Plattsburgh Native James S. Bonner Named First Fellow of Clarkson University's Shipley Center for Innovation

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James S. Bonner

POTSDAM, NY (01/11/2010)(readMedia)-- James S. Bonner, professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been named the first fellow of Clarkson University's Shipley Center for Innovation.

Bonner is the son of Philip and Lu Bonner of Peru, N.Y., a Peru High School graduate, and a SUNY Plattsburgh graduate.

"The Shipley fellow defines the highest level of the scholar-entrepreneur, one who strives to create wealth and employment opportunities through commercial enterprise that involves the fellow's own intellectual endeavors," says Clarkson Provost Thomas C. Young.

As a Shipley fellow, Bonner will directly support the mission of the Shipley Center, which includes catalyzing economic development through innovations developed by Clarkson faculty, students, and staff.

In accepting the position of Shipley fellow, Bonner will step away from the directorship of the Clarkson Center for the Environment, a post he has held since 2007.

In addition to his new post with Clarkson, Bonner concurrently serves as River and Estuary Observatory Network (REON) director of Research at the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries in Beacon, N.Y.

Bonner also established the Shoreline Environmental Research Facility in Corpus Christi, Texas, 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.

Bonner received both his M.S. in civil engineering and Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from Clarkson University. He received his B.A. in biology from SUNY Plattsburgh.

Clarkson University launches leaders into the global economy. One in six alumni already leads as a CEO, VP or equivalent senior executive of a company. Located just outside the Adirondack Park in Potsdam, N.Y., Clarkson is a nationally recognized research university for undergraduates with select graduate programs in signature areas of academic excellence directed toward the world's pressing issues. Through 50 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, arts, sciences and health sciences, the entire learning-living community spans boundaries across disciplines, nations and cultures to build powers of observation, challenge the status quo, and connect discovery and engineering innovation with enterprise.

[A photograph for media use is available at http://www.clarkson.edu/news/photos/bonner.jpg.]