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Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative (2012)

Chapter: Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13457.
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Appendix A


Committee and Staff Biographical Information

COMMITTEE BIOGRAPHIES

Susan L. Cutter, Chair, is a Carolina Distinguished Professor of Geography at the University of South Carolina, and director of the university’s Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute. Her primary research interests are in the area of vulnerability/resiliency science—what makes people and the places where they live vulnerable to extreme events and how vulnerability and resilience are measured, monitored, and assessed. She has authored or edited 12 books and more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Dr. Cutter has also led post-event field studies of the role of geographic information technologies in rescue and relief operations in the September 11th World Trade Center attack and studies of evacuation behavior from Three Mile Island (1979), Hurricane Floyd (1999), and the Graniteville, South Carolina, train derailment and chlorine spill (2005). She led a Hurricane Katrina post-event field team to coastal Mississippi (2006) and since then has been studying the community differences in long-term recovery of the Mississippi coast. She has provided expert testimony to Congress on hazards and vulnerability and was a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Interagency Performance Evaluation Taskforce that evaluated the social impacts of the New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Protection System in response to Hurricane Katrina. She has authored a Trends and Outlook report for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Natural and Human-Induced Disasters and Other Factors Affecting Future Emergency Response and Hazard Management. Dr. Cutter serves on many national advisory boards and committees, including those of the National Research Council, American Association for the Advancement of Science, National Science Foundation, Natural Hazards Center, and the American Geophysical Union. She is a member of the International Council for Science’s Integrated Research on Disaster Risk Scientific Committee. She was a coordinating lead author of Chapter 5 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on “Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation.” Dr. Cutter serves as co-executive editor of Environment and is an associate editor of Weather, Climate, and Society. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and past president of the Association of American Geographers (2000)

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13457.
×

and past president of the Consortium of Social Science Associations (2008). In 2006, Dr. Cutter was the recipient of the Decade of Behavior Research Award given by a multidisciplinary consortium of more than 50 national and international scientific organizations in the social and behavioral sciences. In 2011, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of American Geographers. Dr. Cutter holds the Munich RE Foundation Chair (2009-2012) on Social Vulnerability through the United Nations University—Institute for Environment and Human Security, in Bonn, Germany. She received her B.A. from California State University, East Bay and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Joseph A. “Bud” Ahearn (member, National Academy of Engineering) is a recently retired senior executive at CH2M HILL, where he was an executive leader in the engineering business lines of transportation, environment, water, industrial design, and related infrastructure. During his 18-year career at CH2M HILL, he served as vice chairman of the board with responsibilities for strategic planning, governmental affairs, strategic communications, and leadership development, and also served in several other capacities including Transportation Business Group president, Eastern Region manager, senior vice president, Federal Programs director, and principal-in-charge for two major transportation corridor projects in California. Prior to joining CH2M HILL, Mr. Ahearn had a distinguished military career spanning three decades, where he achieved the rank of Major General in the U.S. Air Force. During his 34 years with the Department of Defense, General Ahearn was responsible for shaping financial strategy, developing budgets, and executing infrastructure programs totaling more than $7 billion annually. As the senior civil engineer for the U.S. Air Force, he directed the operational readiness and natural disaster response of U.S. Air Force combat engineers and the development and operations of all U.S. air bases around the world. Dedicated to advancing engineering education and providing sustainable systems and services in developing countries, he is a founding sponsor and governing board director of Engineers Without Borders USA. Committed to strengthening the engineering profession, he is an active Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), ASCE’s Industry Leaders Council, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Construction. In addition to numerous military awards, General Ahearn received the Air Force Order of the Sword, the highest honor that the Noncommissioned Officer Corps of the U.S. Air Force can bestow; the University of Notre Dame College of Engineering Honor Award for professional achievement; and the Newman Medal from the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) for outstanding military engineering achievement in Europe. He was also recipient of the SAME Golden Eagle award for lifetime achievement and was named an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13457.
×

Bernard Amadei (member, National Academy of Engineering) is professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Dr. Amadei’s research interests cover the topics of sustainability, system dynamics, and international development. At the university, he directs the Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities that has an overall mission to educate globally responsible engineering students and professionals to offer sustainable and appropriate solutions to the endemic problems faced by developing communities. His research at the University of Colorado has been multidisciplinary. He has also provided consulting services to various engineering companies and organizations around the world. Dr. Amadei is also the founding president of Engineers Without Borders USA and the cofounder of Engineers Without Borders International network. He has coauthored several books and approximately 160 technical papers. Among other distinctions, Dr. Amadei is the 2007 co-recipient of the Heinz Award for the Environment; the recipient of the 2008 ENR Award of Excellence; an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering; and an elected Senior Knight-Ashoka Fellow. He received his M.S. degree in civil engineering from the University of Toronto and his Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. In addition, he holds three honorary doctoral degrees.

