Connect with an Expert

Dr. Robert Bindschadler retired in 2010 as the Chief Scientist of NASA’s Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory and a Senior Fellow of the Goddard Space Flight Center.  He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, a past President of the International Glaciological Society and is currently a NASA Emeritus Scientist, living in Quilcene, WA. He remains active in lecturing to audiences at all levels, in developing more effective means of communicating scientific knowledge and in assisting the scientific community to produce actionable information for policy and decision makers.  His extensive field experience includes leading 18 Antarctic field expeditions to study dynamics of the West Antarctic ice sheet.  He has led major multi-institutional and international research projects, testified numerous times to Congress, briefed the U.S. Vice President, and published over 160 scientific papers, including numerous review articles and is often quoted commenting on glaciological impacts of the climate on the world’s ice sheets and glaciers.

email: bobbindschadler@gmail.com

Jackson Blalock’s work focuses on developing collaborations to further community-scale sustainability in the face of environmental change, with an emphasis on place-based environmental education. In his role as an environmental outreach specialist at Washington Sea Grant (WSG), Jackson works on ecosystem-based management in southwest Washington’s estuaries and on hazards resilience along Washington’s coastlines.  In both roles, he builds off of stakeholder insights to create strategic tools and impactful networks that assist communities to overcome hurdles as they adapt to change.

Before his current position, Jackson was a 2017-2018 WSG State Policy Fellow positioned at The Nature Conservancy. He previously spent years assisting grassroots rebuilding efforts in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.  As a design-build contractor, volunteer, and through Tulane University’s Small Center for Collaborative Design, he assisted award-winning community-driven projects: agriculture education hubs in food deserts, affordable housing, runoff-neutral landscapes to address flooding and New Orleans’ first public skatepark. He has a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Washington, a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Clemson University, and studied structural welding at the Bayou Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors.

email: jackbla@uw.edu

email: paul.r.cereghino@noaa.gov

Mike Chang is the Climate Adaptation Specialist for the Makah Tribe. Mike is conducting a climate change and ocean acidification vulnerability assessment for the Makah Tribe. The results will be used to develop a Makah Tribe Climate Adaptation and Implementation Plan, inform the Makah Ocean Policy, and support the Makah Tribe’s engagement in state and regional marine planning and climate adaptation forums.

Some of his past work and research experiences include working as a molecular ecologist on marine invasive species and as a research assistant on the impacts of community based management in Solomon Island fisheries. In graduate school, Mike worked as a teaching assistant for the UW Biology department, a research assistant on a science communication project, and as the social media manager for Washington Sea Grant. His master’s thesis was on science art and how art can be used to communicate science and research. Mike has a B.S. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Yale University and a Masters of Marine Affairs from the University of Washington’s School of Marine & Environmental Affairs. Mike Chang was the 2015-16 Marc Hershman Marine Policy Fellow for the Makah Tribe/The Nature Conservancy.

Email: m.hsu.chang@gmail.com

Ken Connell is a Senior Coastal Oceanographer with over 14 years of professional experience in multi-disciplinary applied coastal projects combining field studies, physical and numerical modeling, analytical and predictive software tool development, and engineering and scientific analysis.  Ken has a  MS in Physical Oceanography and a BS in Oceanography/Marine Environmental Systems from Florida Institute of Technology. His work focuses on providing practical, yet technically-sound, science-based solutions to issues related to coastal infrastructure near communities and ports. He has extensive experience in the analysis of sea level variability, flooding, directional waves, currents and hydraulic forces, pollutant dispersion, tsunami risk, coastal erosion, sediment transport dynamics, and coastal morphology evolution for marine spatial planning and coastal resiliency projects. Ken has served as an invited peer reviewer for Journal of Coastal Research, Ocean Engineering, and Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering.

email: Kenneth_Connell@golder.com

Catherine Corbett  has served as the Chief Scientist for the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership since 2008. She leads the Science Team and manages the habitat restoration, research and monitoring programs.  She led an effort to establish voluntary numeric habitat coverage targets for the lower Columbia River. She facilitates the Science Work Group and biennial Columbia River Estuary Conferences and coordinates monitoring and restoration activities with numerous partners in the lower Columbia River. Catherine had been the Senior Scientist for the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program in southwest Florida for eight years where she led the development of published numeric water quality targets using an optical model, seagrass depth targets and seagrass light requirements and managed an interagency water quality monitoring network. Prior to that Catherine was a wildlife biologist in a national park in Morocco’s Middle Atlas Mountains. She has published multiple manuscripts on seagrass and water quality in southwest Florida. Catherine holds an M.A. in International Development and Natural Resource Management from Clark University, Massachusetts and a B.S. in Zoology and a Physical Geography Minor from Miami University, Ohio.

