Speakers
Nashin Mahtani (Disaster Map , Indonesia)
Nashin Mahtani is the director of Indonesian nonprofit Yayasan Peta Bencana, where she leads the development of software to support disaster relief. Launched in 2017, Peta Bencana, which means “disaster map” in Indonesian, uses AI-assisted bots to monitor social media posts by residents in disaster-hit areas in Indonesia and to map earthquakes, fires and floods in real time.
Session: In-person symposium, keynote.
Orit Halpern (TU Dresden)
Orit Halpern is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at TU Dresden. Her work bridges the histories of science, computing, and cybernetics with design and art practice. She is researching the history and theory of “smartness”, environment, and ubiquitous computing for her forthcoming book, The Smartness Mandate.
Andra Garner (Rowan University)
Andra Garner is an Assistant Professor at Rowan University in the Department of Environmental Science. Her research has included studies investigating the changing flood risk in New York City from the past millennium through the year 2300 due to tropical cyclones, storm surge, and sea-level rise. She has also worked on projects related to the evolution of sea-level rise projections, which included the development of a comprehensive database of global sea-level rise projections for the year 2100.
Dean Chahim (UT El Paso)
Dean Chahim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso. He was previously a Princeton-Mellon Fellow in Architecture, Urbanism, and the Humanities at Princeton University and affiliated with the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. His research investigates flooding in Mexico City and examines how unjust environmental conditions are produced and sustained through engineering practices, and how they might be made otherwise.
Pablo Herreros (Urban Systems Lab, New School)
Pablo Herreros is a research fellow at the Urban Systems Lab at the New School where he is applies socio-ecological analysis to urban ecosystem services and environmental risks, with special focus on their spatial attributes and their links to social justice. His aim is to provide policymakers with evidence-based information for spatial planning and design.
Joe Shuttleworth (ARUP)
As a Digital Water Consultant and trained Water Engineer, Joe Shuttlework focuses on developing Arup’s digital service offerings for the Water sector. With a digital-first approach, he aims to address critical issues relating to resilience, flood risk, water supply and wastewater treatment. He works nationally and internationally with water utilities, environment management authorities and governments.
Gwen Ottinger (Drexel)
Gwen Ottinger directs a research group called the Fair Tech Collective and uses social science to foster social and environmental justice in science and technology. She collaborates with residents of communities on the front lines of petrochemical pollution, creates technologies that puts findings into practice, and works to influence policy through commentary and consultation.
Cana Uluak Itchuaqiyaq (Virginia Tech)
Cana Uluak Itchuaqiyaq is an assistant professor of professional and technical writing at Virginia Tech who focuses on empowerment, social justice, and equitable research practices. She combines her Arctic experiences and Inuit perspective with theory and data to develop effective methods that equip others in planning and conducting respectful research, teaching, organizational strategy, and advocacy work.
Session: Virtual 3, Sensing as Community
Luz Guel (HEALS Mount Sinai)
Luz Guel (they/them) is the Director of Community Engagement & Environmental Justice at the Center on Health and Environment Across the LifeSpan (HEALS) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Environmental Health Sciences Core Center program. As an educator and researcher within the Department of Environmental Medicine & Public Health at Mount Sinai, Mx. Guel uses community-based participatory research (CBPR), community science, and anti-racist approaches to collaborate with New York City communities to address environmental injustices.
Session: Virtual 3, Sensing as Community
Hamid Norouzi (CUNY)
Dr. Hamid Norouzi is an associate professor in the Department of Construction Management and Civil Engineering Technology at New York City College of Technology where he has been a full-time faculty member since 2011. He also holds a joint appointment at the CUNY-Graduate Center in the department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES) as doctoral faculty. His research includes using satellite information in climate studies, urban heat islands, soil and hydological research and he has worked extensively with the Bedford Stuyvesant community in Brooklyn New York, a frontline environmental justice community.
Session: Virtual 3, Sensing as Community
Eymund Diegel (DOT)
Eymund Diegel specializes in making cities and urban ecologies more sustainable, resilient and livable. He has worked on he worked on New York City’s Stormwater Management Bluebelt Plan, Flood Mitigation and Watershed Plans mapping historical wetlands, streams, and landscape changes. He has researched and produced historic stream maps that chart NYC’s ghost streams.
Session: In-person symposium, session 3.
Suzanna Drake (DLANDstudio)
Susannah Drake is a principal and founder of DLANDstudio, a leading multidisciplinary design firm. Susannah is a leader in resilient urban design and has dedicated much of her practice to developing and implementing design strategies to confront the impacts of climate change. The Gowanus Canal Sponge Park is a working landscape that improves the environment of the EPA Superfund site over time and Rising Currents, a collaboration with ARO Architects set a design precedent in urban waterfront resiliency.
Session: In-person symposium, session 3.
Aurash Khawarzad
Aurash Khawarzad is an Artist, Educator, and Urban Planner. His work uses a combination of research, creative practice, and multi-disciplinary collaboration, as a means of visioning communities. Most recently he created The Upper Manhatta(n) Project, a model for creating resilience to climate change. He is originally from Virginia and has been practicing in New York City since 2009.
Session: In-person symposium, session 3.
Liz Barry (Public Lab)
Liz Barry is a founding member of the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science where, as director of community development, she guides the interplay between place-based organizing and distributed peer production. She has served as a founding board member for The Computational Democracy Project, developed strategies for civic lotteries for NYC municipal government, designed and implemented conflict resilience and consent-based governance with non-violent direct action group Extinction Rebellion NYC, and advised XR UK’s Future Democracy Hub on “listening at scale” (quote by Audrey Tang).
Session: In-person symposium, session 3.
Marisa Prefer (Pioneer Works)
is an educator, urban ecologist, and herbalist who works across disciplines to translate knowledge between plant and human communities. Prefer is the Landscape Steward at Pioneer Works, and collaborates with artists to facilitate projects about regenerative ecology, food, and public space. Find out more at invisiblelabor.org.
Session: In-person symposium, session 3.
FloodNet Researchers
Andrea Silverman (NYU)
Andrea Silverman is an Assistant Professor of environmental engineering in the Department of Civil and Urban Engineering at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
Brett Branco (CUNY)
Brett Branco is a Marine Scientist and Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center. He is the director of the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay
Ricardo Toledo-Crow (CUNY)
Ricardo Toledo-Crow is the director of the Next Generation Environmental Sensor Lab and is a Research Professor at the Advanced Science Reserch Center at the City University of New York.
Charlie Mydlarz (NYU)
Charlie Mydlarz is a Research Assistant Professor at the Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
Session: In-person symposium, session 2.
Katie Graziano
Katie Graziano is the Coastal Resilience Specialist at New York Sea Grant and leads Community Flood Watch, is a growing network of residents and organizations who report local flooding, share experiences, and access resources related to flooding in NYC coastal communities.
Session: In-person symposium, session 2.
Paul Rothman
Paul Rothman is the Director of Smart Cities + IoT at the New York City Office of Technology and Innovation.
Rebecca Fischman
Rebecca Fischman is the Senior Policy Advisor at NYC Mayor’s Office of Resiliency.
Session: In-person symposium, session 2.