LSU Hurricane Experts Available

Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana on August 29, 2021.

– LSU Earth Scan Lab.

LSU has a number of experts available to discuss topics related to storm preparedness, climate, economic impacts, recovery efforts and more during hurricane season.

To schedule interviews contact Abbi Rocha Laymoun abbirocha@lsu.edu or 225-578-3867.

Climatology, Meteorology, Oceanography

Kam-biu Liu, LSU Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, professor and chair, George W. Barineau III Professor
Areas of Expertise: Hurricanes and typhoons, paleotempestology, coastal paleoecology, global environmental change, palynology and lake-sediments in the U.S. Gulf coast and Atlantic coast, Caribbean region and Central America, South America (Andes and Amazon Basin), Tibetan Plateau, China
225-578-8203
kliu1@lsu.edu

Paul Miller, LSU Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, assistant professor
Areas of Expertise: Hazardous weather impacts; coastal meteorology; thunderstorms and land-atmosphere interactions. Conducted new research on how hurricanes can affect weather after landfall.
225-578-6458
pmiller1@lsu.edu

Robert Rohli, LSU Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, professor
Areas of Expertise: Coastal weather and climate, atmospheric circulation variability, atmospheric hazards, tropical cyclone dynamics, surface-atmosphere interactions, synoptic meteorology and climatology.
225-578-6346
rohli@lsu.edu

Jill Trepanier, LSU Department of Geography & Anthropology professor and chair
Areas of Expertise: extreme climatic and weather phenomena including tropical cyclones; applies statistics to analyze these events.
225-578-6192
jtrepa3@lsu.edu

Nan Walker, LSU Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, professor (JP Morgan Distinguished Professor in Coastal Studies); LSU Earth Scan Lab, Director
Areas of Expertise: Real-time satellite surveillance of hurricanes and Gulf of Mexico temperatures and currents of relevance to the prediction of hurricane intensity; impacts of tropical storms and hurricanes on coastal circulation and coastal erosion.
nwalker@lsu.edu
Visit www.esl.lsu.edu for satellite imagery and animations.

Human Impacts

Katie E. Cherry, LSU Department of Psychology, professor and chair
Areas of expertise: Disaster stress; current research projects focus on disaster stress related to the historic flooding of 2016 and prior hurricane experience. Wrote the 2020 book, "The Other Side of Suffering: Finding a Path to Peace after Tragedy" based on the lived experience of coastal residents who survived the 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
225-578-8745
pskatie@lsu.edu

Craig Colten, LSU Department of Geography & Anthropology, emeritus professor
Areas of Expertise: Historical and social geography of hazards. Most recent publication from 2021 is "State of Disaster: A Historical Geography of Louisiana's Coastal Crisis." Wrote The Conversation article, "Hurricanes can cause enormous damage inland, but emergency plans focus on coasts" and the 2009 book "Perilous Place, Powerful Storms: Hurricane Protection in Coastal Louisiana."
225-578-6180
ccolten@lsu.edu

Catherine M. Lemieux, LSU School of Social Work, PhD, MSW, LCSW-BACS, ACSW, PhD Program Director, Margaret Champagne Womack Professor in Addictive Disorders
Areas of Expertise: coping, trauma, resilience, disparate impacts, and vulnerable populations and communities.
225-578-1018
clemieu@lsu.edu

Michael Pasquier, Jaak Seynaeve Professor of Christian Studies and professor in religious studies and history
Areas of Expertise: history and culture of a fishing community outside the levee-protected system of coastal Louisiana; coastal Louisiana oral histories; and the history of religion in the Mississippi River Delta from the colonial period to the present.
225-578-2271
mpasquier@lsu.edu

Jen Scott, LSU School of Social Work, PhD, LCSW, associate professor, Coordinator, Graduate Specialization in Policy & Macro Practice
Areas of Expertise: reducing disparities in disaster-related mental health burden and building community-based response
225-578-0433
jenscott@lsu.edu

Tim Slack, LSU Department of Sociology, professor
Areas of Expertise: Community vulnerability and resiliency; disparities in impacts across social groups; social stratification and social demography.
225-578-1116
slack@lsu.edu

Kevin T. Smiley, LSU Department of Sociology, assistant professor
Areas of Expertise: Environmental justice; climate change; urban environments; health; social capital and community resilience. Wrote the Conversation article Homes are Flooding Outside of FEMA’s 100-Year Flood Zones, and Racial Inequality in Showing Through and research on climate change and environmental justice featured in Washington Post.
ksmiley@lsu.edu

Kerri J. Tobin, Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education, associate professor
Areas of Expertise: homeless and unstably housed families in weather disasters
ktobin@lsu.edu

Disaster Recovery and Resilience

Aly-Mousaad Aly, LSU Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, assistant professor
Areas of Expertise: Wind impact on the build environment; innovative mitigation strategies to build more resilient communities; large-scale wind testing at high Reynolds number under realistic turbulence.
225-578-6654
aly@lsu.edu

