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Vol. 1, No. 1 – September 2016
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Welcome to the first issue of the UREx SRN Newsletter!
We are excited to present our first quarterly newsletter to the network. Our goal is to keep you informed on UREx projects, events, and other activities occurring in each of our core cities and to ensure connectivity in our cross-cutting, interdisciplinary network by bringing you helpful information, ideas and product updates throughout the year.
Do you have new projects, upcoming presentations, or city updates that you would like to share with the network? Perhaps you heard of an upcoming event of interest. Send us your insights and ideas!
There are so many interesting activities happening throughout the network and our newsletter is just one way we can share that information. Be sure to check the website (URExSRN.net) for more helpful information and resources.
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NETWORK PRODUCTS
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PEOPLE CONNECTED*
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*includes all members recruited in year 1
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REPORTS
2016 ALL HANDS MEETING REPORT
Summarizes workshop discussions at the first All Hands Meeting, which was hosted by Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ last January.
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2016 ANNUAL REPORT TO NSF
Summarizes network accomplishments, products, and impacts in our first year.
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NSF ANNUAL REVERSE SITE VISIT
Executive Team members Nancy Grimm, Charles Redman, Mikhail Chester, David Chandler, Thad Miller, and Tischa Muñoz-Erickson, and Project Manager, Angela Gonzalez, visited NSF headquarters in Washington, DC, to present our first year progress and discuss a variety of topics (e.g., Education and Outreach, Social Sciences, Natural Science, Engineering, etc.) with our fellow Sustainability Research Networks sponsored by NSF.
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Fellow SRNs
- Sustainable Climate Risk Management (SCRiM)
Research question: “What are sustainable, scientifically sound, technologically feasible, economically efficient, and ethically defensible climate risk management strategies?"
- Urban Water Innovation Network (UWIN)
Focus: Research, engagement and educational programs that address challenges that threaten urban water systems
- AirWaterGas (AWG)
Research question: “How can we better integrate research about the environmental, economic, and social tradeoffs of oil and gas development into policies and regulations governing development?"
- Integrated Urban Infrastructure Solutions for Environmentally Sustainable, Healthy, and Livable Cities (EHL)
Focus: A new movement gaining momentum in cities around the world toward “distributed,” or more local, infrastructure.
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CITY PRACTITIONER
SPOTLIGHT
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Baltimore
The Baltimore team hosted a BES Quarterly meeting on June 16, 2016, which focused on extreme weather-related events and how these events affect and interact with existing and planned infrastructure. Primary topics of flooding and drought, heat, DPW response and planning, stormwater management practices, sanitary systems, and water/wastewater treatment plants and green infrastructure were addressed. Discussions included network expansion potential and inclusion of existing networks such as the Baltimore Urban Waters Partnership. It was determined that long term data and monitoring systems are more available at the city level. Researchers could improve methods for informing practitioners of existing research and data from BES and the science community, including precipitation data, vulnerability of dam failure, cost/benefit analyses and additional communication and networking opportunities.
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Hermosillo
In collaboration with the Instituto Municipal de Planeación Urbana del Municipio de Hermosillo (IMPLAN), Hermosillo wrote a proposal to develop a "Guidelines handbook for building and regulating urban Infrastructure in border cities," which was approved by the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) in August of 2016. As part of the activities related to the development of this manual, and in conjunction with UREx city practitioners, we have had two informal meetings and one formal workshop that was held August 16-17. During the workshop, academic members of the UREx practitioner team presented their research in the city of Hermosillo. Through IMPLAN, members of different Green Infrastructure Design organizations were invited, such as the Watershed Management Group in Tucson. A discussion session between green infrastructure experts, IMPLAN, and several members of the UREx practitioner team was held to establish the preliminary activities and the scope of the guidelines handbook. A larger discussion focused on regulatory aspects and another discussion was held regarding the need to account for unforeseen extreme events in the guidelines handbook. The first draft of the handbook is expected by May 2017.
A meeting with developers and the academic members of the practitioner team is now being organized for the first week of October, 2016.