Patrick Crawford coordinates disaster preparedness and relief efforts for the Feeding America Network. His responsibilities include collaborating with national partners in the emergency management and nonprofit communities to ensure effective collection and distribution of donated food items following disaster. Mr. Crawford also directs internal operations during disaster by coordinating among several Feeding America departments including Logistics, Food Sourcing, Philanthropy, Communications, and Government Relations and directly with the over 200 food banks throughout the network. Prior to joining Feeding America, Mr. Crawford served as the Director of the Midwest Region for James Lee Witt Associates (JLWA), a crisis and consequence management firm, where he led efforts in emergency preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation and provided strategic counsel and government relations advice to mitigate future flood losses near the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Mr. Crawford worked for over 16 years with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in crisis and consequence management, including responses to floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, and acts of terrorism. At FEMA he worked extensively in the Gulf region, following the catastrophic Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and in FEMA’s Region 9 (covering California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, and U.S. territories in the Pacific), where he worked directly with state and local governments to build emergency response, recovery, mitigation, and preparedness capacity. Mr. Crawford served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Chemical Corps where his primary responsibility was to ensure unit readiness with regard to Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical defense activities. He received his B.A. in

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13457.
×

government from the University of Notre Dame and his M.A. in education from Loyola College of Maryland.

Gerald E. Galloway, Jr. (member, National Academy of Engineering) is the Glenn L. Martin Institute Professor of Engineering and an affiliate professor of public policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. His 38-year career in the military included positions such as commander of the Army Corps of Engineers District in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and professor and founding head of the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering and dean of the Academic Board at the U.S. Military Academy. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1990 and retired from active duty in 1995. A civil engineer, public administrator, and geographer, Dr. Galloway’s current research focuses on the development of U.S. national water policy in general and national floodplain management policy in particular. He is currently a member of the National Research Council’s Water Science and Technology Board and the Disasters Roundtable. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Dr. Galloway earned his M.S.E. at Princeton and his Ph.D. in geography (specializing in water resources) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Michael F. Goodchild (member, National Academy of Sciences) is a professor of geography and director of the Center for Spatial Studies and Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is also chair of the Executive Committee of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis and associate director of the Alexandria Digital Library. He taught at the University of Western Ontario for 19 years before moving to his present position in 1988. His research interests focus on the issues of geographic information, including accuracy and the modeling of uncertainty, the design of spatial decision support systems, the development of methods of spatial analysis, and data structures for global geographic information systems. He has explored using digital information gathered by remote sensing satellites to create spatial and environmental models of the planet, make maps, and create digital libraries of geographic information that can be widely accessed electronically. He has also developed mathematical models to help quantify the difference between these geographic measurements and the reality of the world outside, so that geographic information can be accurately used. His research also includes digital libraries and problems associated with search, retrieval, and use of geographic information over the Internet; the potential for novel kinds of fieldwork enabled by fully mobile, wirelessly connected, and even wearable information technology; and the role of geographic information technologies in science and policy making. He has received several awards and published numerous books and journal articles. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, he has served on numerous National Research Council study and standing committees as both member and chair. He received a B.A. in physics from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. in geography from McMaster University.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13457.
×

