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Mapping the Zone: Improving Flood Map Accuracy (2009)

Chapter: Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members

« Previous: Appendix A: Methods for Estimating Base Flood Elevations in Approximate Studies
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2009. Mapping the Zone: Improving Flood Map Accuracy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12573.
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Page 109
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2009. Mapping the Zone: Improving Flood Map Accuracy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12573.
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Page 110
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2009. Mapping the Zone: Improving Flood Map Accuracy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12573.
×
Page 111
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 2009. Mapping the Zone: Improving Flood Map Accuracy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12573.
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Page 112

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Appendix B Biographical Sketches of Committee Members David R. Maidment, chair, is the Hussein M. Alharthy ability of Semi-arid Hydrologic and Riparian Areas Centennial Chair in Civil Engineering and director (SAHRA) at the University of Arizona. Dr. Brookshire of the Center for Research in Water Resources at the received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of University of Texas at Austin, where he has been on New Mexico. He has been a contributor to the develop- the faculty since 1981. He received a Ph.D. in civil ment of the contingent valuation method for valuing engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana- non-market commodities. He specializes in public Champaign. Prior to joining the University of Texas, he policy issues related to natural resources, the environ- was a research scientist at the Ministry of Works and ment, and natural hazards. Current research interests Development in New Zealand and at the International include seismic risk, urban hazards, demands of indus- Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Vienna, trial and consumer water users, the value of water in A ­ ustria. He was also a visiting assistant professor at non-market settings, western water market structures, Texas A&M University. Dr. Maidment’s research the use of GIS process modeling for exploring alterna- focuses on surface water hydrology, particularly in the tive institutions, and behavioral characteristics of water application of geographic information systems (GIS) leasing markets and urban boundary issues relating to to hydrology, and floodplain mapping. He has chaired the preservation of open space. He is a former member or been a member of six National Research Council of the NRC Committee on the Economic Benefits of (NRC) committees and chaired the Committee on Improved Seismic Monitoring. Floodplain Mapping Technologies. Dr. Maidment has received many awards, including the U.S. Geo- J. William Brown is the assistant city engineer for the logical Survey (USGS) Hydrologic Benchmark Award City of Greenville, South Carolina, where he heads the for contributions to the USGS National Water-Use Environmental Engineering Bureau. His responsibili- Information Program in 2002 and the Environmental ties include serving as the National Floodplain Insur- Systems Research Institute (ESRI) Lifetime Achieve- ance Program administrator for the city as well as the ment Award for his contributions to the application qualified local program administrator for delegation of GIS in water resources in 2003. He is a fellow of of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System the International Water Resources Association and a Authority for the State of South Carolina. Previous national associate of the National Academies. experience includes 10 years with DuPage County, Illinois, as a senior project engineer, where he managed David S. Brookshire is a professor of economics and the county’s floodplain mapping program. His duties director of the Science Impact Laboratory for Policy included coordinating and negotiating technical issues and Economics at the University of New Mexico. He with state and federal agencies, as well as managing all is also on the executive board of the center for Sustain- activities related to the county’s Cooperating Techni- 109

110 APPENDIX B cal Partner Agreement with the Federal Emergency Princeton and his Ph.D. in geography (specializing in Management Agency (FEMA). Mr. Brown received an water resources) from the University of North Carolina M.S. in agricultural engineering from Oklahoma State at Chapel Hill. A civil engineer, public administrator, University and pursued graduate work in bio­systems and geographer, Dr. Galloway’s current research focuses and agricultural engineering and water resources at on the development of U.S. national water policy in the University of Minnesota. He is the past chair of general and national floodplain management policy in the Illinois Association for Floodplain and Stormwater particular. Prior to joining the University of Maryland, Management and served on its executive board for six he was vice president, Geospatial Strategies, for the years. Since 2004 he has co-chaired the Mapping and ES3 Sector of the Titan Corporation. He is a member Engineering Standards Committee for the Association of the NRC Water Science and Technology Board and of State Flood Plain Managers (ASFPM). the Committee to Review the Joint Sub­committee on Ocean Science and Technology ( JSOST) U.S. John Dorman is the director of the Geospatial and Ocean Research Priorities Plan. He is a member of the Technology Management Office in the North Carolina National Academy of Engineering. Division of Emergency Management. He is responsible for the development, implementation, and management Bisher Imam is an adjunct associate professor in the of all geospatial data, applications, and information tech- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineer- nology infrastructure. Mr. Dorman previously served ing and a senior researcher at the Center for Hydro­ as the statewide planning administrator for the Office meteorology and Remote Sensing at the University of State Budget, Planning, and Management, where of California, Irvine (UCI). He received a Ph.D. in he oversaw statewide programmatic and performance watershed hydrology from the University of Arizona. planning and budgeting, the North Carolina Geodetic Dr. Imam’s research focuses on (1) use of remote sensing Survey, the State Data Center, and the North Carolina data and GIS to study the impacts of climate variability Center for Geographic Information and Analysis. Follow­ on water resource availability and hydrologic responses of ing Hurricane Floyd in 1999, North Carolina became both urban and natural watersheds, (2) representation of the first state in the nation to be designated a cooperating spatial variability of hydrologic properties and processes technical state under FEMA’s Cooperating Technical in hydrologic models, (3) uncertainty analysis in hydro- Partners program. From this designation, the North logic models, and (4) bridging the gap between science Carolina Floodplain Mapping Program (NCFMP) was and applications. Prior to joining UCI, Dr. Imam was created and placed under Mr. Dorman’s super­vision. In the associate director of the Hydrologic Data and Infor- 2005, Mr. Dorman was given responsibility for manag- mation System at the University of Arizona, where he ing all information technology infrastructure and appli- led efforts to improve online visualization of and access cations in the Division of Emergency Management. to remote sensing data within a hydrologically relevant Mr. Dorman is a graduate of North Carolina State framework. Earlier, he contributed to the development, University with a degree in political science. testing, and evaluation of the Water Quality Decision Support System during his work as a researcher at the Gerald E. Galloway is a Glenn L. Martin Institute U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Southwest Watershed Professor of Engineering and an affiliate professor of Research Center in Tucson, Arizona. He has been a public policy at the University of Maryland, College consultant to the U.S. Agency for International Devel- Park. His 38-year career in the military included posi- opment, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and tions such as commander of the Army Corps of Engi- Cultural Organization, and occasionally to private firms neers District in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and professor on issues related to hydrologic data and modeling. and founding head of the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering and dean of the Aca- Wendy Lathrop is president of Cadastral Consulting, demic Board at the U.S. Military Academy. He was LLC; a licensed professional land surveyor in New promoted to brigadier general in 1990 and retired from Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland; and a active duty in 1995. Dr. Galloway earned his M.S.E. at licensed professional planner in New Jersey. She is also