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Mexico City
Mexico City is one of the most recent additions to our network of core cities. Hallie Eakin, a member of the MEGADAPT project, is working with her collaborative partners at the National Laboratory for Sustainability Sciences (LANCIS) at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) to establish discussions of synergies between UREx and MEGADAPT interdisciplinary research, especially relating to flooding and water scarcity. A central aim of the project is to represent the interaction of decision-making processes at local, city-borough and metropolitan scales in the production of social-hydrological risk. Key collaborators in the project are the Mexico City’s water authority, the Sistema del Agua de la Ciudad de Mexico (SACMEX) and the Organization for the Water Basin Authority for the Valley of Mexico (OCAVM), as well as a variety of civil society groups (e.g., farmers’ and ecotourism organizations, neighborhood groups). These groups have participated in defining their decision-criteria, priorities in relation to risk and vulnerabilities, and response strategies. Other stakeholders with whom the project has engaged include the National Center for Disaster Prevention (CENAPRED), the Procurator for Zoning and Environment (PAOT) of Mexico City, and the city’s the Secretary for Public Health and the Secretary for Housing and Urban Development (SEDUVI). The project is also collaborating with the 100 Resilient Cities Initiative in Mexico City, particularly in relation to the future of the Xochimilco wetland ecosystem in the south of the city, and with Center for the Study of Public Opinion (CESOP) in Mexico City in relation to the dynamics of urbanization.
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Miami
The Miami team has been meeting with city practitioners, beginning in April 2016 to review research co-production processes. Four key vulnerabilities correlated to city-defined extreme weather events are: poorly functioning or loss of infrastructure; risks to critical sources of local income; risks to insurance and financing of residential and commercial properties; and, the degradation of natural resources. The research and co-production teams will consider sustainability and resiliency plans that include transportation and stormwater master plans, utility and roadway upgrades, land development regulation amendments, dune and beachfront management, green infrastructure, water quality, urban reforestation, and creation of a sustainability and resiliency fund. The Miami team is collaborating with Chambers of Commerce and Hotel Association, and following closely work of the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Panel on Sea Level Rise, in addition to inviting conversations with local industry. We will continue to pursue independent community engagement grant opportunities to support city-wide initiatives.
Miami's Sea Level Solutions Center at FIU was recently launched to foster creative solutions to the complex issues of climate change through collaborative research, education, public outreach and engagement. Key partners in all of these activities include researchers from other universities, the Florida Climate Institute, scientists, practitioners, business and community leaders and the general public.
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New York City
The New York City (NYC) team has been in regular discussions with our practitioner leads including Adam Parris, Jessica Fain and Lesley Patrick at the Science and Resilience Institute @ Jamaica Bay. We met approximately monthly through the spring and summer to identify neighborhood level research foci for UREx, to plan stakeholder engagements, identify priorities for scenario modeling, vulnerability and risk assessments, and community and citywide needs for building resilience in NYC. We have also worked closely with partners at the West Harlem Environmental Action (WeACT) focusing on mapping, modeling, and stakeholder engagement for input to the Climate Resilience plan for Harlem and Northern Manhattan with a focus on extreme heat resiliency. We are regular contact with the NYC Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency, in particular connecting UREx to planning within the ORR UHI Task force as well connecting our work to the New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC).
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Phoenix
The Phoenix team has been meeting with city practitioners on a monthly basis to discuss potential projects that relate to the needs of Phoenix city officials and organizations. Our practitioner organizations include the City of Phoenix, The Nature Conservancy, The Flood Control District of Maricopa County, Department of Housing & Urban Development, and the Sustainable Cities Network. The practitioner-researcher team has identified several important projects and initiatives for collaboration between our practitioners and our group of researchers (4 postdocs, 10 grad students, and 25 collaborators). Projects include analyses of green infrastructure implementation, LiDAR use, transportation resilience, mapping vulnerability, and more – all of which are of particular interest to our practitioner partners. We are now collecting data and developing research questions related to the projects.
