bacterium: Probing Microbial Processes Using Microfluids
2006	Vladimir Stojanovic	Utilizing the Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output Capacity of Multi-Mode Fiber-Optic Communications Systems
2005	Patrick Doyle	Drag Reduction: Investigating the Relation to Elongational Viscosity and Complex Polymer Molecules
2004	Anette Hosoi	Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Oceanic Particle-laden Flows
2003	Charles Harvey	Dynamics of Coastal Groundwater
2002	Alexandra Techet	Embedded MEMS Based Shear Stress Sensors for Flow Measurement and Control of Marine Vehicle
2001	Julian Sachs	Paleothermometry in Oceanic Sediments to Determine Abrupt Climate Change Mechanisms
2001	Bernhardt Trout	Formation and Dissolution of CH₄-Hydrates and CO₂-Hydrates in the Ocean
2000	Nicholas Makris	Monitoring Natural and Man-made Ambient Noise in Mass. Bay
2000	Martin Polz	Quantitative Ecology of Harmful Microorganisms in Coastal, Marine Environment
1999	Bettina Voelker	Effects of Terrestrial Organic Matter on the Speciation of Cu and Cd in Coastal Waters
1998	John Leonard	Dynamic Underwater Sonar Data Fusion
1997	Paul Laibinis	Reduced Metal Corrosion and Leaching Rates in Oceanic Conditions
1995	Frank Feng	Surfactant Effect on Nonlinear Wave-Wave Interactions
1995	Heidi Nepf	Hydrodynamic Effects of Vegetation in Coastal Regions
1994	Lee Krumholz	Development of Technology to Combat Highly Chlorinated Organic Pollutants
1993	J. Robert Fricke	Underwater Sea-Ice Imagery with an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
1992	Linda Cima	arine Biopolymers for Medical Use: Cell Interaction with Alginate
1992	Harri Kytömaa	Dynamic Resuspension and Settling of Particulate Beds
1991	Henrik Schmidt	Autonomous Vehicle Acoustics
1990	Andrew Whittle	Modeling of Rate Effects in Cohesive Soils
1989	Nicholas M. Patrikalakis	Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing for Marine Systems
1987	S. Shyam Sunder	Fracture Characterization of Ice
1987	Jean-Jacques Slotin	Adaptive Control of Underwater Vehicle-Manipulator Systems
1986	Dale G. Karr	Ice Acoustic Emission Theory/Micro-Mechanical Aspects of Ice Deformation
1985	Triantaphyllos Akylas	Long-period Edge Waves on Natural Beaches
1984	Dick Yue	Second Order Wave Forces
1983	Harold F. Hemond	A Molecular Probe/Field Mass Spectrometer System for Quantification of Sediment Metabolism in Coastal Marshes
1982	Michael Triantafyllou	A New Generation of Underwater Unmanned Tethered Vehicles Carrying Heavy Equipment at Large Depths
1981	Alexander M Klibanov	Enzymatic Removal of Hazardous Pollutants from Industrial Aqueous Effluents
1980	Sallie W. Chisholm	Study of Variability among Individuals in Populations of Micro-algae and its Role in Algal Dominance and Succession
1979	Harilaos Psaraftis	The Design of an Emergency Pollution Response System for Small Oil Spills
1978	Francis Noblesse	Implementation of a New Method for Evaluating the Wave Resistance of a Ship
1978	Alician V. Quinlan	Ecodynamic Analysis of Algal Blooms Fouling Nahant Bay Beaches
1977	Ole S. Madsen	Surf Zone Hydrodynamics
1976	J. Kim Vandiver	Dynamic Analysis of Offshore Structures
1974	Francois M. Morel	The Role of Trace Metals in the New England Red Tide

MIT Sea Grant welcomes MIT Assistant Professor Aristide Gumyusenge from the Department of Material Science and Engineering (DMSE) as 2024 Doherty Professor in Ocean Utilization.

MIT Assistant Professor Aristide Gumyusenge

RESEARCH FOCUS | Developing Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) for Detecting Perfluoroalkyl Substances in Marine Environments

HISTORY

The Doherty Professorship in Ocean Utilization was established through a generous grant from the Henry L. and Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation, Inc. of Darien, Connecticut. The professorship, awarded to promising junior faculty, is a much sought-after prize at MIT. Young scientists embarking upon programs of innovative marine research often have difficulty obtaining funds from traditional sources. The Doherty Professorship provides a one- to two-year stipend to young faculty as they pursue new ideas and gives them the freedom to experiment. It is a formula for success. As noted by Kenneth A. Smith, Gilliland Professor in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering,

“Recipients of the Doherty Professorship have managed to turn ideas into technologies, developing better ways to use the world’s oceans.”

Though ocean utilization is a common theme, the recipients’ research has been varied, ranging from red tide to deep sea cables; from modeling ocean waves to DNA monitoring of coastal contaminants; from the mechanics of ice to the control of autonomous underwater vehicles. Many of these research programs are little more than ideas at their inception, but thanks to this professorship most mature to fully funded programs of marine research.

The Doherty Professorship was established under the direction of Professor Ira Dyer when he was the head of the Department of Ocean Engineering and director of the MIT Sea Grant College Program. MIT has selected MIT Sea Grant to administer the grants for the Doherty awards, in keeping with the vision of the first Sea Grant Director, Alfred Keil, who saw Sea Grant as an interdisciplinary program of ocean research. This philosophy, which has been espoused by subsequent directors, is evident in the design of Sea Grant activities. The Doherty Foundation also helped MIT establish its Sea Grant Program and increased the Institute’s participation in the National Sea Grant College Program through a grant in 1971.

The Doherty Foundation, established in the memory of the founder of the Cities Service Co. and his late wife, is principally devoted to supporting and encouraging the development of national resources related to the oceans and the coasts.