APPENDIX C
SPEAKERS BIOS
Rafael L. Bras is the Bacardi and Stockholm Water Foundation Professor at MIT. He is Associate Director of the Center of Global Change Science at MIT and the former Department Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering and former Director, Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory, MIT. He holds faculty appointments in the Schools of Engineering and Science of MIT. His major area of interest is hydrology. His degrees, all from MIT, include B.S. (1972), M.S. (1974), Sc.D. (1975). Dr. Bras was Assistant Professor at the University of Puerto Rico, 1975-1976. He held visiting appointments at Universidad Simon Bolivar (Venezuela), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (Austria) from 1982-1983, and the University of Iowa from 1989-1990. Professor Bras has been or is a member of several Editorial Boards and has served as advisor to many government and private institutions. He is very active in several professional organizations and has received many honors and awards. Dr. Bras maintains an active international consulting practice ranging from groundwater contamination problems for Sandia National Laboratories, to flood litigation cases in Puerto Rico and the United States, to advising the Technology and Safety Division of Los Alamos National Laboratories. He chairs a panel of experts who supervised the preparation of the Environmental Impact Statement of the proposed multibillion dollar project to protect the City of Venice from floods. Dr. Bras has published two textbooks, over 120 refereed journal publications, and several hundred other publications and presentations.
Virginia R. Burkett is Chief, Forest Ecology Branch, at the USGS National Wetlands Research Center in Lafayette, Louisiana. Burkett's current research involves climate change impacts in coastal regions and bottomland hardwood regeneration in frequently flooded sites of the Mississippi River Alluvial Floodplain. Burkett was Assistant Director of the Louisiana Geological Survey, Director of the Louisiana Coastal Zone Management Program, and Deputy Director and Director/Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Appointments include the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council, the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, the Louisiana Forestry Commission, the National Science Foundation's National Assessment Synthesis Team for U.S. climate change research, and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Working Group II.
Margaret A. Davidson is Director of the National Ocean Service at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Prior to her current position, she served as the Director of NOAA’s Coastal Services Center, a national enterprise established to work with NOAA and its partners to bring the latest scientific research and technology to state and local coastal resource managers. Before joining NOAA, Davidson was executive director of the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium from 1983 to 1995. Prior to that, she served as special counsel and assistant attorney general for the Louisiana Department of Justice. Davidson earned her J.D. in natural resources law from Louisiana State University and later earned a master's degree in marine policy and resource economics from the University of Rhode Island. She holds a faculty appointment at the University of Charleston and serves on the adjunct faculties of Clemson University and the University of South Carolina. She was a Fulbright Scholar for coastal resource management at Prince of Songkhla University, Thailand, in 1992-93.
Bruce C. Douglas is Senior Research Scientist, Laboratory for Coastal Research, Florida International University, Miami, Florida. Until 2000, Mr. Douglas was Sr. Research Scientist in the Department of Geography, at the University of Maryland, College Park; from 1992-1995 he was Director, National Oceanographic Data Center, NOAA; and from 1982-1992 he was Director, Geodetic Research and Development Laboratory, NOAA. Mr. Douglas holds a BA in mathematics and an MA in astronomy from UCLA.
Reinhard E. Flick is research associate at the Center for Coastal Studies at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Californina. Since 1978, his professional career has involved academic research, administration, lecturing, consulting and public service in oceanography and nearshore processes including waves, tides and coastal erosion. His broad, practical experience includes theoretical, laboratory, field and sea-going work. Dr. Flick is also a staff oceanographer for the California Department of Boating and Waterways where he conducts academic research and public education and manages study programs at Scripps totaling about $1.5 million annually. His original research is in the areas of tides, sea level fluctuations, waves, beach sand level changes, local and regional beach and cliff erosion and coastal storm damage. Dr. Flick has monitored environmental impacts of engineering works in southern California, including innovative shore protection strategies and the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. He has co-authored and edited a two-volume shoreline erosion assessment and atlas of the San Diego region.