email: ccorbett@estuarypartnership.org

Jessica Côté is a Coastal Engineer and the owner of a small woman owned engineering consultancy, Blue Coast Engineering. Her focus is on process-based studies to determine the feasibility and environmental effects of sediment dredging and disposal, commercial aquaculture and coastal development and infrastructure.  Jessica also works with multidisciplinary teams to combine physical measurements, engineering analysis, and numerical modelling to develop restoration designs for estuaries and shorelines which balance stakeholder needs and increases resiliency  to flooding events. Jessica has worked on complex coastal issues across the United States and around the world since 1999 including four of the five major oceans. Jessica graduated from Tufts University School of Engineering in 1993 in Mechanical Engineering and Environmental Studies, and also has a Masters of Science in Ocean Engineering from Oregon State University. She is a licensed Professional Civil Engineer in the States of Washington and Alaska and published many peer reviewed papers.

email: jessica@gobluecoast.com

Greg Curtiss is a coastal engineer at Golder Associates Inc. in Redmond, WA with eight years of experience and is a licensed Professional Civil Engineer in the State of Washington. He completed his Masters degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Washington, focusing on coastal engineering and sediment dynamics. He has extensive experience in the design and implementation of field programs to quantify coastal processes; oceanographic data processing, analysis, and visualization; and coastal engineering analysis and design studies for marine and shore protection projects.

Email: Gregory_Curtiss@golder.com

Joel has focused his coastal engineering expertise on analysis and design along shorelines in the Gulf Coast and Pacific Coast.  Joel’s experience includes nearshore data collection, numerical modeling of coastal and estuarine systems (waves, currents, hydraulics, and sediment transport), flooding studies, shoreline master planning, permitting, preparation of construction plans and specifications, construction management, and post-construction monitoring.  Joel has performed analysis and design of major infrastructure, restoration, and recreation projects throughout Washington State including in Puget Sound, the Columbia River estuary, Strait of Juan de Fuca, Grays Harbor, and Willapa Bay.  Joel applies his knowledge of coastal hazards to inform design of sea level rise response plans, intertidal marsh and estuary restoration, bird rookery islands, fish passage, beach restoration, shellfish enhancement, shoreline protection, flooding reduction, sediment management, marinas and harbors, waterfront recreation, renewable ocean energy, and marine transportation.

Joel received a Master of Ocean Engineering from Oregon State University in 2004 and a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2002.  He is a registered professional civil engineer in the State of Washington.

email: JDarnell@esassoc.com

Kevin Decker is a Coastal Outreach Specialist with Washington Sea Grant, housed within the College of the Environment at the University of Washington. He works out of Grays Harbor College in Aberdeen. At Sea Grant, Kevin has focused on outreach efforts related to Washington Coastal Marine Spatial Planning, developed economic indicators to assess the economic health of coastal communities, evaluated the economic impacts of the shellfish aquaculture industry to Washington State, and serves on the Grays Harbor County Marine Resources Committee. Kevin has received a Bachelor’s in Economics from Boise State University, a Master’s of Science in Environmental Management from the University of Maryland University College, a Master’s in Applied Economics from the University of Idaho, and is completing a Ph.D in Environmental Science from the University of Idaho.

email: kadecker@uw.edu

Maximilian Dixon is the Earthquake Program Manager for the Washington State Military Department’s Emergency Management Division (WA EMD). He manages the Earthquake, Tsunami and Volcano Programs and is responsible for coordinating the seismic and associated hazard risk reduction efforts between federal, state, tribal, and local partners. He Chairs the Washington ShakeAlert Communications, Education and Outreach Committee, Chairs the Western States Seismic Policy Council (WSSPC) Tsunami Committee, is Vice President of the Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup (CREW), is the National Earthquake Program Managers (NEPM) Vice President, is on the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP) Coordinating Committee, and is on the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) Steering Committee. Maximilian received his Bachelor’s degree and two Master’s Degrees from the University of Washington.

email: Maximilian.Dixon@mil.wa.gov

email: jdragovich@aesgeo.com

Paul Dye leads Washington Sea Grant’s team of specialists and field agents who translate emerging science into practical guidance for coastal communities and marine-related business sectors. He joined Sea Grant in 2016 following a 28-year career in nonprofit conservation organizations, most recently with The Nature Conservancy in Washington. He currently leads a multi-agency partnership focused on increasing Washington’s capacity to address coastal hazards and climate impacts, supported by a regional coastal resilience grant from NOAA’s Coastal Management Program.

Paul currently chairs the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Ecosystem Advisory Subpanel, and until recently he represented conservation interests on Washington’s Marine Resources Advisory Council.  He lives in Suquamish, Kitsap County.

email: pbdye16@uw.edu

Jessica Engel is a Climate Preparedness Specialist for the King County Department of Natural Resources and Park’s Director’s Office. Jessica is working across multiple County agencies, with external partners, and stakeholders to incorporate climate science into existing and new County programs and projects. She is tasked with ensuring the County is prepared and resilient in the wake of increasing climate impacts to our region.  Jessica also comes with over eight years of experience as a water quality specialist with over four years as a stormwater permit manager, regulating, managing and enforcing municipal, construction and industrial stormwater permits in the region. Jessica earned her Master’s Degree in Environmental Policy and Management from the University of Denver.

email: 

