1. Helena Solo-Gabriele, Ph.D. P.E. 1251 Memorial Drive Ph: 305-284-2908
Professor and Assoc. Dean MEB Room 252 Fax: 305-284-3492
Civil, Architectural & Env Engineering Coral Gables, Fl 33146 hmsolo@miami.edu
December 8, 2015
University of Miami
Office of Research Administration
To Whom It May Concern,
I have known Ms. Adrianne Rondon since July 2004. In June 2004 she was hired as a Center
Manager by my colleagues Drs. Lora Fleming and Dr. Sharon Smith. Drs. Fleming and Smith co-
directed an NSF-NIEHS funded center in Oceans and Human Health. I was a member of the Center
leading a sub-group within the Center focused on microbe contamination at beaches. Adrianne
Rondon facilitated many administrative aspects associated with this project for myself, for my
students, and for faculty colleagues.
In the capacity as Center Manager, Ms. Adrianne Rondon was outstanding. She was the go to
person when it came to activities requiring coordination and/or payment of funds. She was
responsible for splicing together the yearly research progress reports. She took care of meeting
organization, ranging from relatively small group meetings to major multi-center meetings involving
researchers from throughout the country and abroad. The day and a half Center director’s meeting
that she coordinated was flawless with all logistics taken care of, making sure that all parts of the
meeting were well thought out and organized.
One of the greatest challenges I faced during my work in the Center was in developing a response to
Hurricane Katrina in terms of documenting impacts of the flooding on human health. The response
to the hurricane required that we submit a proposal quickly, receive funding quickly, and dropping
everything else that was happening, and develop and implement a plan for research in the New
Orleans area. This required incredible coordination in logistics under conditions that were not ideal.
We immediately transferred a post-doctoral student to work in New Orleans and Adrianne Rondon
arranged all of his accommodations, including the purchase of supplies and equipment that were
shipped to the post-doctoral associate. In the interim we hired two new members to the team for
whom we retrofitted a mobile home to convert it into a livable laboratory. Again Adrianne Rondon
facilitated the mobile home rental and ordering of equipment and supplies needed to retrofit the
mobile home into a laboratory. Upon arriving in New Orleans, there were many logistics associated
with the shipping of equipment, supplies, and samples which again were facilitated through
Adrianne Rondon’s exceptional organizational skills and her ability to get things processed efficiently
through the University of Miami system. We would not have been able to successfully complete this
work if it were not for Adrianne Rondon’s assistance and coordination abilities.
I personally believe that Adrianne Rondon would be an excellent fit for the Office of Research
Administration. She would be excellent on both the pre-award and post-award sides. On the pre-

2. award size, there’s incredible time sensitivity with respect to faculty proposal submissions. Some
faculty can be difficult to work with, especially under the time pressures of proposal submission. I
believe that Adrianne would be very capable of handling the fast pace of the work on the pre-award
side. She has a very friendly, calm, and confident demeanor which will facilitate the interactions
with the faculty during these high stress periods for them. I believe she would exercise excellent
judgement in how she interacts with faculty and/or College staff as she evaluates and processes the
proposal packages. She is capable of making decisions that are in the best interest of the University
while at the same time working with faculty and their staff representatives to minimize anxiety they
may face when trying to get proposals approved. She has considerable experience on the post-
award side and understands the process from the perspective of directly administering a Center-
level grant. She is familiar with the accounting systems, purchasing, and reporting systems
throughout the University.
Overall I believe that Ms. Adrianne Rondon is an excellent candidate for the position of Contract and
Grant Analyst within the Office of Research Administration. She is personable, works well in team
settings, possesses strong communication skills, is very organized, dependable, and has a strong
background in grants administration. Personally I believe she will be an outstanding asset in the
ORA office.
Sincerely,
Helena Solo-Gabriele, Ph.D., P.E.
Professor and Associate Dean for Research