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Department of Oceanography
Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida 32306
Dr. William C. Burnett is a Professor of the Department of Oceanography at Florida State University. He is also Director of the Environmental Radioactivity Measurement Facility at FSU. He has M.S. (1971) and Ph.D. (1974) degrees in Geochemistry from the University of Hawaii. Since joining the faculty of FSU in 1977, Burnett has developed a worldwide research program based on the measurement of natural uranium and thorium decay-series isotopes in marine and terrestrial systems. The isotopic analysis of low-level environmental samples (seawater, ocean-floor sediments, etc.) with high degrees of precision and accuracy has required development and improvement of many techniques. He has extensive experience in the use of alpha spectrometry, high-resolution gamma spectrometry, PERALS, and other methods for the detection of low levels of radioisotopes in the environment. He has led or participated in field programs in many parts of the world including Australia, New Zealand, Micronesia, South America, and elsewhere. Burnett was a P.I. for EARTHWATCH for expeditions to Palau (1987) and Florida (1992/3).
Dr. Burnett has authored over 90 articles in scientific journals and books, co-edited a book for Cambridge University Press, served as principal investigator on over 35 national, state, and corporate research grants including awards from the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, American Chemical Society, and Earthwatch. In addition to his university duties, he has served as a guest instructor for Canberra Industries since 1989 and as a Technical Advisor for General Engineering Laboratories since 1992.
Dr. Burnett has been associated with the Bioassay Conference for a number of years and has been a regular attendee since the 38th Conference in Sante Fe. Since becoming involved with the BAER, he (along with his graduate students) has co-authored approximately 25 presentations at these meetings. He has embraced the conference and has effectively incorporated this conference into the academic environment of the department of Oceanography at FSU by having his graduate students present meaningful research at the conference. Much of this presented research has focused on the separation and measurement of environmental levels of natural uranium and thorium decay-series isotopes in marine and terrestrial systems. Other presentations have detailed the work done by his research facility in developing innovative techniques for plating transuranics onto disks to be used as calibration sources. Additional research has dealt with the development of fast, reliable, and accurate methods of gross alpha and beta measurements of soil. Finally, Bill acting on behalf of FSU, served as a host for the 43rd Conference in Charleston in 1997 and was responsible for organizing the technical and scientific portion of this same meeting.