Sept. 1, 2005
U-M experts available to discuss toll of Katrina, rebuilding, recovery
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Hurricane Katrina made 90,000 square of miles of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama a disaster area, but its impact is much more wide-ranging. Several University of Michigan experts are available to talk about a host of Katrina-related issues ranging from architecture and engineering to the history of disasters, public health and the emotional impact on the populations affected.
Hurricanes and their damage
Jerome Lynch, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and electrical engineering and computer science, can discuss wind loads acting on structures and the probable failure mechanisms expected during hurricanes. He can be reached by email until Sunday, jerlynch@umich.edu, and after that by phone at (734) 615-5290.
Nikolaos Katopodes, chairman of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, can speak about numerical prediction and mitigation of storm surges, flood waves, flooding in urban areas, etc. He has done extensive work on levee breaches and active flood control. He may be reached at ndk@umich.edu or (734) 763-9665.
James Wight, professor of civil engineering, focuses on the earthquake-resistant design of structures, and is involved in post-earthquake damage studies in Mexico City, Chile, Egypt, California, Japan and India. Wight can talk about structural design in hurricane conditions. He may be reached at jwight@umich.edu or (734) 763-3046.
Roman Hryciw, professor of civil engineering, is the chairman of the ASCE Geo-Institute Committee on Engineering Geology, and editor, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering. He can discuss hurricanes and engineering from a geotechnical point of view. He may be reached at romanh@umich.edu, or (734) 763-5491.
Emotional trauma
Dr. Israel Liberzon, associate professor of psychiatry, is director of the Post Traumatic Stress Disorders program at the Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs Hospital, and is director of the Anxiety and Stress Disorders Section in the Department of Psychiatry. He can speak about post traumatic stress disorders and neurobiology of trauma. He can be reached at (734) 763-6497 or liberzon@umich.edu. For assistance setting up an interview with Liberzon, call (734) 764-2220.
Jerry Miller, director of the Center for the Child and Family, can discuss the psychological impact of tragic events on individuals, especially children. Miller has done extensive research on childhood psychopathology as well as community-based treatment of children and adults. Miller can be reached at (734) 764-9466 or jmmiller@umich.edu. For more information on the center, visit: www.umich.edu/~uccf/.
Reg Williams, professor of nursing, researches coping, depression and post traumatic stress disorder. He said the uncertainty Katrina’s victims face as they attempt to find safe shelter adds to their trauma, and indeed they are being traumatized again since they are running out of food and water and might fear for their lives. Williams can be reached at (734) 647-4927 or rawill@umich.edu
Rebuilding, urban security and planning
Jonathan Levine, associate professor and chair of U-M’s Urban and Regional Planning program. He teaches courses in transportation policy and planning, public economics in urban planning, and quantitative planning methods, in addition to several doctoral seminars. Levine’s published work has significantly influenced the field of transportation policy. He can be reached at (734) 763-0039 or jnthnlvn@umich.edu.
Doug Kelbaugh, dean of U-M’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, is an internationally known expert on urban design, community planning and new urbanism. He can be reached at (734) 764-1315 or kelbaugh@umich.edu.
More on Kelbaugh
Recovery efforts
Gregory Button, adjunct lecturer of health behavior and health education, has been working as a co-investigator on a project with the University of New Orleans dealing with the vulnerability of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast to coastal storms. Button can speak about the region, its resources, its vulnerabilities and the recovery challenges. He can be reached at (734) 663-5576 or gvbutton@earthlink.net
Victor Roth, assistant professor of environmental health sciences and of emergency medicine, is an expert in occupational pulmonary diseases, including issues related to asthma, asbestosis and mold. He can speak to the hazards of the mold that grows in buildings that suffer extended moisture. The best way to reach Roth is by pager (734) 936-4000 - pager #4261 or vroth@med.umich.edu
Jack Gobetti, professor of dentistry, is an expert ondental identification of victims of mass disaster and the problems with identification in such a situation. Trying to identify floating bodies in a huge flood zone presents numerous problems—officials first would start with a list of missing persons and try to cross match remains against dental records. However, dental records for people in affected areas might have been stored in dental offices that have sustained flooding, as well. To schedule an interview, contact Gobetti’s office at (734) 764-1543.
Mark Wilson, professor of epidemiology, is director of the Global Health Program in the U-M School of Public Health. Wilson is an ecologist and epidemiologist with broad research interests in infectious diseases, including analyzing transmission of disease agents and the determinants of human risk. He can discuss infectious disease risks associated with the disaster. He can be reached at (734) 936-0152 or wilsonml@umich.edu
Sandro Galea, associate professor with the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, is interested in the consequences of disasters. He has conducted extensive research about the consequences of the Sept. 11 attacks and the March 11
bombings in Madrid, among others. He is also co-director of the Disaster Research
Education and Mentoring Center (www.disasterresearch.org) a project housed at U-M. He can be reached at (734) 647-9741 or sgalea@umich.edu
Rolf Deininger, professor of environmental health sciences, has a civil and environmental engineering background and studies a variety of issues related to water quality – municipal drinking water supply systems and bacterial contamination of open water, for example. Deininger can speak to the health concerns posed by the standing floodwater left after Katrina and the challenges of re-establishing proper treatment of sewage and storm runoff. He can be reached at (734) 763-4399 or rad@umich.edu
History of disasters
Douglas Northrop, associate professor in history and Near Eastern Studies, is an expert on the history of disasters. While primarily a specialist on central Asia, he has taught courses on the history of disasters and has spoken with national media outlets on the 2004 tsunami. He can be reached at (734) 647-0099 or northrop@umich.edu.
Katrina's impact on energy prices and availability
U-M has serveral experts who can speak about gas and energy. For a full list, visit: http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2005/Aug05/r081805
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Contact: Laura Bailey
Phone: (734) 647-7087 and (734) 647-1848
Contact: Joe Serwach
Phone: (734) 647-1844
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Phone: (734) 647-1411
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