William J. Tolone

William J. Tolone is a Professor and Associate Dean of the College of Computing and Informatics at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte). He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1996. His research focuses on integrated modeling and simulation, critical infrastructure systems, visual and data analytics, and collaborative systems. He has secured over $30M in competitive grants from NSF, DHS, DOD, NIST, and other agencies.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1996

Research Highlights: Dr. Tolone leads major initiatives such as the $4M VIFI project (Visual Information-Fabric Infrastructure) and co-leads the NSF Engineering Research Center planning grant for a carbon-neutral electric grid. His work includes developing deployed systems for U.S. Government agencies, and he co-founded the National Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity at UNC Charlotte. He has pioneered frameworks for infrastructure network modeling, civil-military operations planning, and data-driven decision systems.

Key Projects:

• NSF ERC Planning Grant ($99,623) for Carbon-Neutral Grid Systems
• VIFI NSF Data Infrastructure Program ($3.99M)
• RCN-SEES Sustainable Human-Building Ecosystems Network ($M)

Labs/Teams: Center for Energy Security & Reliability, VACCINE DHS Center of Excellence, and the Southeastern Regional Visualization and Analytics Center.