The Phoenix team is also working with the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) and the City of Phoenix on a two-day resilience planning workshop in October, where UREx collaborators will provide subject matter expertise to help business leaders prepare for extreme climatic events.
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Portland
The Portland research team met with 15 of our practitioner network members in June 2016. Representatives from community groups, and city, county and regional government attended. We had a lively discussion of the critical issues Portland is facing and how research might support near and long-term policy and planning, including assessment of the multiple benefits of green infrastructure, institutional barriers to planning for resilience, how extreme weather events will impact those most vulnerable, and how investments in climate resilience can be made in equitable and just ways. Several immediate projects were identified and research team and practitioner partners are already following up.
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San Juan
The San Juan team has held four formal meetings with 11 members of our Practitioner Network, including city and state level administrators, planners, environmental organizations, and non-governmental community and faith based organizations. During these meetings the research team listened to practitioners’ concerns over the threats of climate-related extreme events on the city and the people and places that are most vulnerable to those threats. Researchers and practitioners also discussed possible research projects to initiate, as well as existing resilience initiatives that the UREx SRN can already contribute to, including the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities in San Juan. The San Juan team is collaborating closely with Alejandra Castrodad, San Juan’s Chief Resilience Officer for the Rockefeller Foundation, to identify data and analytical needs that the UREx SRN can provide her team in the development of a Resilience Strategy for San Juan.
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Syracuse
Regular meetings were held through the spring and early summer with the City of Syracuse Innovation Team and with Travis Glazier and Ed Hart of the City-County Planning Agency to coordinate data collection and initiate review of the County’s Climate Action Plan. The City of Syracuse and Onondaga County provided many datasets to our summer REU students to conduct analyses of key parameters that include citywide maps of streets, roads, building footprints, the water system, Onondaga County land parcels, green infrastructure installations, Federal wetlands, FEMA floodplains, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation wetlands, streams, creeks, lakes and other bodies of water. Additionally, data were collected for digital elevation models, watersheds, subwatersheds and catchment areas, multiple year weather–related extreme events, precipitation, temperature, water quality, stream gage flow, and, Syracuse Metro area census. Students combined the data and created maps of the Social Demographic Index, outlining that areas of highest poverty coincide with areas of lowest elevation, which are likely to flood first in heavy storms. In addition, the preponderance of mitigating green infrastructure projects and emergency resources are located away from these areas of vulnerability.
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Valdivia
The Valdivia team has been meeting with local stakeholders to discuss climate resilience and vulnerabilities within the city. Urban flooding and extreme rain are unsurprising concerns in this rainy city, where there is a strong desire to link green infrastructure and wetlands into stormwater management. However, the increasing frequency of droughts also ranks high in concern among our stakeholders, particularly due to the negative consequences on potable water supply, wildfires in surrounding forests, and air quality and human health within the city. Finally, we are delighted to announce that Javiera Maira - our key local UREx SRN partner at Consorcio Valdivia Sustentable/Activa Valdivia - was recently selected to be the new Director of the Ministry of Housing and Urbanism in Region de Los Rios. Congratulations Javiera! Javiera was chosen because of her expertise in urban planning with an emphasis on sustainability. We’re excited to work with her in this new role!
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Meet Our Grad
Students & Postdocs
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UREX PERSONNEL
Graduate Students
In addition to the fourteen students and postdocs that participated in year 1, we are excited to introduce you to the newly on-boarded students and postdocs for year 2. We now have thirty-nine graduate students and nine postdocs ready to hit the ground running! Please join us in welcoming our new, diverse group of young leaders.
Graduate students are listed by their primary city research team. Click the image to read more about each of our students.
