By Gabriela Aguirrechu
The 2022 Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be an above average season due to several climate factors, including above-average temperatures in the Caribbean and subtropical Atlantic. This year the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted up to 21 named storms. Approximately 10 of those are expected to become hurricanes, and as many as six could become major hurricanes.
FIU is a leader in hurricane research, resilience and disaster mitigation. The list below includes experts available to discuss hurricanes and their aftermath, including social, economic, health and political aspects. This list will be continuously updated.
If you have any questions or need assitance, contact the Office of Media Relations.
Distinguished Research Professor
Department of Earth and Environment
Institute of Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Willoughby studies tropical cyclone structure, intensity, and impacts. He has flown more than 400 missions into the eyes of hurricanes and typhoons as a meteorologist for the federal government. Willoughby was a Research Meteorologist at the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, where he worked since 1975 and served as director from 1995 until 2002. Willoughby also serves on the Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology and has extensive knowledge of hurricane impacts and insurance.
Office: 305-348-0243
Email: hugh.willoughby@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
JoAnn Adkins
305-348-0398
jadkins@fiu.edu
Associate Professor
Department of Earth and Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Jiang is a meteorologist with research interests in hurricane intensity, intensity change and structures of inner-core convection and precipitation. Jiang’s expertise is in satellite remote sensing techniques that can detect various characteristics of weather systems. She successfully applied these technologies to study hurricane rainfall, convection, winds, and warm-core structures. A coherent theme of her research is to advance our understanding of hurricane intensity and intensity change. She developed long-term satellite-based tropical cyclone databases and used these tools to study the climatology of hurricanes and to develop algorithms for estimating current intensity and predicting rapid intensification of tropical cyclones. Her research on hurricane intensity estimation, rapid intensification prediction, and climatology of hurricane inner-core structures has been funded by federal agencies including NSF, NOAA and NASA.
View more information on Dr. Jiang’s research
Office: 305-348-2984
Email: haiyan.jiang@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
JoAnn Adkins
305-348-0398
jadkins@fiu.edu
Professor
Department of Earth and Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Zhu is a meteorologist whose research interests are in hurricanes, atmospheric convection, boundary layer, and numerical modeling. Using innovative numerical and observational methods, he characterizes the turbulence structure and quantifies turbulent transport in the hurricane boundary layer critical to the storm evolution. His research funded by NSF and NOAA addresses key issues on the representation of sub-grid-scale physical processes in numerical models and the improvement of forecasting skill by NOAA’s operational models used for predicting hurricanes.
Office: 305-348-7096
Email:zhup@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
JoAnn Adkins
305-348-0398
jadkins@fiu.edu
Distinguished University Professor
Director, Extreme Events Institute (EEI)
International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC)
Olson researches the political fallout from disasters and has been involved in more than 20 field responses and post-disaster investigations. He has served on the Climate Change and Social Stress panel of the National Academy of Science and has written extensively about urban vulnerability to disasters and the political ramifications of how governments respond. Olson is also featured in the independent documentary titled “Built to Last? Saving our Homes in the Age of Disasters.” The documentary communicates what ordinary people around the world can do to make their homes safer and hazard-resilient.
Click here to learn more about the documentary.
Olson is available for interviews in English and Spanish.
Email: Richard.Olson@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
Lourdes Perez
305-348-6944
louperez@fiu.edu
Professor
Department of Politics & International Relations
Director, Latino Public Opinion Forum
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Gamarra has done research on the regional dynamics of Latin America and the Caribbean, including Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He is well versed on political, social and infrastructure issues in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He is the author of more than a dozen books and more than 100 academic articles on Latin America.
Gamarra available for English and Spanish interviews.
Cell: 786-253-4898
Email: Eduardo.Gamarra@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
Amy Ellis
352-999-0577
amy.ellis@fiu.edu
Associate Director for Education and Outreach
Extreme Events Institute (EEI) & International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC)
Salna works with the Wall of Wind research team and coordinates education and outreach activities. He has experience as a broadcast meteorologist and within both non-profit and for-profit environments in meteorology, mitigation, preparedness, education, media and EOC activations. Before EEI & IHRC, he worked at America’s Emergency Network, which focused on live video streaming technology. He also served as project coordinator for the non-profit Hurricane Warning at the Disaster Survival House, located in Deerfield Beach. He also served as hazard mitigation manager for the City of Deerfield Beach, was on the city’s crisis activation team and participated in all activations of the emergency operations center.
Salna testified before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on the importance of storm preparedness, the forecasting workforce and fostering a Weather-Ready Nation (WRN).
Office: 305-348-1146
Email: Erik.Salna@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
Lourdes Perez
305-348-6944
louperez@fiu.edu
Salna recently wrote about preparing for severe weather hazards in The Conversation.
Associate Director
Jorge M. Perez Metropolitan Center
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs
Ilcheva is investigating how prepared Floridians are to face hurricanes and how they use information toward their preparations. Ilcheva is examining the measures residents, businesses and public officials are taking to mitigate the effect of hurricanes and what barriers exist to implement optimal preparedness. Ilcheva’s hurricane research focuses on the real and perceptual changes in homeowners insurance. Ilcheva specializes in the administration of surveys, polls and interviews, data analysis and reporting.
