Naval Oceanography Gets Operational Edge, Hires New Technical Director
05 June 2023
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. --
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss.—The U.S. Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (Naval Oceanography) hired 20-year Navy civilian Dr. Joseph “Joe” Calantoni to its workforce-family as the new Technical Director at headquarters, as of June 4.
Calantoni’s last position was at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)-Stennis Space Center as Head of the Seafloor Sciences Branch.
“Dr. Calantoni brings a wealth of knowledge and leadership experience having worked closely with active-duty and civilian personnel across the METOC, NAVFAC, and USACE communities for in situ ocean sensing and sensor development, coastal and riverine remote sensing and mapping, munitions response, and mine warfare,” said Rear Admiral Ron J. Piret, Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (CNMOC).
The Pennsylvania-native’s expertise in the research and development world is a match Naval Oceanography needs to continue gaining its operational edge in executing the Navy’s mission.
“…he has co-authored 60 peer-reviewed publications primarily focused on sediment dynamics, computational fluid dynamics, multiphase flow, hydrology, sedimentology, marine geosciences, and physical oceanography…[i]t is my great pleasure to announce that he has accepted the position as CNMOC’s Technical Director,” said Piret.
Read more about Calantoni’s in the professional biography below!
Professional Biography of Joseph “Joe” Calantoni, Ph.D.
A native of Pennsylvania, Dr. Calantoni received the Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the Pennsylvania State University in 1996 and the Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Physics from North Carolina State University in 1999 and 2003, respectively.
As a Ph.D. student, he was funded by the AASERT program of the Office of Naval Research to study how waves and currents move sand around on the beach. Upon completion of his doctoral studies in 2002, he continued his Navy career as a postdoctoral investigator in the National Research Council Research Associateship Program at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, MS (NRL-SSC). In 2004, he became a Navy civilian as a research physicist and principal investigator. Later he was promoted to section head and branch head.
His research portfolio has been broadly focused on understanding the physical, mechanical, and acoustical properties of seafloor, estuarine, and riverine sediments through a combination of mathematical and numerical modeling, detailed laboratory measurements, and field experiments with military applications in mine warfare, Naval special warfare, and underwater munitions mobility and burial.
He has been funded by numerous DoD and non-DoD partners throughout his career including the Office of Naval Research, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program.
In addition, he spearheaded science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) efforts at NRL-SSC starting in 2009, overseeing millions of federal STEM dollars directed to the Mississippi and southeast Louisiana regions on behalf of the National Defense Education Program and Office of Naval Research.
Dr. Calantoni currently serves as Head of the Seafloor Sciences Branch at NRL. Also, he is the Deputy Director for the NavalX Gulf Coast Tech Bridge and a member of the NATO Planning and Evaluation Joint Research Project (P&E JRP) for mine warfare at the Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation. He has authored and co-authored 60 peer-reviewed scientific publications in addition to over 30 technical reports and proceedings manuscripts.
He and his wife Elizabeth Calantoni, who is an aerospace engineer with NASA, live in Diamondhead, MS with their German Shepherd, Stokes.
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Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command directs and oversees more than 2,500 globally-distributed military and civilian personnel who collect, process, and exploit environmental information to assist Fleet and Joint Commanders in all warfare areas to make better decisions faster than the adversary.