Jessica.Engel@kingcounty.gov

Nicole Faghin is a Coastal Management Specialist at Washington Sea Grant based at the University of Washington. Nicole has worked for 25 years as a trained land use and environmental planner and lawyer specializing in waterfront planning issues. At Sea Grant Nicole focuses on alternative shoreline development to address sea level rise and habitat impacts and manages the Green Shores for Homes project; a grant funded effort led by the City of Seattle and San Juan County to create a shoreline-rating program. Nicole is a member of the National Sea Grant Legal Network, the National Working Waterfront Network and an active member of Washington APA where she is leading a climate adaptation effort. She also teaches courses on Coastal Resiliency and Sea Level Rise. Nicole received her masters in Urban Planning from MIT and her law degree from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, MA.

email: faghin@uw.edu

 email: zferdana@tnc.org

Tye has worked locally and internationally for a more sustainable and resilient future. As a Founder and Principal of Resilience Collaborative NW, he works with governments and businesses to help communities and organizations assess and strengthen their resilience in the face of change. Prior to founding Resilience Collaborative NW, Tye worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development, developing and managing large-scale programs to improve governance, strengthen democracy, and increase community resilience in places such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Bangladesh. He also worked for the Seattle Mayor’s Office and Seattle City Council on issues related to sustainability, green building, planning, and citizen engagement and played a lead role in establishing Seattle’s Office of Sustainability and Environment.

email: tye@resiliencecollaborativenw.com

Sydney Fishman is the current NOAA Coastal Management Fellow with the WA Department of Ecology’s Shorelands and Environmental Assistance Program. She earned a Master of Environmental Management, with a focus in Coastal Environmental Management, from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. While at Ecology, her work will focus on shoreline armoring in Puget Sound and finding alternatives to hard armoring structures. She is trained in geospatial analysis, coastal policy and management, and hazards planning. 

email: ​syfi461@ECY.WA.GOV

Jerry Franklin is a Risk Analyst for the Floodplain Management Section at the Washington State Department of Ecology. His team supports over 300 flood prone jurisdictions across broad stakeholder communities including homeowners, businesses, local, tribal, and regional governments, real estate, recreation, conservation, and several natural resource entities. Jerry is a physical geographer with over twenty years experience in GIS, GPS, and remote sensing technologies. He currently serves as the principle liaison to the Risk Analysis Branch of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to enhance community resiliency to natural hazards through mapping, analysis, and risk communication.

email: jerry.franklin@ecy.wa.gov

Bob Freitag is Director of the Institute for Hazards Mitigation Planning and Research and Affiliate Faculty at the University of Washington. The Institute promotes hazards mitigation principles through courses, student intern opportunities and research. He is coauthor of “Floodplain Management: a New Approach for a New Era” (Island Press 2009). Bob was past Director of the Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup (CREW). Before coming to the University, he had a 25-year career with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) serving as Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO); Public Assistance, Mitigation and Education Officer. Prior to FEMA he was employed by several private architectural and engineering consultant firms in Hawaii and Australia, and taught science as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines. Freitag received his Master of Urban Planning degree from the University of Washington. He is currently on the Board of Directors for the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM).

email: bfreitag@uw.edu

Tom Foster is an Assistant Actuary in the Liberty Mutual Insurance Enterprise Risk Management group in Seattle. Tom has had various roles in the insurance and catastrophe modeling industries with a focus on quantifying and communicating natural catastrophe risks including hurricanes, winter storms, earthquakes, wildfires, and floods. His primary interest is the impact of climate change on the frequency and severity of natural catastrophe hazards.

Tom holds a M.S. in Geology from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in Meteorology, with a minor in Earth Systems, from the Pennsylvania State University. Tom is also an Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society.

Roger Fuller is a landscape ecologist and spatial project manager at Western Washington University, focusing on river floodplains and coasts. He concentrates on understanding climate change vulnerability and adaptation for habitats and human communities, and works with local partners to identify information needs and translate science into formats that support local decision making.    

email: roger.fuller@wwu.edu

Dr. Carrie Garrison-Laney is a Coastal Hazards Specialist and Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory liaison at Washington Sea Grant, at the University of Washington. Carrie’s research focuses on tsunami hazards in Puget Sound and includes identifying and dating paleotsunami deposits, numerical modeling of tsunami inundation, and the use of intertidal paleoecology to study past tsunami inundation events.

​email: cegl@uw.edu

email: eghitis@nwifc.org

email: gretchen.glaub@snoco.org

Dr. Eric Grossman is a coastal and marine geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who leads the USGS Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound Project on Large River Deltas that examines coastal processes affecting ecosystem-scale estuary restoration and coastal hazard mitigation planning. Dr. Grossman studies hydrodynamics, sediment transport, coastal change, and coastal climate impacts and has published extensively on recent sea-level history in California, Hawaii, and the Pacific basin and coastal evolution since the last deglaciation and in response to historical land use change. Eric is a member of the Skagit Climate Science Consortium and in the Pacific Northwest has been helping to develop tools including the web-based Puget Sound Coastal Resilience Tool, to help resource managers assess vulnerability and prioritize protection/restoration opportunities to increase resilient ecosystem and coastal community investments.    