Cell: 954-438-8652
Email: milcheva@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
Amy Ellis
352-999-0577
amy.ellis@fiu.edu
Professor
Department of Earth and Environment & Department of Economics
Institute of Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Mozumder is an environmental economist with expertise in socio-economic aspects of natural hazards. His research on hurricane risk mitigation and evacuation behavior has been funded by federal and state agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Florida Department of Community Affairs and Florida Sea Grant.
Office: 305-348-7146
Email:mozumder@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
JoAnn Adkins
305-348-0398
jadkins@fiu.edu
Senior Director
Academy for International Disaster Preparedness
Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work
Gomez is a member of the executive board for the State of Florida’s Domestic Oversight Council, co-chair of the Special Response Teams Coordinating Group, and belongs to the Regional Domestic Security Task Force. Gomez was a founding member of the City of Miami’s Sea Level Rise Committee. With over 35 years of experience in just about every aspect of the Fire Service, Gomez brings a well-rounded perspective and wealth of experience to emergency management. Gomez led the City of Miami’s response to Hurricanes Irma and Dorian as well as the recovery from both disasters. He served as a liaison in the State EOC in support of the State’s efforts for Hurricane Michael.
Cell: (786) 367-7746
Email: pegomez@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
Stephanie Rendon
305-348-4670
srendon@fiu.edu
Research Professor
Director of Sea Level Solutions
Institute of Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Obeysekera can talk about hurricanes as they relate to sea level rise, climate change, flooding and water management. He previously served as chief modeler at the South Florida Water Management District, where he had a leading role in modeling of the Everglades and Kissimmee River and Everglades restoration projects. He was co-author of the sea level rise projections report published by NOAA for the National Climate Assessment. He also co-authored a report on regional sea level projections for Department of Defense facilities across the globe. He has extensive media experience, including print and broadcast.
For help, contact:
JoAnn Adkins
305-348-0398
jadkins@fiu.edu
Research Professor
Institute of Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Briceño can talk about hurricane impacts regarding waters in coastal and estuarine areas. For over 17 years, Briceño has been leading water quality monitoring efforts at FIU. He focuses on how our changing climate is impacting our waterways and the impacts that people and nature have on our ecological systems. Briceño leads the institute’s Water Quality Monitoring Network.
Briceño is available for interviews in English and Spanish.
Office: 305-348-1269
Email: bricenoh@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
JoAnn Adkins
305-348-0398
jadkins@fiu.edu
Professor
Department of Earth and Environment
Institute of Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Leatherman is professor in the FIU Department of Earth & Environment. Known as “Dr. Beach” for his annual rankings of U.S. beaches, Leatherman’s major research focuses on storm impacts, including beach erosion and rip currents. He has given expert testimony to U.S. Congressional committees more than a dozen times on issues such as coastal storm impacts and federal disaster response. He was the review coordinator for the National Academy of Sciences & Engineering for the federal study of the breaching of the New Orleans levees and flooding by Hurricane Katrina.
Phone: 305-238-5888.
Email: leatherm@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
JoAnn Adkins
305-348-0398
jadkins@fiu.edu
Professor
Department of Earth and Environment
FIU Institute of Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Wdowinski is an expert in space geodesy, natural hazards and sea level rise. His research has focused on the development and usage of space geodetic techniques that can detect very precisely small movements of the Earth’s surface. Wdowinski has successfully applied these techniques to study tectonic plate motion, earthquakes, land subsidence, sinkhole activities, wetland hydrology, climate change, and sea level rise. He is currently spearheading research supported by NASA examining whether powerful hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones can trigger earthquakes.
Office: 305-348-6826
Email: swdowins@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
JoAnn Adkins
305-348-0398
jadkins@fiu.edu
Research Associate Professor
FIU Institute of Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Parkinson has spent the past 35 years researching the effects of climate change and urbanization on the resiliency of the human, built and natural environments of the Northern Gulf of Mexico, Peninsular Florida, and the Georgia Bight. More importantly, he has focused on ensuring the results of his research are conveyed in a way that can be understood and applied by the broadest array of stakeholder and practitioners who are responsible for the management of our coastal resources. Parkinson has conducted numerous vulnerability assessments to quantify the effects of climate change, including rising temperature, changes in precipitation, increasing storminess, acidification, and sea-level rise, on the coastal zone and has developed adaptation action plans designed specifically to reduce climate-related risks to the human, built and natural environment.
Phone: 321-373-0976
Email: rparkins@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
JoAnn Adkins
305-348-0398
jadkins@fiu.edu
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering and Computing
Elawady is a Fellow of FIU’s Extreme Event Institute and a co-PI of the NHERI Wall of Wind Experimental Facility (WOW) at FIU. Elawady’s expertise is in the area of wind effects on built environment. Her studies involve large-scale wind tunnel testing, wind effects analysis to examine structural response, and design of structures against extreme wind events including hurricanes and non-synoptic downburst winds. Elawady is the recipient of the Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation. She also received FIU College of Engineering Research award for excellence in research and creative activities.