APPENDIX B 111 a certified floodplain manager through the ASFPM The DEM Users Manual, published by the American and a certified floodplain surveyor through a joint pro- Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing gram between North Carolina, FEMA, and the Ameri- (ASPRS) in 2001 and 2007. He is a registered geodetic can Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM). surveyor, photogrammetric surveyor, and ASPRS- Ms. Lathrop received an M.E.S. in environmental c ­ ertified photogrammetrist. He is also a certified flood- studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Her prac- plain manager for the ASFPM. tical experience with the National Flood Insurance Program began with flood hazard mapping in 1974 Burrell E. Montz is a professor, director of graduate when the program was still under the Department of studies in the Department of Geography, and associate Housing and Urban Development, and continued with director of the Center for Integrated Watershed ­Studies years of field and office work relating to Elevation Cer- at Binghamton University. She received her Ph.D. from tificates, applications for Letters of Map Change, and the University of Colorado in Boulder. Dr. Montz land development and planning. Her firm, Cadastral has more than 25 years of experience with research Consulting, LLC, was formed primarily to provide in natural hazards, concentrating primarily on flood continuing education for surveyors, but now also hazards, floodplain management, and the social sci- includes her consulting practice. Ms. Lathrop served ence aspects of response and policy development. She as the ACSM representative to the Technical Map- has evaluated the effects and effectiveness of various ping Advisory Council to FEMA from 1995 through mitigation measures for flooding, including floodplain the council’s culmination in 2000, and has served on designation; the flow and use of warning system infor- task forces creating the current and immediately prior mation by different communities; and the use of GIS versions of the Elevation Certificate. to better understand vulnerability to multiple hazards. Dr. Montz served on the NRC Committee to Assess David F. Maune, colonel, retired, is a senior project the National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic manager for Dewberry in Fairfax, Virginia. He has a Prediction Service Initiative. Ph.D. in geodetic science and photogrammetry from the Ohio State University. Colonel Maune’s career Spencer Rogers is an extension specialist with North in military mapping, charting, and geodesy began in Carolina Sea Grant, where he specializes in ­hurricane- 1963 and included positions such as director of the resistant construction techniques, shoreline erosion, Defense Mapping School and commander and direc- coastal management, and marine construction. He is tor of the U.S. Army Topographic Engineering Center. also on the faculty of the University of North ­Carolina After retirement, Dr. Maune joined the private sector, at Wilmington’s Center for Marine Science and is managing projects for FEMA, USGS, the National an adjunct faculty member at North Carolina State Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), University’s Department of Civil Engineering. He was and numerous states and counties. He was instrumental previously employed by the Florida Bureau of Beaches in FEMA’s transition to the use of Global Positioning and Shores. Mr. Rogers has an M.S. in coastal and System (GPS) and lidar (light detection and ranging) oceanographic engineering from the University of technologies and is recognized as an industry leader Florida. He represents marine science and technology in the use of lidar data for floodplain mapping and in on the North Carolina Coastal Resources Advisory the independent quality assurance and quality control Council, which advises the North Carolina Coastal (QA/QC) of lidar data. He wrote FEMA’s standards Resources Commission on coastal management regula- for aerial mapping and surveying, which include the tions. Mr. Rogers is a member of FEMA’s Hurricane use of lidar technology in hydraulic modeling. He was Katrina Mitigation Assessment Team, North Carolina’s the principal author of National Height Modernization floodplain mapping Cooperating Technical State com- Study—Report to Congress, published by the National mittee (for which he reviews the coastal maps), and Geodetic Survey in 1998, and editor and principal the National Institute of Building Sciences HAZUS author of both the first and the second editions of (Hazards, U.S.) Flood and Hurricane committees. He Digital Elevation Model Technologies and Applications: is a member of the National Association of Coastal