Howard C. Kunreuther is the James G. Dinan Professor of Decision Sciences and Public Policy and codirector of the Risk Management and Decision Processes Center at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He has a longstanding interest in ways that society can better manage low-probability, high-consequence events related to technological and natural hazards. Dr. Kunreuther is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and recently served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Panel on Adaptation Strategies for Climate Change. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Society for Risk Analysis, receiving the Society’s Distinguished Achievement Award in 2001. Dr. Kunreuther is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Insurance and Asset Management for 2011-2012, and in 2009-2010 served as cochair of the Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Leadership and Innovation for Reducing Risks from Natural Disasters. He currently serves the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a chapter lead author of the IPCC’s 5th Assessment Report, Integrated Risk and Uncertainty Assessment of Climate Change Response. His most recent books are Learning from Catastrophes: Strategies for Reaction and Response (with M. Useem) (2010), and At War with the Weather (with E. Michel-Kerjan) (2009; paperback, 2011), winner of the Kulp-Wright Book Award from the American Risk and Insurance Association in 2011. He received his A.B. in economics from Bates College and his Ph.D. in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Meredith Li-Vollmer is a risk communication specialist for Public Health— Seattle & King County, where she leads planning for communications during emergencies, with a particular focus on strengthening the capacity of public health to reach those most at risk during emergencies. In this role, she conducts audience research, directs public engagement projects, develops strategies and materials for public outreach, and serves in a public information role during emergency activations. Meredith is also a researcher with the University of Washington Preparedness & Emergency Response Research Center and a clinical assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Recent bodies of work include public engagement projects on crisis standards of care and vaccine distribution, research on text messaging for public health emergencies, and development of comic books about disaster survivors. Her work has received multiple awards, including the Model Practice Award from the National Association of City and County Health Officials and the Gold Award for Excellence from the National Public Health Information Coalition. Prior to joining Public Health—Seattle & King County, Meredith taught communications at the University of Washington. She received her Ph.D. in communications from the University of Washington.

Monica Schoch-Spana, a medical anthropologist, is a senior associate with the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13457.
×

and an assistant professor in the School of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases. The Center for Biosecurity works at the intersection of public health and national security, to affect policy and practice in ways that improve U.S. resilience to biological and nuclear dangers. Since 1998, Dr. Schoch-Spana has briefed numerous federal, state, and local officials, as well as medical, public health, and public safety professionals on critical issues in biosecurity and public health emergency preparedness. National advisory roles include serving on the Steering Committee of the Disasters Roundtable of the National Research Council (NRC), the Institute of Medicine Standing Committee on Health Threat Resilience, and the NRC Committee to Review the Department of Homeland Security’s Approach to Risk Analysis. In particular, she has led research, education, and advocacy efforts to encourage greater consideration by authorities of the public’s key contributions to the management of epidemics, biological attacks, and other public health emergencies. In 2009, she organized the national conference Resilient American Communities: Progress in Policy and Practice, and chaired the Resilience Research Work Group. In 2006, she oversaw the Working Group on Citizen Engagement in Health Emergency Planning, and was the principal organizer for the U.S.-Canada summit on Disease, Disaster & Democracy—The Public’s Stake in Health Emergency Planning. In 2003, she organized the national meeting, Leadership During Bioterrorism: The Public as an Asset, Not a Problem, and chaired the Working Group on “Governance Dilemmas” in Bioterrorism Response that issued consensus recommendations to mayors, governors, and top health officials nationwide in 2004. She serves on the faculty for the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), a university-based center of excellence supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In 2003, Dr. Schoch-Spana helped establish the Biosecurity Center of UPMC; prior to that she worked at the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies starting in 1998. She received her Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Johns Hopkins University and B.A. from Bryn Mawr College.

Susan C. Scrimshaw (member, Institute of Medicine) is president of The Sage Colleges. She moved to Sage after serving as president of Simmons College. Dr. Scrimshaw was formerly dean of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health and professor of community health sciences and anthropology at UIC. Under her leadership, the UIC School of Public Health established a wide range of community, regional, and national partnership initiatives, including addressing disparities in the delivery of health care, improving pregnancy outcomes, maternal and child health, healthy aging, violence prevention, cancer prevention, AIDS/STD prevention, and occupational and environmental health issues. While dean of the School of Public Health, she led the school in a national role in responding to the September 11 terrorist attacks. Her own interdisciplinary research has focused on gender, race, ethnicity, and culture, and their impact on public health and includes community participatory research methods, addressing health disparities, improving pregnancy outcomes,

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13457.
×

violence prevention, health literacy, and culturally appropriate delivery of health care. She has been frequently honored for her work in raising awareness of public health issues around the world, including minority populations in the United States. Her awards include a gold medal as a “Hero of Public Health,” presented by the president of Mexico, and the Margaret Mead Award of the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology. She is the author of five books or monographs and numerous journal articles and book chapters. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, past president of the Society for Medical Anthropology, past chair of the national Association of Schools of Public Health, and served on the board of directors and as chair of the U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Science. She was a founding member of the task force on Community Preventive Services of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2006, she was awarded the Illinois Public Health Association’s highest honor, the 2006 Distinguished Service Award, in recognition of her distinguished service in research, teaching, and public health practice. She served on the governing council of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies and on the National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, as well as many IOM and NRC panels and boards. The Albany/Colonie Chamber of Commerce recently named her a Woman of Influence in the Distinguished Career category. Dr. Scrimshaw received an A.B. from Barnard College and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University.

