The School of Mines is pleased to announce the selection of Ronald J. White, Ph.D. as the university's vice president for research. White will begin his role on July 1.
White earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has a substantial record as a researcher and administrator in academia and with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Since 2003, White has served as a senior fellow in the Division of Space Life Sciences with the Universities Space Research Association Center for Advanced Space Studies and also as a senior scientist for the NASA Human Research Program. He was responsible for developing and maintaining the Science Management Plan for NASA's Human Research Program, coordinating peer review of research proposals and multilateral activities related to biomedical countermeasures and more.
From 1996-2003, White served as professor of otorhinolaryngology and communicative sciences at the Baylor College of Medicine and also as the associate director of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute. In addition, he has held positions as chief scientist of the Life Sciences Division at NASA Headquarters; research professor of physiology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; manager of biomedical research, analysis and planning at the General Electric Company; and professor of mathematics and director of honors at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
"Dr. White will play a major leadership role in guiding and supporting initiatives at the School of Mines that help us achieve our institutional priorities," School of Mines President Robert A. Wharton, Ph.D., said. "As our dynamic research enterprise grows in size and scope, Dr. White's many experiences in working with federal agencies and multi-disciplinary programs will be essential to our focus in building our research enterprise and strengthening our status as one of the nation's premier science and engineering universities."
As vice president for research, White will provide administrative oversight, leadership, and mentorship in the development and implementation of campus-wide research and graduate studies that are integrally linked to the university's mission. He joins a university that already boasts a solid research program. In the 2008 fiscal year, School of Mines researchers received more than $10.1 million in sponsored research funding and have already surpassed that mark for the 2009 fiscal year, with more than $14 million already awarded.
"The School of Mines is a vigorous institution with an impressive research portfolio and a long tradition of academic excellence. I am very pleased and honored to join the first-rate administrative team that Dr. Wharton has assembled," White said. "I am excited by the prospect of contributing, at this particular time, to the imminent future growth of the school's dynamic research enterprise."
The School of Mines is home to several research institutions and centers, including two National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers, the Center for Friction Stir Processing and the newly-created Center for Bioenergy Research and Development.
The School of Mines has long-standing connections to the Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota, and now the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL). Nearly a decade ago, the university championed the conversion of the Homestake Mine into a national laboratory. The research opportunities now unfolding as a result of the DUSEL project are some of the most significant in School of Mines history. The university is proud to be a leading partner with the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the DUSEL project at the Homestake Mine.
White and his wife Margaret (Launey) have three grown children, Joseph, Angela and Margaret Leslie.