email: egrossman@usgs.gov

Hansi is the Environmental Planning Manager for Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.  She has worked for 20 years in environmental and conservation planning, water quality and salmon recovery.  At Jamestown S’Klallam, Hansi coordinated a Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Plan.  A particular concern of hers is on-site septic systems in the nearshore and deleterious effects on shellfish and finfish resources, especially in light of storm surge and sea level rise.  Hansi earned her Masters of Science in Natural Resource Administration and Management from University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH.

email: hhals@jamestowntribe.org

Erica Harris is a Coastal Scientist at AECOM in Seattle, where she specializes in nearshore processes, coastal hazards, and analyzing the role of climate change on coastal environments. She has experience performing coastal hazards analyses, risk and vulnerability assessments, and flood and erosion analyses. Before moving to Seattle, Erica worked at AECOM in Oakland, and she is very interested in incorporating some of the lessons learned working on these issues in the Bay Area to Washington State.

Erica earned her Bachelor’s Degree in GIS and Spatial Analysis at Ohio State University, and her Master’s in Coastal Oceanography with a focus on coastal hazards at Oregon State University.

email: erica.harris@aecom.com

Kaitlin Harris serves as the Project Environmental Planner with Puget Sound Partnership. In this role, she is tasked with supporting the development of the Puget Sound Action Agendas, current and future. Specifically, Kaitlin is responsible for leading the agency’s climate portfolio in an effort to integrate climate change guidance into its programming. Her responsibilities also extend to supporting major planning and policy initiatives, supporting the management of Near Term Action databases, developing and implementing Implementation Strategies, as well as participating in a number of agency-wide working groups.
 
Prior to joining the Partnership, she spent eight year in the nonprofit sector collaborating on community-based climate change adaptation projects. Kaitlin served as Project Manager with the University of Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN) in which she managed the implementation of the Urban Adaptation Assessment (UAA). She worked with Mercy Corps Indonesia, based in Jakarta, collaborating with the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) where she was responsible for supporting the implementation of urban resilience projects across the country.
 
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Environmental Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as well as dual Masters of Arts in Sustainable Development and Coexistence and Conflict Resolution from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.
 
email: kaitlin.harris@psp.wa.gov

Juli Hartwig is the Roadside and Site Development Manager for the Washington State Department of Transportation. As the HQ Landscape Architect, statewide she develops and champions roadside policy and manages specifications relating to roadside development. She has worked for WSDOT for over 12 years and has been involved with numerous projects involving wetland mitigation, roadside restoration and habitat restoration. Juli has a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Washington and is a registered landscape architect. She also represents WSDOT on the Washington Community Forestry Council.

email: HartwiJ@wsdot.wa.gov 

Darryl Hatheway is a Certified Floodplain Manager and Sr. Coastal Scientist with AECOM. He has 40 years of experience in FEMA coastal flood insurance studies and mapping and is a coastal subject matter expert on NFIP for the Atlantic, Gulf, Great Lakes, and Pacific Coasts. He also provided post-disaster assessments of coastal storm impacts on built environment, prepared analyses of dune erosion and wave effects, sea level rise analyses, assisted with natural disaster Public Assistance assessments, worked with state officials on coastal resource management programs, and have been engaged in many levels of community outreach. He is a graduate of Florida Institute of Technology in 1976 with B.S. in Oceanographic Technology. Darryl is still an active surfer for going on 50 years now with domestic travels to CA, FL, MD, NC, DE, NY, NJ, and international travels to Indonesia, Portugal, El Salvador, Spain, and (pictured here) Morocco.

email: Darryl.Hatheway@aecom.com

email: Lynn.Helbrecht@dfw.wa.gov

email: Brett.Holt@fema.dhs.gov

George Kaminsky is a Coastal Engineer with the Washington State Department of Ecology with 25 years of applied research experience in coastal engineering and morphodynamics. George oversees the Coastal Monitoring & Analysis Program (CMAP) at Ecology, a group that conducts beach and bluff morphology monitoring around the State using boat-based topographic lidar, multibeam sonar, and RTK-GPS. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Washington, and holds a PhD in Marine Science from the University of Sydney, an MSc in Oceanography from University of Washington, and a BSc in Ocean Engineering from Florida Institute of Technology.

email: gkam461@ECY.WA.GOV

Dr. Kathy Ketteridge has more than 17 years of experience in analysis and design of a wide variety of coastal engineering, restoration, and enhancement projects on the West, Gulf, and East coasts. She has provided technical expertise to design efforts through modeling and oceanographic analysis, as well as managed estuarine- and marine-based engineering projects from initial planning and permitting through design and construction. She leads business development and strategic marketing efforts for coastal engineering/waterfront/restoration sectors.

Dr. Ketteridge brings focused and proven technical proficiency to projects in the areas of metocean data analysis, coastal processes evaluation, hydrodynamic and sediment transport modeling, scour analysis, analysis of hydrodynamic and vessel loads on coastal protection and port structures, development of coastal design criteria, design of soft and hard shoreline stabilization, and analysis of impacts of sea level rise on project implementation and sustainability. She is experienced with a wide-range of numerical models including 2 D and 3-D hydrodynamic models (Delft3D, RMA2, HEC-RAS), wave transformation models (STWAVE, SWAN), and berthing/mooring load models (OPTIMOOR).