Ellis Stanley is a vice president for Emergency Management Services at Dewberry LLC. Prior to joining Dewberry, Ellis served as general manager of the City of Los Angeles Emergency Preparedness Department. Before that, he was director of the Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency. In 2008 he served as director of Democratic National Convention planning for the City and County of Denver, Colorado. With more than 35 years of experience in the emergency management field, Ellis has worked at four national political conventions, the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, and the 1994 Papal visit and World Youth Conference in Denver. He is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Greater Los Angeles Red Cross Chapter and chairs the Response Committee. He served as chair of the Emergency Management Accreditation Program and the Board of Directors of Operation Hope and the Disaster Recovery Institute International. Ellis is a past president of the International Association of Emergency Managers and has led delegations of emergency management professionals to China, Japan, and other countries. He is currently a member of the International Association of Emergency Managers Global Board of Directors. Ellis serves as an adjunct professor at American University teaching Senior Crisis Management and at Harvard University teaching Meta-Leadership. He is currently chair of the National Research Council’s Disasters Roundtable. He was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration in 2007 and inducted into Contingency Planning and Management Hall of Fame’s Public Servant in

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13457.
×

2005. Ellis graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1973 with a degree in political science. He is a graduate of the Executive Leadership Program for Senior Homeland Security Officials for the Post Naval Graduate School in Monterey, California, and a graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s National Preparedness Leadership Initiative. Ellis was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Public Service degree by the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 2009.

Gene Whitney recently retired as Energy Research Manager for the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Previously, he was assistant director for Environment at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). His work at OSTP focused on the science and technology policy aspects of earth sciences, natural hazards and disasters, energy, water, land remote sensing, environment, and natural resources. He served as cochair of the U.S. Group on Earth Observations and was OSTP liaison to the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. He directed the Future of Land Imaging Interagency Working Group, and served as National Science Technology Council director for the Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction and the Subcommittee on Water Availability and Quality. Dr. Whitney coordinated the federal interagency science and technology portfolio for the United States in UNESCO. He served as a member of the Joint U.S.—Canada Task Force investigating the massive electrical blackout of August 14, 2003, in the northeastern United States and southern Canada, and worked with the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology on national energy efficiency policy. Prior to OSTP, Dr. Whitney was chief scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey Energy Resources Team, where he managed the energy research and assessment group, conducting basic research on the geology, geochemistry, and geophysics of fossil fuels; conducting national and global assessments of oil, natural gas, and coal resources; and assessing availability and economics of fossil fuels. He has authored or coauthored numerous scientific papers and abstracts. He received a National Research Council postdoctoral fellowship at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Jet Propulsion Laboratory and was awarded a senior postdoctoral fellowship at Ecole Normale Superieur in Paris. His international experience includes working with the governments of China, Russia, Pakistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, and Japan on energy and mineral resource issues. Dr. Whitney received his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Illinois.

Mary Lou Zoback (member, National Academy of Sciences) is a seismologist and consulting professor in the Environmental Earth System Science Department at Stanford University. From 2006 to 2011 she was vice president for Earthquake Risk Applications with Risk Management Solutions, a private catastrophe modeling firm serving the insurance industry. She was previously a senior research scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Menlo Park, California, where she served as chief scientist of the Western Earthquake Hazards

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13457.
×

team. Dr. Zoback has served on numerous national committees and panels on topics including defining the next generation of Earth observations from space, storage of high-level radioactive waste, facilitating interdisciplinary research, and science education. She is a member of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences, past president of the Geological Society of America, and past chair of both the Southern California Earthquake Center Advisory Council and the Advisory Committee for San Francisco’s Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety program. She is currently a member of the National Research Council’s Disasters Roundtable. She joined the USGS in 1978 after receiving her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in geophysics from Stanford University.

STAFF BIOGRAPHIES

Lauren Alexander Augustine is the Associate Executive Director in the Division on Earth and Life Studies and Director of the Disasters Roundtable at The National Academies. Dr. Alexander Augustine also serves as the Country Director in the Academies’ African Science Academy Development Initiative. She came to the National Academies in 2002 as a study director for the Water Science and Technology Board in the National Research Council and directed many studies on a range of water resources topics, including Texas instream flows, endangered species in the Klamath and Platte River Basins, and forest hydrology. Previously, Dr. Alexander Augustine worked at the U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division, doing hydrogeomorphic research in Coastal Plain wetlands. Dr. Alexander Augustine received her B. S. in applied mathematics and systems engineering and her Masters degree in environmental planning and policy from the University of Virginia; she completed her Ph.D. from Harvard University in an interdisciplinary program that combined physical hydrology, geomorphology, and ecology.