Stephen P. Leatherman is a professor of environmental studies at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami and serves as the director of FIU's Laboratory for Coastal Research. In 1998, he released his twelfth book, America's Best Beaches, describing and depicting many of the nation's finest beaches regionally and by category (e.g., best swimming and best walking beaches). He also has written more than 200 journal articles and scholarly reports. In 1992, he served as host and co-producer of Vanishing Lands, a film that won three international awards, including the prestigious Golden Eagle. Dr. Leatherman joined the academic staff of Florida International University in 1997. He previously taught at the University of Massachusetts and University of Maryland. A 1970 graduate of North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in geosciences, he received his doctoral in environmental (coastal) sciences from the University of Virginia in 1976.
James N. Mathias, Jr. is Mayor of Ocean City, Maryland. He is a graduate of Calvert Hall College and received a B.A. in Political Science from University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Mr. Mathias was elected Mayor of Ocean City, October, 1996 having previously served as a Council member from 1990-96 and on the Ocean City Board of Zoning Appeals from 1987 - 1990. Most recently, Mayor Mathias was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Maryland Commission for Celebration 2000. Mayor Mathias is a Charter Member of the Knights of Columbus and an active member of the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company. He has served as Chairman of the Worcester County Ambulance Service Committee and Chairman of the Ocean City Humane Society Commission. As Council member and continuing as Mayor, he is a member of the Ocean City Police Commission
Joan Pope is Acting Technical Director for Flood and Coastal Storm Damage Reduction of the Coastal Hydraulic Laboratory (CHL) with the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center. She is responsible for overseeing a variety of coastal research and applied engineering work. This includes coastal geology, dredging engineering, monitoring and evaluating coastal project performance, coastal wetlands, shore protection strategies and functional design criteria, and developing coastal planning and design guidance. She directs all Research and Development programs and activities of the Corps related to flooding. Ms. Pope is a graduate of the State University of New York at Oneonta and received a Masters in Geology from the University of Rhode Island. She started work at CERC, the predecessor of the CHL, in 1983 after working for approximately 10 years on coastal projects in the Great Lakes for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia. She is manager and editor of the Coastal Engineering Manual (replaces the Shore Protection Manual) and is also, managing and
lead investigator for the Section 227 National Erosion Control Development and Demonstration Program (national program to advance the use of innovative shore protection approaches).
Stanley R. Riggs is a coastal and marine sedimentologist and stratigrapher who has been conducting research on modern coastal systems since 1964. His area of research extends from the inland riverine and lacustrine environments, to the estuarine and barrier island systems, and seaward across the continental shelf. His areas of interest lie in sedimentation, Quaternary and Tertiary stratigraphy, coastal and mineral resources, and their inter-relationship with the development of human civilization. Dr. Riggs has been actively involved in numerous technical coastal and mineral resource issues at the Federal, State, and local levels which has included appointments to many commissions, task forces, panels, and committees. These appointments, as well as many of his publications, have dealt directly with integrating scientific understanding and utilization and management of various coastal systems including such critical issues as shoreline erosion, hazard zone delineation, utilization of mineral resources (i.e., beach nourishment sand, oil exploration, phosphate mining, etc.), inlet dynamics, water quality, and habitat preservation (i.e., hardbottom reefs, salt marshes, maritime forests, etc.). Dr. Riggs earned his bachelor's degree from Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin, his master's degree from Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, and his doctorate degree from the University of Montana.
James W. Russell joined the Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) in January, 1995 as Education Director. In January, 1997 he was appointed Vice President, Program Coordination, and in April, 1998 was named to his present position as Vice President for Outreach. In this position, he represents IBHS to the wide audience of those interested in the topic of mitigation and communicates that message to diverse audiences. Prior to joining IBHS, he served in the Massachusetts Public Schools for thirty-three years. Dr. Russell assumed various posts during his tenure, including teacher, assistant principal and middle school principal. He also served for thirty-seven years with the Massachusetts Army National Guard, rising to the rank of Colonel. Dr. Russell received his Doctorate in Educational Administration and Supervision from Boston University. He holds a Master's in Education from Salem State College and a Bachelor of Science degree from Boston College.