Traci Birch, LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio, interim managing director and School of Architecture, assistant professor
Areas of Expertise: Resiliency in community design and planning and coastal community development.
225-578-4990
tbirch@lsu.edu

Carol Friedland, LSU AgCenter LaHouse Research and Education Center and Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, associate professor
Areas of Expertise: Hazard-resistant construction and mitigation; performance of housing and other built infrastructure subjected to natural hazards; combined wind and flood interactions on structures; post-event data acquisition; remote sensing of building damage; hazard-resistant and sustainable construction; hazard mitigation planning and mitigation decision-making; and loss estimation.
225-578-7913
cfriedland@agcenter.lsu.edu

Navid Jafari, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, assistant professor
Areas of Expertise: Part of Hurricane Resilience Research Institute; Exploring new ways to get real-time data during severe weather events by deploying sensors using unmanned aerial vehicles in hard-to-reach areas; Investigates the performance of flood protection infrastructure and natural and nature based features. See "LSU CEE Professor Works With Coast Guard On Hurricane Preparedness"
225-578-8475
njafari@lsu.edu

Amin Kargarian, LSU School of Electrical Engineering, ISC Constructors, associate professor
Areas of Expertise: Power systems operation and planning, decentralized/distributed optimization, decision-making in smart grids, renewable energy and energy storage integration, infrastructure interdependency analyses in future power systems.
225-578-3091
kargarian@lsu.edu

Heather Kirk-Ballard, LSU School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences, assistant professor
Areas of Expertise: Landscape preparation and storm damage recovery
225-578-2110
hkirkballard@agcenter.lsu.edu

Nina Lam, LSU Department of Environmental Sciences, professor
Areas of Expertise: Flooding in inland communities across the U.S. and resilience to natural disasters. Wrote The Conversation article: "Americans who live far from coasts should also be worried about flooding."
225-578-6197
nlam@lsu.edu

Brant Mitchell, LSU Stephenson Disaster Management Institute, director
Areas of Expertise: Disaster response and evacuations.
225-578-5939
bmitch9@lsu.edu

Claudette Hanks Reichel, LSU AgCenter LaHouse Resource Center, director, professor and extension housing specialist
Areas of Expertise: Sustainable, resilient housing; residential building science; energy management; indoor air quality; disaster mitigation and restoration; universal design. LaHouse Resource Center is an educational sustainable housing demonstration facility
225-202-6593 (cell)
225-578-4440
creichel@agcenter.lsu.edu

Isabelina Nahmens, Professor of Industrial Engineering
Areas of Expertise: Construction, exploring and introducing advanced homebuilding production technologies into industry and improving homes’ energy performance. This has led to sponsorships from the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Energy (DOE), Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH).
225-578-0943
nahmens@lsu.edu

Edward Richards, LSU Law Center Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow: LSU Law Center Climate Change Law and Policy Project
Areas of Expertise: Flood insurance plans; flood maps; land use issues, extreme weather, coastal restoration, and climate change. His publications include: Applying Life Insurance Principles to Coastal Property Insurance to Incentivize Adaptation to Climate Change, 43 B.C. Envtl. Aff. L. Rev. 427 (2016); The Hurricane Katrina Litigation Against the Corps of Engineers: Is Denial of Geology and Climate Change the Way to Save New Orleans? (2018); and The Societal Impacts of Climate Anomalies during the Past 50,000 Years and Their Implications for Solastalgia and Adaptation to Future Climate Change, 18 Hous. J. Health L. & Pol'y 131 (2018). He maintains the Climate Change Law and Policy Project Blog.
richards@lsu.edu

Chao Sun, LSU Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, associate professor, P.E.
Areas of Expertise: Coastal hazards (extreme winds, waves, and flooding) modeling and mitigation of infrastructure systems (buildings, bridges, offshore wind farms, electric power grids, offshore oil and gas rigs, and pipeline systems) exposed to tropical cyclones.
225-578-8511
csun@lsu.edu

Children & Family

Cassandra Chaney, LSU School of Social Work, Human Development and Family Science, J. Franklin Bayhi Endowed Professor
Areas of Expertise: Various types of stressors; The impact of various forms of stress on families; How families can prepare for and navigate stressful events
225-578-1159
cchaney@lsu.edu

Eugene Geist, Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education, professor
Areas of Expertise: child and family under trauma and stress
225-578-2045
genegeist@lsu.edu

Anna Long, LSU Department of Psychology, associate professor
Areas of Expertise: Child and school psychology. She wrote the tip sheet: Helping Kids Cope with Traumatic Events and is a licensed psychologist in the state of Louisiana.
225-578-7605
along@lsu.edu

