According to the latest breaking news from the Spec, President Bollinger announced today that Thomas Alva Edison Professor of Applied Physics Gerald Navratil will serve as interim dean of SEAS for the 2007-2008 school year. Navratil has served on Columbia’s faculty since 1977 and specializes in plasma physics. He is currently being funded by the U.S. Department of Energy for fusion energy research and is also a recipient of the 2006 Fusion Power Associate Leadership Award. Just in case you were wondering.

On a slight side note, Bwog discovered some photos of new Interim Dean Navratil in the depths of Columbia’s website — judging from that demeanor inhis smile, we think he’ll do just fine.

(As long as he can write a good e-mail, of course.)