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Postdocs
Andrew Ballinger, North Carolina State University*
Marta Berbés-Blásquez, Arizona State University
Khila Dahal, The New School
Yaella Depietri, The New School
Mathieu Feagan, Arizona State University
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Sam Markolf, Arizona State University*
Janet Marsden, Syracuse University*
Lauren McPhillips, Arizona State University*
Vivian Verduzco, Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora
*Bio below
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Andrew Ballinger,
CHExWG Postdoc Fellow
Dr. Andrew Ballinger, a native of Australia, received his undergraduate degree in mathematics and atmospheric science from Monash University in Australia, where he worked on a project that employed radar data and storm cell tracking to better understand the vertical distribution of convection during the active/break periods of the Australian monsoon. He then received his Master of Science in meteorology from the University of Oklahoma, studying the ablation of meteor trails over northern Sweden in order to better understand the temperature structure of the middle atmosphere.
Read More
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Sam Markolf,
SETS WG Postdoc Fellow
Dr. Sam Markolf received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and his PhD in Civil & Environmental Engineering and Engineering & Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University. The topic of his dissertation was “Climate Change Decision-Making at the Metropolitan Level: Current Estimates and Future Drivers of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in U.S. Metropolitan Areas.” His general interests include sustainable planning and decision making at the urban level, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and urban systems engineering.
Read More
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Janet Marsden,
CVWG Postdoc Fellow
Dr. Janet Marsden's research specializations include computational methods, geospatial modeling, risk assessment and management, urbanization effects on ecosystem resilience and sustainability, and data and information visualization for scientific and technical communication. She has 20+ years of experience in data collection and validation, descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, and database design and development.
Read More
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Lauren McPhillips,
CCWG Postdoc Fellow
Dr. Lauren McPhillips originally hails from the Hudson River Valley in New York State. She got her BS in Science of Earth Systems at Cornell University in Ithaca NY. From there Lauren headed to the Washington DC area where she worked for the US Geological Survey as part of a team studying ecohydrology in the Florida Everglades and a variety of stream systems.
Read More
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Summer Activities
for Students
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Science Diplomacy & leadership Program
A group of UREx SRN students attended a week long Science Diplomacy & Leadership program in Washington, DC to explore "key transnational and regional challenges and opportunities related to science, technology, environment and health in the Americas" with fellow scientists.
Highlights include:
- Workshops, lectures, and discussions
- Site visits to: IDB, Department of State, Think Food Group
- An emphasis on the Americas
- Four SRN Fellows in attendance: Melissa Guardaro, Jason Sauer, Kristen Whitney, and Vivian Verduzco
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Chef José Andrés, internationally recognized culinary innovator and owner of ThinkFoodGroup (TFG), spoke with the early career scientists at TFG headquarters.
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Research Experience for Undergrads (REU)
UREx SRN collaborated with other associated REU students for a fun-filled summer of research and breakfast meetings. Bi-weekly discussion topics included interdisciplinary research, careers and science communication. A luncheon at the end of the summer was held for final student presentations with REU mentors and other UREx collaborators in attendance.
Seven UREx SRN REUs worked with ten other students from CAP LTER, UWIN SRN and other research labs in Phoenix, Portland and Syracuse.
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Watch this space for news about REU opportunities for 2017!
Phoenix
Data Visualization* (Brandon Ramirez), Extreme Weather and Infrastructural Response (Isabella Tapia), Impact of Urbanization on Birds* (Devon Allred), Interior Temperatures of Vehicles and Children’s Health* (Michelle Poletti), Stream Dentrification*** (Corey Caulkins, Nicolas Armijo), Teachers’ Academy Training on Climate Change (Maria Eller), Urbanization and N Deposition* (Nikita Kowal), Urban Heat Islands and Black Widow Spiders* (Javier Urcuyo), Vegetation, Shade, Urban Heat Islands** (Alanna Kaiser)
Portland
Bioswales - Green Infrastructure (Arjun Viray), Urban Heat Islands (Bill Garcia)***
Syracuse
UREx SRN Data Management (Andree Finkelstein, Ryan Homeyer***, Griffin Walsh)
Valdivia
Influences on Sustainability Planning (Michaela Jones)
Mexico City
Water Scarcity and Flooding, Mexico City (Shalae Flores)
*CAP LTER
**UWIN SRN
***Other research labs
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UREx Hosted Meetings and Workshops
- NYC Scenarios Workshop. New York City, NY. November 14-16, 2016.