Economic Impact

David E. Dismukes, LSU Center for Energy Studies director and College of the Coast & Environment, professor
Areas of Expertise: economic impacts of tropical storms and hurricanes on Gulf of Mexico oil and gas infrastructure, production and transport; power and utilities infrastructure.
dismukes@lsu.edu

Dek Terrell, LSU E. J. Ourso College of Business Freeport-McMoRan Endowed Chair of Economics
Areas of Expertise: Regional and statewide economics; applied econometric and environmental-related studies.
225-578-3785
mdterre@lsu.edu

Evacuations

Brant Mitchell, LSU Stephenson Disaster Management Institute, director
Areas of Expertise: Disaster response and evacuations.
225-578-5939
bmitch9@lsu.edu

Brian Wolshon, Edward A. and Karen Wax Schmitt Distinguished Professor of Engineering in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and director of the Gulf Coast Research Center for Evacuation and Transportation Resiliency
Areas of Expertise: Hurricane evacuations and major event traffic scenarios. His recent projects have included the testing and evaluation of intelligent transportation systems and traffic-flow analysis, with particular emphasis in application for hurricane evacuation.
225-578-5247
brian@rsip.lsu.edu

Floods, Rivers and Storm Surge

Matthew Hiatt, LSU Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, assistant professor
Areas of Expertise: How the movement of water, sediment and nutrients in river deltas, estuaries and wetlands affects the environment; deltas and wetlands; environmental fluid dynamics; flooding and water level fluctuations.
225-578-6092
mhiatt1@lsu.edu

John Pardue, LSU Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering Elizabeth Howell Stewart Professor and Hazardous Substance Research Center, director
Areas of Expertise: Fate and transport of chemical contaminants during hurricanes and floods, handling debris after disasters and impacts of storm surge on industrial facilities; Part of Hurricane Resilience Research Institute.
225-578-8661
jpardue@lsu.edu

Frank Tsai, LSU Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, professor
Areas of Expertise: Watershed and groundwater flow, fate and transport modeling in aquifer systems and surface water.
225-578-4246
ftsai@lsu.edu

Clint Willson, Dean, LSU College of the Coast & Environment and Director, LSU Center for River Studies
Areas of Expertise: Watershed hydrology; physical and numerical modeling of rivers
225-578-8672
cwillson@lsu.edu

Photo, Documents and Book Restoration

Ed Benoit, LSU School of Information Studies, associate professor
Areas of Expertise: Recovering damaged photos and other items; documenting natural disasters, cultural heritage, archival process and audiovisual preservation; climate change impacts on cultural heritage institutions such as libraries, archives, museums, etc.
225-578-1469
414-336-4966 (cell)
ebenoit@lsu.edu

Anne Edwards, LSU Libraries Special Collections, facilities manager
Areas of Expertise: Disaster planning and management for cultural heritage materials and facilities.
225-578-6548
alsmith@lsu.edu

Caroline Ziegler, LSU Libraries Special Collections, conservation coordinator
Areas of Expertise: Conservation of paper-based materials; Cultural heritage preservation best practices.
225-578-6280
cziegler@lsu.edu

Communication and Social Media

Renee Edwards, LSU Department of Communication Studies, professor
Areas of expertise: Risk communication, risk and decision-making concerning extreme weather and climate events
225-578-6821
edwards@lsu.edu

Alyson Neel, LSU Manship School of Mass Communication, professional-in-residence
Areas of expertise: Health communications; Natural disaster communications; Crisis communication
aneel3@lsu.edu

Sadie Wilks, LSU Manship School of Mass Communication, public relations area head, senior instructor
Areas of expertise: Crisis communications; Strategic communication and social media management
225-578-3912
sadiewilks@lsu.edu

Animal Welfare, Pets and Wildlife

Prosanta Chakrabarty, LSU Museum of Natural Sciences, curator of fishes and Department of Biological Sciences, professor
Areas of Expertise: Deep sea fish in Gulf of Mexico and systematics of marine and freshwater fishes.
225-578-3079
prosanta@lsu.edu

Mustajab Mirza, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Equine Surgery, associate professor
Areas of Expertise: Large animals; equine surgery; small and large animal disaster response.
225-578-9500
kabooter@lsu.edu

Laura Riggs, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, associate professor of equine surgery
Areas of Expertise: Large animal disaster response
225-578-9922
lriggs@lsu.edu

Matthew Welborn, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, professor of food animal health maintenance
Areas of Expertise: Large animal disaster response
mwelborn@lsu.edu

Nancy Welborn, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, DVM, associate professor of community practice
Areas of Expertise: Small pets hurricane and disaster response
225-578-9600
nwelborn@lsu.edu

Wendy Wolfson, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, DVM, associate professor of shelter medicine
Areas of Expertise: Improving animal shelters in southern Louisiana, Teaching veterinary students and the law enforcement community the importance of identifying animal cruelty and prosecution of perpetrators, Providing care for pets found in the Louisiana prison system
225-578-9600
wwolfson@lsu.edu