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Vol. 1, No. 5 – Fall 2018
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MEMBER PRODUCTS
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| PEOPLE CONNECTED |
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Fourth Annual All-Hands Meeting
April 17-19, 2019
Baltimore, Maryland
On April 17, 2019, more than 100 UREx SRN researchers, practitioners, external advisory members, and other interdisciplinary scientists and scholars from 40+ institutions, governmental organizations, and community partners will help kick off our fourth annual All-Hands Meeting (AHM) in Baltimore, MD. This year's overarching theme, "From Resilience Thinking to Implementation" will focus on the diversity of UREx SRN projects and the way they connect knowledge to action. We will reflect on the progress of the network since its inception and, more importantly, focus on how our research has transitioned (or is expected to) into real, concrete outputs that address practical implementation needs. Our plenary sessions will feature presentations relating to this theme and we will have over 20 researcher and practitioner organized sessions on specific projects and themes occurring across the network, as well as our annual poster session highlighting recent UREx research.
Scenario Workshops
- San Juan Workshop 2 – Feb 1st, 2019
- Miami Workshop 1 – April 12th, 2019
- Syracuse Workshop 1 – May 31st, 2019
- Portland Workshop 1 – Summer 2019 (exact date TBD)
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COMMUNICATING OUR RESEARCH
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Our members are doing great work and they’re sharing UREx research across the globe! Check out a couple key conferences where our members made a big presence this fall!
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- Human Behavior and the Predictability of Infrastructure Services Usage and Its Environmental ImpactsRae Zimmerman (GC31G-1325) - Rae Zimmerman
- Cloudburst risk and resilience in cities: Case studies from the Urban Resilience to Extremes (UREx) Network (H52G-01) - Bernice Rosenzweig
- Nature's Cooling Systems: Neighborhood-Built Community Heat Action Planning (PA43E-1388) - Melissa Guardaro, Maggie Messerschmidt, David Hondula, Nancy Grimm
- Urbanization in desert watersheds challenges the traditional ‘urban stream syndrome’ (H11U-1758) - Lauren McPhillips, Nancy Grimm, Rebecca Hale, Stevan Earl
- Considering Heatwaves Spatial Properties for Improving Local Adaption and Mitigation Strategies (GC31G-1328) - Javad Shafiei Shiva, David Chandler
- The Human Process and Wicked Problems in Earth’s Future Posters (GC31G) - Nancy Grimm (Convener), et al.
- Time Scales of Precipitation-Groundwater-Stream Impulse Response Across a Northeast Watershed (H13J-1875) - David Chandler, et al.
- Ecohydrology Toolbox: Data-driven Tools to Facilitate Communication Between Green Infrastructure Designers and Decision-makers (H51U-1605) - Caitlin Eger, David Chandler, Charlie Driscoll
- A social-ecological-technical systems approach to understanding urban complexity and building climate resilience - Nancy Grimm, Marta Berbés Blasquez, Mikhail Chester, Elizabeth Cook, Peter Groffman, David Iwaniec, Timon McPhearson, Thaddeus Miller, Tischa Muñoz-Erickson, Charles Redman
- Co-development of positive visions for future urban sustainability and resilience - Elizabeth Cook, Marta Berbes, Melissa Davidson, Nancy Grimm, David Iwaniec,Timon McPhearson, Tischa Muñoz-Erickson
- Co-Producing Urban Resilience to Extreme Events - David Iwaniec, Timon McPhearson, Nancy Grimm, Elizabeth Cook, Tischa Muñoz-Erickson, Rocio Carrero
- Designing Anticipatory Knowledge for Resilient and Sustainable Urban Futures - Tischa A. Muñoz-Erickson, Elizabeth Cook,Mathieu Feagan, Robert Hobbins, David Iwaniec, Clark Miller, Thaddeus Miller
- Modelling urban futures: Resilience thinking in practice - Timon McPhearson, Rocio Carrero
- Positive Futures - David Iwaniec, Marta Berbes, Elizabeth Cook, Melissa Davidson, Nancy Grimm, Timon McPhearson, Tischa Muñoz-Erickson
- Positively resilient? Public perceptions of urban resilience - Sara Meerow, Fabian Neuner
- Tradeoffs between regulating and cultural services as a potential source of hazard risk in urban areas - Yaella Depietri, Daniel Orenstein
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Other Conferences of Interest to Network Members
- NCSE 2019 Annual Conference: Sustainable Infrastructure & Resilience. Washington, DC, January 7-10, 2019.
- CAP LTER All Scientists Meeting, Scottsdale, AZ, January 11, 2019.
- ASLO 2019, San Juan, Puerto Rico, February 23-March 2, 2019.
- American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, April 3-7, 2019.
- SFS Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah, May 19-23, 2019.