She has also been involved in or led projects involving significant stakeholder and/or public involvement, and is recognized for her ability to communicate scientific and engineering information to a wide audience.

email: kketteridge@anchorqea.com

Casey Kramer is a Principal Engineer at Northwest Hydraulic Consultant in Olympia, WA. Casey’s background is in the areas of hydrology, hydraulics, sediment transport, scour, river engineering and fish passage while specializing in hydraulic design of transportation facilities. He was previously the State Hydraulic Engineer for the Washington State Department of Transportation and served as a technical expert for assessing vulnerability of transportation assets from a changing climate and extreme events. Casey is currently serving on a National Research Panel focusing on developing methods to apply climate change information to hydrologic and hydraulic design of transportation infrastructure. Casey obtained his B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Washington State University and his M.S. in Hydraulic Engineering from the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research at the University of Iowa. Casey is a licensed Professional Engineer in the States of Washington, California and Alaska.

email: CKramer@nhcweb.com

email: Jay.Krienitz@dfw.wa.gov

Kyle Landon is a Coastal Engineer with Moffatt & Nichol, and is based out of Seattle. As a Coastal Engineer, he has contributed to the design and construction of marinas, urban waterfronts, coastal protection structures, navigation channels, wetland restorations, and shoreline restorations. Kyle regularly analyzes and documents metocean conditions, coastal hazards, coastal geomorphology, sea-level rise vulnerability, and environmental impacts for sites all over the West Coast — from San Diego to Alaska. These studies are used to support the design and repair of coastal structures as well as local planning efforts. Kyle is  an avid GIS user, and employes his knowledge of the software to successfully communicate designs, complex processes, and coastal hazards to clients and stakeholders.
 
Kyle received a BS in Civil Engineering from University of California, Davis, and a MS in Coastal Engineering from Oregon State University. He has been practicing or studying coastal engineering since 2007 and is a registered professional engineer in Washington and California. 

email: ​klandon@moffattnichol.com

Brian Lynn manages the Coastal/Shorelands Section at the Washington State Department of Ecology. He leads a group of staff who provide policy assistance, regulatory and planning oversight, scientific support, and financial assistance to communities. He also serves as the State’s Coastal Program Manager and represents state interests at the regional and national level. He is interested in building partnerships to develop technical and management resources that support resilient coastal communities.

email: brian.lynn@ecy.wa.gov

Andrea MacLennan is a coastal geomorphologist at Coastal Geologic Services, where she integrates data to develop tools that can be used in nearshore restoration, conservation planning, and applied coastal management. She is focused on better understanding the range of effects that climate change has on Puget Sound nearshore environments.  Recently, Andrea has been quantifying long-term trends in shoreform change for the various types of shores found in Puget Sound. This can be used to project future shoreform change and identify areas most vulnerable to sea level rise.

email: andrea@coastalgeo.com

Dr. Guillaume S. Mauger (Research Scientist, Climate Impacts Group, UW Seattle) is a climate scientist specializing in quantifying the impacts of climate change on human and natural systems. Guillaume’s work centers on evaluating approaches to downscaling climate projections to fine scales and modeling the resulting changes in impacts-relevant variables. His current work focuses on quantifying changes in flood risk. He has a BS in Physics from Harvey Mudd College and a PhD in Climate Science from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

email: gmauger@uw.edu

email: smck461@ECY.WA.GOV

David Michalsen began with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Portland District in 2004. He has been at the USACE, Seattle District since 2006 and is presently the Coastal Engineering Unit lead within the Hydraulic Engineering Section. Mr. Michalsen is a registered professional civil engineer in the State of Washington and is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.    Mr. Michalsen received his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Iowa in 2002. He received his Master of Ocean Engineering from Oregon State University in 2004.  He supports the USACE Civil Works mission and has worked on numerous coastal storm damage reduction, ecosystem restoration, deep draft navigation improvement, and Operations and Maintenance projects.  Mr. Michalsen’s project territory consists of coastal infrastructure located on the Oregon and Washington coast, including key waterways such as the Mouth of the Columbia River, Willapa Bay, Grays Harbor, Quillayute River, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Puget Sound.  Project examples include coastal navigation structure repair/rehabilitation, deep and shallow draft navigation channel deepening/realignment, dredge material management, beach nourishment, dune restoration, coastal/estuarine ecosystem restoration, and environmental remediation.  Mr. Michalsen also serves as a consultant to the USACE Emergency Management Office regarding coastal hazards in Washington State.  Mr. Michalsen has published several peer reviewed journal manuscripts and conference papers in the field of coastal engineering.    

