Professor Falcone Goes to Washington

Around campus, Professor Frank Falcone, PE, BCE ’70, MSWREE ’73 is recognized as one of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s faculty experts on water resources and sustainable development. But between semesters and for several weeks during the summer, the former William C. Foster Fellow taps into his wealth of technical expertise to serve in an unrelated but critically important capacity: that of consultant to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation.

“It is interesting work,” Professor Falcone said. “I play a role in the verification and compliance process for arms control treaties between the United States and other nations. I also am involved in following issues that pertain to the worldwide proliferation of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile systems.”

Professor Falcone’s relationship with the State Department began in 2004, when he was selected from a competitive pool of applicants to participate for a year in the William C. Foster Fellows Visiting Scholars Program. Named for a former director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the program give scholars in the physical sciences and other disciplines an opportunity to participate in the arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament activities of the Department of State and to offer expert opinions. Professor Falcone, who had retired from the Navy after 30 years, applied because he wanted to continue serving his country.

After Professor Falcone worked in the nation’s capital from August 2004 to August 2005, State Department officials asked him to continue as a consultant, and he agreed. In this role, he provides the technical data that policymakers need to write and amend treaties. Currently, he has been consulting on the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which the United States has not yet ratified. He also has been involved in assessing the results of the nuclear tests conducted by North Korea on May 25.