CORAL GABLES – Dr. Roni Avissar, a Duke University climatologist who has studied the way Amazon deforestation affects precipitation patterns around the world and was one of the first to employ a specially equipped helicopter to collect environmental data, has been named the new Dean of the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. He will begin his post on June 1.
“Dr. Roni Avissar is a distinguished scientist and prominent scholar who will bring strong leadership to the rich academic resources of the Rosenstiel School,” said University of Miami President Donna E. Shalala.
Born and raised in France, Avissar is a professor at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering. He joined the Durham, North Carolina-based University in 2001, serving for five years as the W.H. Gardner Professor and Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