email:  David.R.Michalsen@usace.army.mil 

Center for Collaborative Systems for Security, Safety, and Regional Resilience
http://resilscience.com 

email: milessb@uw.edu

Dr. Ian Miller is Washington Sea Grant’s coastal hazards specialist, working out of Peninsula College in Port Angeles as well as the Olympic Natural Resources Center in Forks. Dr. Miller works with coastal communities on the Olympic Peninsula to increase their ability to plan for and manage coastal hazards, including tsunami, chronic erosion, coastal flooding and hazards associated with climate change. Before joining WSG, Dr. Miller served as the education director of the Olympic Park Institute and as Washington field coordinator for the nonprofit Surfrider Foundation. Ian received a bachelor’s degree in marine ecology at Western Washington University’s Huxley College of Environmental Studies and earned a doctoral degree in ocean sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz.  His graduate research focused on the transport and fate of sediment in the coastal zone adjacent to the Elwha River delta. Find him online at the Coast Nerd Gazette.

email: immiller@uw.edu

Sarah Miller is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) who currently serves as the contract Emergency Management Coordinator for the 16 cities of south King County, Washington. Prior to that, she was the Emergency Manager for the City of Auburn, Washington for 9 years. Her 25 years of public service includes 12 years as a public safety dispatcher and 9 years as a search and rescue volunteer. Sarah has been an adjunct faculty member at various colleges and universities since 2002. She currently teaches undergraduate courses at Jacksonville State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and graduate courses at Georgetown University and Adler University. In addition, she works with a number of FEMA training partners to deliver courses across the country on topics including social media, whole community, climate adaptation, and situational awareness, as well as teaching in the National Basic and Advanced Emergency Management Academies. Sarah is active in the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), currently serving as Vice-President of Region 10, Chair of the Emerging Technology Caucus, and as a member of both the Global Communications Work Group. She holds a Master of Public Administration degree in Emergency Management, is a graduate of the National Emergency Management Advanced Academy, and has completed doctoral work in homeland security, terrorism, and public policy. A native of Oregon, Sarah has lived in Washington State since 1997 with her husband and a random assortment of cats. You can find her on Twitter as @scba.

email: sarah@skmillerconsulting.com

Harriet Morgan is a research consultant with the UW Climate Impacts Group. In close collaboration with state and local agencies, communities, and tribes, Harriet evaluates the effects of climate change on natural resources throughout the Pacific Northwest, with a special focus on vulnerability assessments and adaptation plans. She is currently working on the Washington Coastal Resilience Project to help develop probabilistic sea level projections for Washington state and is also helping develop guidance for incorporating sea level rise projections into the siting, design, and maintenance of nearshore habitat restoration projects in Puget Sound. Harriet received a B.S. in Conservation Biology from McGill University and a M.S. in Conservation Ecology from the University of Michigan.

email: ​hmorg@uw.edu

Jeremy Mull is a Coastal Engineer at AECOM in Seattle, Washington. His work focuses on coastal vulnerability to flooding and inundation, sea level rise and climate change adaptation, structure and shoreline design, coastal erosion, sediment transport, nearshore wave processes, shoreline restoration, bathymetric and topographic surveying, and tsunami modeling. He is interested in using shoreline design, particularly shoreline restoration and natural shoreline design, to help communities and clients increase their protection against coastal storms and future sea level rise. He received his Masters Degree in Coastal Engineering from Oregon State University where he did research on coastal dune erosion in the Pacific Northwest. Although much of his work is based in the Northwest, he has projects in California, Oregon, British Columbia, Alaska, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, and Florida. He is a licensed Professional Civil Engineer in the State of California.
 
email: jeremy.mull@aecom.com

Dr. Nouri is a coastal engineer with Moffatt &Nichol based in Seattle, WA with +10 years of professional and academic experience in coastal engineering and numerical modeling of coastal processes including wind-induced erosion, wave structure interaction, tsunami generation/propagation modeling, passing vessel hydrodynamic effects & mooring analysis, sediment mobility & capping design.
 
Younes is passionate about studying storms and beach storm response and has worked on several local and regional projects including a Lake Washington wave climatology for City of Seattle.
 
Originally from Tehran, Iran Younes received a PhD degree in coastal engineering at the Johns Hopkins University working with Robert Dalrymple. Younes is actively engaged with the professional community and is currently a member of COPRI Governing Board and ASCE 7 Tsunami Loads & Effects Committee.

email: ​ynouri@moffattnichol.com

Mitch Paine is a program manager with the King County River and Floodplain Management Section. He oversees a variety of programs including the County’s participation in the Community Rating System, which is among the highest rated in the country. Mitch manages the countywide flood planning efforts and will lead the update of the Flood Hazard Management Plan over the next few years. He also is an affiliate lecturer at the University of Washington and the co-chair of the Association of State Floodplain Managers Mitigation Committee.
 