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Lelani Mannetti
Scenarios Postdoc, Georgia State University
Dr. Lelani Mannetti has a keen interest in identifying differences among people’s values and perceptions pertaining to ecosystem services, in particular an understanding of the implications of these differences. By delving deeper into current and potential trade-offs and conflicts between different elements of integrated landscapes, she aims to understand stakeholder preferences and the resulting drivers of change; while also trying to identify viable and sustainable solutions and to inform strategy and decision-making. With a PhD in Conservation Ecology, Mannetti’s previous research focused on the analysis of social-ecological systems, particularly surrounding adaptive co-governance of complex systems. Mannetti will participate in the ongoing research being conducted by the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN). A multi-institutional, transdisciplinary effort spanning 10 North and Latin American cities, the network aims to develop novel frameworks for integrating social, ecological and technological dimensions in the face of climatic uncertainty.
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Ahmed Mustafa
Scenarios Modeling Postdoc, The New School
Dr. Ahmed Mustafa received BEng in Architectural Engineering, Diploma in Information Technology, MSc in Geo-Information Science, and a PhD in Engineering and Technology. He is active in several research areas, concentrating mainly on Geoinformation applications in urban and land-use change studies. During his years as a PhD student, he has published 17 peer-reviewed journal papers (nine as the lead author) and 24 conferences communications.
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Luis Ortiz
Scenarios Modeling Postdoc, The New School
Dr. Luis Ortiz is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Urban Systems Lab at The New School. He is a mechanical engineer with a focus on the intersection of built environments and the atmosphere. He works on projecting vulnerability to weather extremes across a range of landuse and climate scenarios. Before joining UREx, Luis earned his PhD at The City College of New York, where he worked on high-resolution extreme heat projections for New York and impacts of climate change on the city’s summer electric demand for air conditioning. His work on heat wave projections will be featured in the upcoming New York City Panel on Climate Change report, scheduled for release in early 2019. His research interests include climate change impacts on humans and infrastructure, and the physical interactions between buildings and the atmosphere.
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Nasir Ahmad
Data Management Postdoc, Arizona State University
Dr. Nasir Ahmad is working at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability of Arizona State University as a postdoctoral fellow for two sustainability research networks (SRN), which are, the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN) and the Urban Water Innovation Network (UWIN). He is working as a data scientist to manage data for both SRNs. Nasir is also interested in developing algorithms to generate synthetic urban infrastructures (e.g., water infrastructure, power infrastructure) and model interdependencies among them in researching the resilience and sustainability of urban infrastructures. He earned his Ph.D. in 2018 from the University of Illinois’s (UIC) department of civil engineering. He also has a master’s in civil engineering from the same department of UIC. |
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A second cohort of UREx Graduate Fellows has also joined the network this fall. Check out the below map of our network cities to see where our new - and continuing - students are conducting their research!
Fall 2018 Grad Cohort:
Jan Cordero Casillas, Jazmin Diaz, Antonio de la Flor, Marbelys Garriga, Philip Gilberston, Geneva Gray, Alysha Helmrich, Robert Lloyd, Marisa Manheim, Ashley Mendez Heavilin, David Morrison
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| UREx SRN Graduate Fellow, Matt Smith (pictured on the right), and Miami City Co-lead, Tiffany Troxler, work in partnership with the FIU Sea Level Solutions Center and FIU School of Journalism to guide South Florida students and community members in tracking sea level rise in their neighborhoods. An Eyes on the Rise mobile application has been developed to provide visualization of sea level rise based on local elevation data and information from the State of Florida Division of Emergency Management LiDAR Project LAS Dataset hosted by the FIU International Hurricane Research Center. Matt and Tiffany oversee over 100 community participants including grade level students and local residents in measuring rising sea levels and monitoring water quality across low-lying areas of Miami-Dade County. This year, community members helped to assess the impacts of extreme high tides, otherwise known as King Tides, on flood exposure and water quality in neighborhoods that are vulnerable to rising sea levels. This information can help to inform local water management practices aimed at reducing tidal flood exposure and mitigate local and regional water quality. See a short documentary: https://youtu.be/THaolWftvOY |
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Year 3 Office of University Evaluation & Ethical Effectiveness
It has been an exciting couple of semesters evaluation-wise. In July 2018, the UOEEE facilitated an EDWG-driven diversity and inclusion workshop where postdocs and graduate students came together to discuss important goals around diversity and inclusion and the infusion of these elements within the network. As a result, several updates to the UREx SRN action plan were made to better reflect the network’s mission and future directions.
In October 2018, the UOEEE sent out the 2018-2020 cohort baseline survey to assess and understand participants’ expectations, motivations, and self-assessed skills. Figure 1 provides a word cloud representing incoming fellows’ professional goals for their tenure in the UREx SRN. Looking forward, the UOEEE has a few upcoming evaluation activities planned. Postdocs and graduate students, please keep an eye out for your annual survey coming in March 2019! Additionally, at the “All Hands Meeting” in Baltimore in April 2019, UOEEE plans to conduct focus groups with fellows, associates, and postdocs about their experiences within the network. These focus groups will inform network progress, best practices, and next steps.
Figure 1. Postdoc and Graduate Student Professional Goals in the SRN
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