112 APPENDIX B Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers interests include storm surges, coastal waves, current- (ASCE), ASFPM, and the American Shore and Beach wave interaction, bottom boundary layer dynamics, Preservation Association. turbulent transport processes, hurricane wind and land interaction, inundation processes, cyberinfrastructure, Karen L. Schuckman is an instructor in geography at the and numerical modeling and forecasting. One of the Pennsylvania State University, where she teaches remote models developed by Dr. Sheng, CH3D (Curvilinear- sensing and geospatial technology in the online GIS Grid Hydrodynamics in 3D)-Storm Surge Modeling programs offered by the John A. ­Dutton e-Education System (SSMS), can be used to simulate and forecast Institute. She is also a consultant to URS Corporation hurricane-induced storm surge, wave, and coastal inun- in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where she provides expert dation and has been applied to simulate and forecast knowledge in remote sensing and ­ photogrammetry— the storm surge and inundation in Florida, Alabama, including floodplain mapping, disaster response and pre- M ­ ississippi, Louisiana, and the Chesapeake Bay since paredness, critical infrastructure, and transportation—to 2003. From 1998 to 2003, he worked with Pinellas engineering practice groups. As the Geospatial Technol- County, Florida, and FEMA to review and update the ogy Leader at URS from 2005 to 2006, Ms. Schuckman Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) for the county supported response, recovery, and mitigation projects for using this model. Dr. Sheng is a current member of the FEMA following Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Asso- Prior to that, she spent 10 years at the EarthData Group, ciation, the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing where she held several positions including geospatial System, and the NRC Committee on New Orleans applications director for EarthData Solutions; senior Regional Hurricane Protection System. vice president of EarthData Technologies; and president and general manager of EarthData International of Juan B. Valdes is a professor and department head of North Carolina. Notable projects led by Ms. Schuckman the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineer- for EarthData include lidar acquisition for the North ing Mechanics and a professor in the Department of Carolina Floodplain Mapping Program, numerous Hydrology and Water Resources at the University of transportation mapping projects for state transportation Arizona. He joined the faculty in 1997 after serving departments, and technology demonstration projects for on the faculty of Texas A&M University and Simon NOAA, the National Aeronautics and Space Adminis- B ­ olivar University in Caracas, Venezuela. He is a regis- tration, and the Department of Transportation. Prior to tered professional engineer in Texas. Dr. Valdes received joining the private sector, Ms. Schuckman worked for his Ph.D. in water resources from the ­Massachusetts the USGS National Mapping Division, in Menlo Park, Institute of Technology. His research interests include California. She is the immediate past president of the stochastic and deterministic hydrology; flood forecast- ASPRS, vice chair of the NOAA Advisory Committee ing; analysis, synthesis, and sampling of hydrologic on Commercial Remote Sensing, and a member of the processes; mathematical modeling of natural resources NRC Committee on Floodplain Mapping Technologies. systems; modeling of space-time precipitation; envi- Ms. Schuckman has a B.S. in meteorology and a certifi- ronmental risk assessment; and stochastic modeling of cate in GIS from the Pennsylvania State University, and environmental processes. He is on the executive com- is an ASPRS-certified photogrammetrist and a licensed mittee of SAHRA, where he coordinates international professional land surveyor. research efforts, particularly on drought characteriza- tion and forecasting and water resources management Y. Peter Sheng has been a professor of coastal and in transboundary basins. He is a fellow of the American oceanographic engineering at the University of Florida Geophysical Union (AGU) and ASCE, and serves on since 1986, where he studies coastal hazards and the board of directors of the Consortium of Univer­ p ­ hysical and biogeochemical processes in coastal, estua- sities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, the rine, riverine, and lake waters. He received his Ph.D. in scientific advisory committee of the Inter American engineering and fluid and thermal sciences from Case Institute for Global Change Research, and on panels Western Reserve University. Dr. Sheng’s main research and advisory boards for AGU, NOAA, and NASA.

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Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Insurance Rate Maps portray the height and extent to which flooding is expected to occur, and they form the basis for setting flood insurance premiums and regulating development in the floodplain. As such, they are an important tool for individuals, businesses, communities, and government agencies to understand and deal with flood hazard and flood risk. Improving map accuracy is therefore not an academic question—better maps help everyone.

Making and maintaining an accurate flood map is neither simple nor inexpensive. Even after an investment of more than $1 billion to take flood maps into the digital world, only 21 percent of the population has maps that meet or exceed national flood hazard data quality thresholds. Even when floodplains are mapped with high accuracy, land development and natural changes to the landscape or hydrologic systems create the need for continuous map maintenance and updates.

Mapping the Zone examines the factors that affect flood map accuracy, assesses the benefits and costs of more accurate flood maps, and recommends ways to improve flood mapping, communication, and management of flood-related data.

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