Mitch previously served as the State Floodplain Manager for Nebraska and oversaw the regulatory and flood mitigation programs. He worked with over 400 cities, villages, and counties across the state and helped many after major flood and tornado disasters. Mitch’s team won the Tom Lee State Award for Excellence in Floodplain Management from the Association of State Floodplain Managers. He holds a Master of Regional Planning from Cornell University and has previously worked for the World Bank and the Mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska.

email: mpaine@kingcounty.gov

Jeff Parsons is a coastal scientist at Herrera with nearly 20 years of experience working with coastal physical processes and their interaction with the built environment. Dr. Parsons brings an interdisciplinary approach to the solution of complex environmental problems by drawing on his diverse background in civil engineering, geology, and oceanography. He has worked extensively with coastal hazard and climate change issues for his entire career. This has included modeling tsunami inundation and incident wave fields, identifying coastal geomorphic changes, interpreting past climate change and coastal hazards from the sedimentary record, and estimating future sea level rise. He maintains an affiliate appointment in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington.

email: jparsons@herrerainc.com

Joyce Phillips is a Senior Planner with the City of Olympia Community Planning & Development Department.  She has over 25 years of planning experience, working at city, county, and state governments.  She received a Bachelor’s degree in Geography & Land Studies from Central Washington University, with a minor in Environmental Studies.  Joyce holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from The Evergreen State College, with a focus on land use, transportation, and energy. 

Joyce is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, was appointed by the Governor to serve on the state’s Commute Trip Reduction Board (2006 – 2016), and was the 2006 recipient of the Barbara Grace Award for promoting the ideals of planning through public service.

email: jphillip@ci.olympia.wa.us

Steven has served as a  Senior Hazard Mitigation Assistance Specialist and Climate Change Coordinator with FEMA Region 10 – Seattle, since March 2007. He is responsible for overall policy guidance and assists with program management of FEMA’s three Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant programs within the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. He also provides direct program implementation of Non-Disaster HMA grants assisting the State of Washington. He serves on FEMA’s national Integrated Program Team for Hazard Mitigation Assistance. Hazard mitigation grants are intended to reduce damages resulting from natural hazards through reinforcement of existing buildings and infrastructure or through removal of structures from highly vulnerable areas. Since July 2013, Randolph has also served as the Region 10 Coordinator for Climate Change issues, and is a member of the FEMA Disaster Resilience Working Group.

Randolph is a City Planner by profession, trained through the philosophy of Design with Nature. He served in FEMA Region 4 – Atlanta, for 17 years, as the Non-Disaster HMA Lead. Randolph also served as Regional Project Impact Coordinator from 1998-2003. Project Impact was a program fostering grass-roots community disaster resilience, with a focus on pre-disaster hazard mitigation planning, preparedness, outreach, and private/public partnerships.  From 1990 through 1995, he served as a Floodplain Management Specialist assisting the States and communities in North and South Carolina and Florida implement the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). 
 
Prior to FEMA, from 1977 through 1990, Randolph served as a Zoning Administrator, Small Cities Planner, Historic Programs Coordinator, and Floodplain Manager for Umatilla County in Pendleton, Oregon. He prepared several nomination packages for listing structures in the National Register of Historic Places, and conducted a 660-structure historical inventory of Umatilla County and cities. During 1977 he served an internship as the first City Planner for the Regional District of Mt. Waddington, in Port McNeill, at the north end of Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

email: steven.randolph@fema.dhs.gov

Carol Lee Roalkvam is Policy Branch Manager in Washington State Department of Transportation’s Environmental Services Office. She directs WSDOT’s climate change adaptation and resilience efforts. Under her leadership, WSDOT completed a statewide vulnerability assessment of all state-owned transportation assets. Carol Lee works with six regions, state ferries, public transit, and aviation to address emerging issues and improve environmental compliance. She is a member of WSDOT’s Sustainable Transportation Team, working to provide a sustainable and integrated multimodal transportation system. She represents WSDOT on the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Standing Committee on Environment (SCOE) and is on the advisory board of the Center for Environmental Excellence. She earned a M.A. Environmental Studies/Political Science Western WA University, and B.A from American University, Washington DC.

email: RoalkvC@wsdot.wa.gov

email: ​Alex.Rosen@ecy.wa.gov

Byron Rot is the Salmon Recovery Coordinator for the San Juan Islands Watershed (also known as Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 2) at San Juan County. Formerly the Habitat Program Manager for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, he has 14 years of experience with salmon habitat restoration and protection projects. Byron co-managed the creation of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s Climate Change Preparation Plan, which convened Tribal Councils, key elders, department directors, and private consultants to identify the dangers of continued shoreline development and plan for sea level rise on Tribal land. This planning effort has since been duplicated across the North Olympic Peninsula. Byron hopes to continue sea level rise work on managed retreat planning, specifically as it relates to salmon and forage fish habitat in the San Juan Islands.

email: byronr@sanjuanco.com

Peter Ruggiero is an Associate Professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University (http://ceoas.oregonstate.edu/profile/ruggiero/). Ruggiero’s primary research interests include coastal geomorphology and coastal hazards and he has over two decades of experience in assessing the impacts of storms to beaches and dunes. Currently Ruggiero’s research group is developing probabilistic approaches for assessing vulnerability to coastal hazards in light of a changing and variable climate. 