Office: 305-348-0256
Email:aelawady@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
Elizabeth Calzadilla
305-348-7511
ecalzadi@fiu.edu
Professor
Chair, Department of Finance
College of Business
Hamid works primarily on the financial and insurance consequences of hurricanes. He heads the development and operation of the Florida Public Hurricane Loss Model that forecasts the insurance losses caused by hurricanes. As the director of the FIU International Hurricane Research Center’s Laboratory for Insurance, Financial and Economic Research, Hamid leads a multi-disciplinary team of more than 15 professors and experts, and a dozen graduate students, who work on the model.
Cell: 305-807-0451
Office: 305-348-2727
Email: Shahid.Hamid@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
Cynthia Corzo
305-348-1664
ccorzo@fiu.edu
Director
Tibor and Sheila Hollo School of Real Estate Faculty
College of Business
Beracha conducts empirical research in the areas of real estate and finance. Among the courses he teaches are: Real Estate Invest, Real Estate Market Analysis, and Real Estate Markets, Institutions and Practices. He has years of practical experience in real estate investments and has served as a consultant for real estate development projects. He’s also managing editor of the Journal of Real Estate Practice and Education and is an elected member of the board of directors of the American Real Estate Society.
Cell: 785-841-4470
Email: eberacha@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
Cynthia Corzo
305-348-1664
ccorzo@fiu.edu
Associate Dean, Chapman Graduate School of Business
Interim Dean, College of Business
Knight Ridder Eminent Scholar, Tibor and Sheila Hollo Fellow
Eminent Scholar, Tibor and Sheila Hollo School of Real Estate
Hardin is a recognized expert on commercial real estate markets, financial markets and securitized real estate. A member of the board of directors of the American Real Estate Society, he has authored or co-authored some 40 papers on varied topics in commercial real estate investment, including REIT governance and financial structure. Hardin is co-editor of Journal of Real Estate Practice and Education and is an elected member of the board of directors of the American Real Estate Society.
Cell: 954-298-8675
Email: hardinw@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
Cynthia Corzo
305-348-1664
ccorzo@fiu.edu
Distinguished University Professor
School of Integrated Science and Humanities, College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Department of Translational Medicine, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
Dr. Marty is a Miami-Dade County Medical Reserve Corps member and works with the county government on hurricane strategy and outbreak response. Marty has extensive experience in infectious disease, public health, outbreak response, & mass gatherings. She also works with the World Health Organization at the Health-Security Interphase and has responded to disease outbreaks worldwide. Marty is co-editor-in-chief of One Health, the official journal of the International Federation for Tropical Medicine.
Marty is available for interviews in English and Spanish.
Office: 305-348-0377
Email: amarty@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
JoAnn Adkins
305-348-0398
jadkins@fiu.edu
Professor
Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
Chief Executive Officer, FIU HealthCare Network
Dr. Roldan is a member of the FIU Emergency Operations Committee. She has played a key role in the local COVID-19 response serving as clinical director for the FIU vaccination site and chair of the University Health Care Task Force. She also helped launch and served as clinical director and operations chief of the Miami-Dade County COVID-19 testing site adjacent to FIU. In addition, her vast experience in health care management can help address issues involving hurricane response in facilities including hospitals, nursing homes, and community shelters.
Roldan is available for interviews in English and Spanish.
For help, contact:
Ileana Varela
305-348-4926
ilvarela@fiu.edu
Interim Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Community Initiative
Associate Professor, Department of Humanities, Health, and Society
Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
Dr. Holder is a board-certified internist and HIV specialist who has dedicated her medical career to serving underserved populations. She also co-chairs Florida Clinicians for Climate Action, where she works to increase climate literacy and enhance awareness of the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations. Holder can speak to the socioeconomic impact of storms on vulnerable populations.
Phone: 305-348-0698
Email: clholder@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
Ileana Varela
305-348-4926
ilvarela@fiu.edu
Associate Dean
Academic Affairs and Professor of Social Work
Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work
Macgowan’s teaching, research, and clinical experience are in disaster mental health. He is a licensed psychotherapist and an EMDR therapist, an efficacious trauma-based therapy. He has served as a Disaster Mental Health Worker with the American Red Cross and currently serves as an intermittent behavioral health specialist on a federal Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT). Macgowan teaches FIU’s only graduate course dedicated to disaster behavioral health. In addition, he teaches live and remote-delivered workshops on Psychosocial First Aid. Macgowan can discuss mental health-related to natural disasters, whether it is disaster responders or survivors (adults). He can also share tips for preparing for and dealing with the psychosocial aftermath of a hurricane.
Office: 305-348-0427
Email: Macgowan@fiu.edu
For help, contact:
Stephanie Rendon
305-348-4670
srendon@fiu.edu
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