Bonner

BEACON - The Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries has named James Bonner, Ph.D., P.E., as REON Director of Research. A nationally recognized expert in real-time water monitoring technologies, Bonner will lead the development and implementation of the River and Estuary Observatory Network (REON) to create the first technology-based monitoring and forecasting network for rivers and estuaries. REON is a joint effort between The Beacon Institute, IBM and Clarkson University.

REON will allow for minute-to-minute monitoring of physical, chemical and biological data from New York's Hudson and St. Lawrence Rivers via an integrated network of sensors, robotics and computational technology distributed throughout both rivers.

In addition to his new post with The Beacon Institute, Bonner concurrently serves as director of the Center for the Environment at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY, where he is a member of the civil and environmental engineering faculty.

In the early 1990s, he spearheaded an effort with colleagues from Texas A&M University to pursue a long-term research project to improve understanding of modern oil spill remediation and countermeasure technologies.

Bonner also established the Shoreline Environmental Research Facility in Corpus Christi, TX, where he developed and implemented technologies that use high-frequency radar to map surface water along the Texas coastline. He has developed new technologies that provide real-time continuous monitoring with in-situ sensing ("sensing in place") to measure important water parameters. With funding from the National Science Foundation, he has undertaken a national effort to create a cyber-collaboratory framework, enabling collection and circulation of real-time data and data analysis in the study of oxygen depletion in water.