Ruggiero was lead author on the Oregon Climate Change Assessment Report’s chapter on climate impacts to coasts and estuaries (Ruggiero et al. 2010b) and a contributing author on both national and regional National Climate Assessment reports (Williams et al. 2012, Reeder et al. 2013).

email: ruggierp@science.oregonstate.edu

John Schelling is the Emergency Management & Safety Administrator for the Washington State Department of Commerce. He is responsible for coordinating the agency’s disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery efforts with federal, state, tribal, and local partners. John also leads Commerce’s Resilient Communities Strategic Breakthrough Team with a goal of helping to align the agency’s services with local needs in order to enhance community resilience across the state.

In addition to his emergency management expertise, John has an extensive background in state and local government with an emphasis on policy analysis, land use planning, and implementation of smart growth management strategies. John received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of West Florida and Master’s Degree from the University of South Florida.

email: john.schelling@commerce.wa.gov

Ann Schnitz has over 30 years of academic and consulting experience in environmental toxicology and has performed human health and ecological risk assessments using both State and Federal guidance; at least ten (10) years of that experience has involved the determination of the toxicological effects of contaminants on organisms in support of injury assessments, ecological risk assessments and community structure/impact evaluations.  Although polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are a particular specialty, she has evaluated the risks of exposures to metals, chlorinated solvents, pesticides and PCBs to a variety of receptors.

Other aspects of Ann’s career include project management, regulatory compliance, vertebrate and invertebrate taxonomy, comparative anatomy and physiology, marketing and business development, technical writing and presentations.  Ann received her Bachelors and Master’s degrees from New York University and her doctorate from Rutgers University.  She is currently a senior risk assessor at Advisian, a division of WorleyParsons, Inc.

email: ann.schnitz@advisian.com

email: gwen.shaughnessy@noaa.gov

Dan Siemann is Executive Policy Advisor for Climate Adaptation and Energy at Washington Department of Natural Resources. In this role, he is assessing impacts and opportunities related to climate change on DNR’s forest, aquatic, agricultural and rangeland operations. Dan previously worked with the National Wildlife Federation as their Environmental Policy Specialist for the Pacific Region. In that role, he led efforts to improve floodplain management and he helped create and draft Washington’s Integrated Climate Change Response Strategy. He also conducted a number of climate related projects for the North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative, including compilations of climate science regarding marine and coastal ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems. Dan has worked and traveled in Asia and Africa and he has a Master in Public Policy degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a BA from UC Santa Cruz.

email: Dan.Siemann@dnr.wa.gov

Bobbak Talebi is the Coastal Program Planner at the Washington State Dept. of Ecology in the Shorelands and Environmental Assistance Program (SEA).  In this role, he manages the implementation and operation of the state’s Coastal Zone Management Program; works on various shoreline and coastal planning projects; and provides planning and policy assistance to state agencies, local governments, and concerned organizations.  He has a particular focus in coastal hazards, and serves as the SEA Program lead on community resilience and climate change adaptation.  

email: btal461@ecy.wa.gov

Brynne Walker is a Floodplain Management Planner with Pierce County Planning and Public Works. She obtained an undergraduate degree from San Jose State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Earth Science and a minor in Atmospheric and Seismic Hazards. She currently works with the Pierce County Flood Control Zone District and is updating the Pierce County Rivers Flood Hazard Management Plan. She also provides planning support for the Capital Improvement Program and the Community Rating System.

email: 

bwalke2@co.pierce.wa.us

Heather Weiner is a Coastal Geoscientist in the Coastal Monitoring & Analysis Program (CMAP) at the Washington State Department of Ecology, specializing in coastal hazards, geomorphology, and nearshore processes. CMAP conducts quarterly beach topography surveys throughout the southwest Washington coast to monitor erosion and changes in beach elevation. CMAP also performs surveys around the Puget Sound to map and monitor beaches and bluffs using boat-based topographic lidar and multibeam sonar aboard the R/V George Davidson. Heather is CMAP’s field crew leader and the lead survey equipment operator aboard the R/V George Davidson. She earned an MSc in Marine Resource Management at Oregon State University, specializing in Coastal Processes and Hazards, and has a BSc in both Geological and Biological Sciences from Virginia Tech.

email: hbar461@ECY.WA.GOV

email: lwbinder@kingcounty.gov

Tina is staff scientist for Friends of the San Juans where she has managed shoreline research, restoration and protection programs for over 14 years. Tina received an interdisciplinary Master of Science from the University of Oregon in 1999.  She has twenty five years of experience in habitat conservation in the northeast and the northwest working with wildlife refuges, watershed councils and a natural history museum.  Tina served for 8 years on the San Juan County Marine Resources Committee and currently serves on the County’s Salmon Recovery Technical Advisory Group.  Tina lives on Orcas Island with her husband and son and is happiest on a beach, for work or play. 

email: tina@sanjuans.org

Kevin Zerbe is an Associate in Cascadia Consulting Group’s Climate and Natural Resources Management program. His work focuses on developing climate adaptation plans, vulnerability and impact assessments, and resilience strategies for a range of clients.

Before joining Cascadia, Kevin was a Special Projects Analyst with the City of Norfolk, where he led the city’s long-term disaster recovery planning efforts and took part in a climate resilience task force to address sea level rise and coastal storms.

Kevin has a BS in Urban and Regional Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University and a MS in Environmental Policy and Management from the University of Denver.