- San Juan Scenarios Workshop. San Juan, PR. February 3, 2017.
- 2017 All Hands Meeting. New York City, NY. March 20-24, 2017.
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Members Presenting UREx Related Work
September
- Elizabeth Cook, Javiera Maira, and Olga Barbosa, "Un enfoque de los sistemas socio-ecológico-tecnológico (SETS) para el estudio de los eventos extremos en las ciudades: el case de Valdivia: Chile,” Reunión Binacional de Ecología con Asociación Argentina de Ecología y Sociedad Chilena de Ecología. Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, September 18-22, 2016.
- David Eisenman, “Mortality and Morbidity to Heat Waves,” LA Urban Cooling Partners. Los Angeles, California, September 19, 2016.
- Tiffany Troxler, "Coastal wetland infrastructure: a social-ecological-technological approach for urban resilience," 10th INTECOL International Wetlands Conference. Changshu, China, September 19-24, 2016.
- Yeowon Kim, "Urban Flooding Vulnerability of Phoenix Roadways under Increasing Precipitation," Leaders in Resilience Summit. Tempe, AZ. September 30, 2016.
October
- Joyce Coffee, “Next Era of Market Finance for Resilience,” Great Lakes Adaptation Forum. Ann Arbor, MI, October 5-7 2016.
- Agustin Robles-Morua and Javier Navarro, “Behavior of Hot Days in Northwest Mexico. Actual trends and future scenarios,” 6th Congreso Nacional de Investigación en Cambio Climático (CNICC). Hermosillo, Mexico, October 17-19, 2016.
- Cliff Davidson, “Measuring the Performance of a Large Extensive Green Roof in Syracuse, NY”, Keynote Presentation, ASCE's International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure, Shenzhen, China, October 17-19, 2016.
- Mikhail Chester, “Ensuring Reliability in Coupled Power and Water Systems Under Increasing Temperatures,” ASCE's International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure organized by John Crittenden (NAE). Shenzhen, China, Oct 17-19, 2016.
- Mikhail Chester, Infrastructure Interdependencies and Climate Change Session organizer for ASCE’s International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure. Shenzhen, China. Oct 17-19, 2016.
- Nancy Grimm, Timon McPhearson, Charles Redman, Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (presentation and panel). Habitat III. Quito, Ecuador, October 17-20, 2016.
- Cliff Davidson and Miriam Heller, “Sustainability Education in U.S. Engineering Programs,” Keynote Presentation at the Fifth International Congress on Sustainability Science and Engineering, Suzhou, China, October 24-27, 2016.
- David Eisenman, "Heat Deaths: Associations with the built environment, social vulnerability and their Interactions with rising temperature," American Public Health Association Annual Meeting 2016. Denver CO, October 29, 2016.
November
December
- Rae Zimmerman, “Reducing risk magnification in infrastructure failures,” Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA, December 11-15, 2016.
- Ken Kunkel (in collaboration with David R. Easterling), "Climate Scenarios for the Fourth National Climate Assessment and the Sustained Assessment Process," American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. San Francisco, CA, December 12-16, 2016.
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Other Conferences of Interest to Network Members
- International LTER conference. Skukuza, South Africa, October 9-13, 2016.
- Center for Climate and Energy Solution (C2ES) Workshop. Phoenix, AZ, October 24-25, 2016.
- American Geophysical Union San Francisco, CA, December 12-16, 2016.
- ASLO 2017 Aquatic Sciences Meeting. Honolulu, HI, February 26-March 3, 2017.
- American Association of Geographers. Boston, MA, April 5-9, 2017.
- American Planning Association 2017 conference (focus on NYC coastal resilience track). New York City, NY, May 6-9, 2017.
- Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Urban Infrastructure History and the Social Sciences. NYU Paris. Paris, France, May 30-June 1, 2017.
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PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS
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