Thomas Chandler, Ph.D., is Director and Research Scientist at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Climate, at the Climate School, Columbia University. Dr. Chandler’s research and professional interests include disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, post-disaster housing and economic recovery, and the application of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, to improve disaster decision-making and community resilience. He also directs NCDP’s U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) training program, developing workforce education initiatives that strengthen preparedness and resilience across U.S. Tribal Nations, nonprofit, and private-sector organizations.
Throughout his career, Dr. Chandler has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on numerous federally funded and foundation-supported research and training projects. His work includes serving as Principal Investigator for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study, Evaluation of the Public Health System Response to Hurricane Sandy in the New York Metropolitan Area; Principal Investigator for the U.S. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) project, Visualizing Social Media: New Tools for Research and Practice; Co-Principal Investigator for the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative project, Understanding Resilience Attributes for Children, Youth, and Communities in the Wake of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill; and Co-Principal Investigator for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Performance Measure Development Project.
Dr. Chandler’s scholarship has been published in Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, the American Journal of Health Promotion, Interactive Learning Environments, and other peer-reviewed journals. He frequently collaborates with government agencies, international organizations, academic institutions, and community partners to translate research into practical solutions that strengthen disaster resilience and improve outcomes for vulnerable populations.
Jeff Schlegelmilch is the Faculty Director at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness and Associate Professor for Professional Practice in Climate where he leads courses on disaster resilience, and also serves as the Certificate Lead for the Climate and Disaster Management Advanced Certificate at the Columbia Climate School. His areas of expertise include public health preparedness, community resilience, and the integration of private and public sector capabilities.
In addition to his work at Columbia, he also served as an advisor to private sector organizations and advised leaders on preparedness systems and policy at all levels of government. He is an opinion contributor with The Hill and is frequently called upon as an expert for numerous media outlets. He is also the author of Rethinking Readiness: A Brief Guide to Twenty-First-Century Megadisasters and co-author of Catastrophic Incentives: Why Our Approaches To Disasters Keep Falling Short, both published by Columbia University Press.
Peggy Chao is the Director of Operations at National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP). She has a master’s degree in International Business from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from New York University.
Her prior experience includes an administrative position at Rutgers-Public Health Research Institute, data analysis at KPMG, financial positions in Fortune 500 companies, and her own business specializing in high end juvenile products.
Lovees Ahfembombi Lueong is an environmental geographer and climate justice scholar whose work advances inclusive climate finance for vulnerable communities in Central Africa. His research explores how participatory, gamified digital platforms can democratize access to climate funding and amplify the voices of women, smallholder farmers, and forest-dependent groups typically excluded from adaptation planning. At Columbia’s Climate School, Lovees is investigating the Inclusive Design of Gamified Climate Finance Platforms under the mentorship of Professor Daniel Osgood. This work bridges climate science, governance, and equity by developing accessible, culturally sensitive tools that promote transparency, local governance, and community-led adaptation.
He holds a Ph.D. in Geography and Planning from the University of Bamenda, where he also served as a graduate teaching assistant. Lovees is a member of the Cameroon Academy of Young Scientists (CAYS). His academic work spans environmental justice, deforestation dynamics, climate governance, and gendered vulnerability. He is a recipient of the Conservation Action Research (CARN) Grant. Lovees is passionate about decolonizing climate knowledge and embedding equity into the architecture of global climate finance.
Laudan Behrouz-Ghayebi is rejoining NCDP as a Project Manager focusing on the FEMA training grants. She started her public health career working for NCDP primarily focused on the Student Surge Capacity for Outbreak Investigation (Team Epi!) program while contributing to the CDC-funded web-based training programs from 2004-2011. She then went on to work for Columbia University’s G.H. Sergievsky Center to manage a research study, “the Genetic Epidemiology of Alzheimer’s Disease in African Americans,” funded by the National Institute of Aging.
After relocating to Maine, Laudan worked closely with local and regional government agencies on various community-based public health campaigns. She also served as an Infectious Disease Epidemiologist for the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention, as Program Manager and Adjunct Faculty for the University of New England’s (UNE) Graduate Programs in Public Health, and as Adjunct Faculty for UNE’s School of Nursing and Population Health. Among the courses Laudan taught were Epidemiology, Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Global Health. Most recently, Laudan was a Writer & Researcher for One River Grants, a New York State-based grants development and consulting firm.