J. Court Stevenson is a professor at Horn Point Laboratory (HPL) at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences (UMCES) in Cambridge, Maryland. Dr. Stevenson has also held the positions of assistant professor and associate professor at HPL/UMCES, and was assistant professor, in the Botany Department, University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) from 1972-77. Dr. Stevenson was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Experimental Statistics at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina from 1971-72. He earned a PhD in botany from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972. He is a member of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Atlantic Estuarine Research Society, Coastal Education and Research Foundation, Estuarine Research Federation, Society of Wetland Scientists. His research interests include coastal zone resources and water quality management issues, ecology of marsh and sea grass systems, effects of sea-level rise on wetlands and coastal shorelines, and environmental history of Chesapeake Bay and its watershed.
James G. Titus was born on a 75-foot Coast Guard cutter in southwest Washington, D.C. and grew up along the Potomac River. He spends summers on the bay side of Long Beach Island, New Jersey, where the street is approximately one foot above spring high tide, and the estuarine beaches from which he launches small boats have been gradually bulkheaded. Since 1982, he has managed EPA's Sea Level Rise project, which was the first government program devoted to preparing for the consequences of climate change induced by greenhouse gases. He has a B.A. in economics from the University of Maryland, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and is a member of the Maryland and DC Bar Associations. His next report will provide 1:100,000 scale maps illustrating the lands that local governments expect to be protected from the rising sea (with beachfill or shoreline armoring) along all tidal shores from New York to Florida.
Cornelia Pasche Wikar has worked with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources for the past 6 years and is currently the Coastal Hazards Planner for Maryland’s Coastal Zone Management Program and acting as the Chair for the Coastal Bays Program Navigation and Dredging Advisory Group. Her current projects include developing a long-term master plan for managing dredging and navigational issues in the Coastal Bays region, developing a statewide Comprehensive Shore Erosion Control Management Plan for Maryland and assisting several counties in developing coastal hazard mitigation plans. She is also representing coastal issues on the Climate Change Action Plan Workgroup, an interagency committee established to help Maryland address climate change issues. Ms. Wikar previously worked as an environmental consultant conducting Phase I Site Assessments, Endangered Species Audits and Wetland Determinations and Delineations in Houston, Texas and worked with the non-profit Earthwatch in Boston, Massachusetts. She received a B.S. in Biology from Lehigh University, a M.S. in Zoology from the University of Rhode Island, and a Master of Marine Affairs also from the University of Rhode Island.
S. Jeffress “Jeff” Williams is a research marine geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. He specializes in coastal, estuarine and inner shelf geologic framework history and processes with over 30 yrs experience in understanding the geologic origins and evolution of coastal and estuarine and Great Lakes systems, late Quaternary sea-level history, and geologic character of modern shelf sand bodies. He has participated in more than 80 field studies, managed many large and complex field projects nation-wide, published more than 200 papers and reports, and been a member on more than a dozen high-level national science committees including the NAS/NRC, NOPP, the 1998 National Oceans Conference, and the Coral Reef Task Force. He served as the Coordinator of the Coastal and Marine Geology Program in the USGS Reston, VA headquarters, managing and directing 250 staff and a budget of $38M, from 1996 to 2000. Jeff returned to full time research in July 2000. Williams' current research focus is in three areas: carrying out a national synthesis and assessment of the state-of-knowledge about offshore marine sand and gravel aggregates, examining the risk and vulnerability of US coastal regions to future rise in relative sea-level, and serving as a scientific advisor to system-scale coastal and wetland restoration activities underway and planned for Louisiana