John H. Brown, Jr. is the Program Associate for the Disasters Roundtable at the National Academies in the Division of Earth and Life Studies. He came to the Academies in 2002 and has worked on numerous studies in conjunction with the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, including toxicity pathway-based risk assessment, the hidden costs of energy, a research and restoration plan for Western Alaska salmon, risk reduction and economic benefits from controlling ozone air pollution, and the environmental impacts of wind energy projects. Prior to joining the Academies staff, he worked with the Smithsonian Institution and the Kennedy Center. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Boston University.

Eric J. Edkin is a Senior Program Sssistant with the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources. He’s background is in website and graphic design and began working for the National Academies in 2009. He supports the work of several standing

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13457.
×

committees of the Board and has worked on numerous studies including spatial data infrastructure, geospatial intelligence, earthquake engineering and earthquake resilience, and deep time and climate.

Elizabeth A. Eide is Director of the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources at the NRC and served as study director for this study. Prior to joining the NRC as a senior program officer in 2005, she was a researcher, team leader, and laboratory manager for 12 years at the Geological Survey of Norway in Trondheim. While in Norway her research included basic and applied projects related to isotope geochronology, mineralogy and petrology, and crustal processes around the world. Her publications include more than 40 journal articles and book chapters, and 10 Geological Survey reports. She has overseen 10 NRC studies and provided collaborative support for 4 others on topics covering energy and mineral resources, energy and mining workforce, induced seismicity, floodplain mapping, international geosciences, data and tools to address at-risk populations, Earth surface processes, and applied remote sensing applications. She completed a Ph.D. in geology at Stanford University and received a B.A. in geology from Franklin and Marshall College.

Neeraj P. Gorkhaly is the Research Associate for the Board on Global Science and Technology, and Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy at the U.S. National Academies’ Division of Policy and Global Affairs. Neeraj grew up on Kathmandu, Nepal and is a graduate of The Ohio State University. For the last seven years Neeraj has been in science policy area contributing to reports as Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Responsible Science, Science and Technology for America’s Progress, Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research to name a few. Neeraj is an alumnus and was a mentor for the John Glenn Policy Internship Program in Washington DC. He is actively involved in the Nepalese-American community as an Ambassador for Grassroot Movement in Nepal (GMIN) and the founder of the Gorkhaly Foundation which organizes and administrates various programs and events for social awareness and development projects in Nepal.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13457.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13457.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13457.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13457.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee and Staff Biographical Information." National Research Council. 2012. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13457.
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No person or place is immune from disasters or disaster-related losses. Infectious disease outbreaks, acts of terrorism, social unrest, or financial disasters in addition to natural hazards can all lead to large-scale consequences for the nation and its communities. Communities and the nation thus face difficult fiscal, social, cultural, and environmental choices about the best ways to ensure basic security and quality of life against hazards, deliberate attacks, and disasters. Beyond the unquantifiable costs of injury and loss of life from disasters, statistics for 2011 alone indicate economic damages from natural disasters in the United States exceeded $55 billion, with 14 events costing more than a billion dollars in damages each.

One way to reduce the impacts of disasters on the nation and its communities is to invest in enhancing resilience—the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from and more successfully adapt to adverse events. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative addresses the broad issue of increasing the nation's resilience to disasters. This book defines "national resilience", describes the state of knowledge about resilience to hazards and disasters, and frames the main issues related to increasing resilience in the United States. It also provide goals, baseline conditions, or performance metrics for national resilience and outlines additional information, data, gaps, and/or obstacles that need to be addressed to increase the nation's resilience to disasters. Additionally, the book's authoring committee makes recommendations about the necessary approaches to elevate national resilience to disasters in the United States.

Enhanced resilience allows better anticipation of disasters and better planning to reduce disaster losses-rather than waiting for an event to occur and paying for it afterward. Disaster Resilience confronts the topic of how to increase the nation's resilience to disasters through a vision of the characteristics of a resilient nation in the year 2030. Increasing disaster resilience is an imperative that requires the collective will of the nation and its communities. Although disasters will continue to occur, actions that move the nation from reactive approaches to disasters to a proactive stance where communities actively engage in enhancing resilience will reduce many of the broad societal and economic burdens that disasters can cause.

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