USC.edu

Tony Michaels

Adjunct Professor of Biology
Email tony@usc.edu Office AHF 230 Office Phone (213) 740-3689

Center, Institute & Lab Affiliations

  • Global Institute on Sustainability, Arizona State University, Trustee and Board Member
  • Proteus Environmental Technologies, Co-Founder and Managing Director
  • Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, Former Director 1996-2008

Education

  • Ph.D. Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1/1988
  • M.S. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, 1/1983
  • B.S. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, 1/1982

  • Tenure Track Appointments

    • Professor, Biology (on leave 2011-2012), University of Southern California, 01/01/2003 –
    • Director of the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Southern California, 01/01/1996 – 04/01/2008
    • Associate Professor, Biology, University of Southern California, 01/01/1996 – 01/01/2003
    • Occasional Acting Director for Research, Bermuda Biological Station for Research, 01/01/1995 – 01/01/1996
    • Associate Research Scientist, Bermuda Biological Station for Research, 01/01/1992 – 01/01/1996
    • Assistant Research Scientist, Bermuda Biological Station for Research, 01/01/1989 – 01/01/1992
    • Postdoctoral Scholar, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 01/01/1988 – 01/01/1989
    • Postdoctoral Researcher with Dr. Mary Silver, University of California, Santa Cruz, 01/01/1988

  • Summary Statement of Research Interests

    DR. ANTHONY MICHAELS is co-Founder and a Managing Director of Proteus Environmental Technologies (Proteus). Proteus has a unique strategy to promote environmental research and innovation in universities and to help commercialize transformative discoveries that are market solutions to major environmental problems in large potential markets. Proteus creates and manages a balanced portfolio of companies with technologies in a wide diversity of environmental areas including waste treatment, green energy and fuels, sustainable seafood and clean water. Dr. Michaels formed Proteus after 12 years as Director of the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Technologies. The Wrigley Institute created many important programs to connect USC research and education to the needs of society. Successful commercial development of a new innovation is one of the most effective mechanisms to allow university scholarship to make a rapid, positive change in society. Dr. Michaels and his colleagues at USC created a new mechanism for rapid commercialization of new environmental technologies and now Dr. Michaels is helping implement that strategy by working full-time in Proteus. He is on leave from the University while he pursues this path.

    Research Keywords

    environmental entrepreneurship, marine environment, environmental risks, global change, geobiology, ocean pollution