Laudan received her MPH in Epidemiology and Global Health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
Sarah (Sari) Lucille Blakeley is an Associate Research Scientist at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP). Formerly, she was part of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University. Her research focuses on understanding how global climate change impacts human and natural systems across multiple spatiotemporal scales, focusing on sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, this research focuses on food security, gendered impacts of climate shocks, financial risk management to natural disasters, climate variability, and climate change. Her research heavily focuses on application- finding solutions to real-world problems. Blakeley’s research examines how vulnerable populations make decisions under climate shocks and climate variability. She uses innovative technologies, spatial statistics, climate science, demography, and economic methods to analyze questions about food security, heat stress, and climate impacts. Blakeley received her PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara in Geography, her MA from Columbia University in Climate and Society, and her BS in Economics, Interdisciplinary Studies, and French from Michigan State University.
Lisette Braman serves as Program Manager on the Financial Instruments Sector Team, a group managing insurance research, implementation, and education projects with a wide range of partners, supported by dozens of individual grants for projects that serve several hundred thousand farmers.
Before joining this team, Lisette served as Climate Risk Advisor to the American Red Cross, International Services Department. There, she provided technical support to increase awareness of climate variability and change in international disaster risk reduction programs. Lisette’s work with the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement began in 2008 at the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre, where she provided technical support to multi-country programs, including the Preparedness for Climate Change Program and Partners for Resilience. While working for the Climate Centre, Lisette was also based at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), where she helped facilitate the Partnership to Save Lives with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). This work involved liaising with climate scientists to provide tools and services that supported forecast-based decision-making, working as part of the Help Desk Team to provide disaster managers with rapid responses to climate-related questions, and coordinating an internship program, bringing graduate students with climate expertise to Red Cross/Red Crescent offices around the world. Lisette also documented the use of climate information by the Red Cross in West Africa for improved disaster preparedness and response.
Through the master’s program in Climate and Society at Columbia University, she gained interdisciplinary knowledge of climate variability and change. Before entering the field of Climate Risk Management, Lisette worked with non-profit organizations, including the Environmental Leadership Program and the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group. Lisette earned her undergraduate degree in Environment, Economics, and Politics at Scripps College.
Hannah Dancy is a Project Manager with the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), where she supports the planning, logistics, and implementation of grant-based training with federal, international, and private partners on a wide variety of subjects, including mass care, Tribal and rural resilience, children’s health, and more.
Prior to her time at NCDP, Hannah worked at Teachers College at the Digital Futures Institute, where she honed her ability to facilitate meetings, workshops, and trainings in a hybrid setting. She received a Master’s in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology from Columbia University in 2020. Her research focuses include the implementation of nature-based solutions, science communication, and the intersection of a changing climate with novel preparedness and long-term recovery training and education practices.
Josh DeVincenzo, Ed.D., is the Assistant Director for Education and Training and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia Climate School, Columbia University. He recently received his doctorate from Columbia University Teachers College with his dissertation on “Enhancing Capacity in Adult Climate Literacy: Investigating Sustainability Mindsets in the U.S. Emergency Management Profession.”
Dr. DeVincenzo focuses on developing learning experiences associated with FEMA training projects that navigate housing, economic recovery, mass care and sheltering, pandemic planning, and climate literacy. He has developed instructor-led and web-based curricula regarding financial literacy, economic impact analysis, and community partnerships.
He hopes to create accessible and quality educational programming that benefits the common good at scale. He holds a master’s degree in Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and a Doctorate in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, focusing on Adult Learning and Cognitive Science. He has published his work on climate pedagogy and cognition in esteemed journals and outlets such as the Journal of International Affairs, Routledge, State of Planet, and The Hill.
Amina Diop is a Student Worker at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), where she provides training and desk support to anticipatory action programs. Her work contributes to the development of forecast-based drought triggers in 6 African countries, including Chad and Djibouti, in collaboration with national meteorological agencies, WFP, and OCHA.
Before joining NCDP, Amina worked with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), where she supported program management, capacity building, and regional coordination on climate resilience and sustainable development initiatives. She contributed to agroforestry governance and carbon credit certification projects in West Africa during her consulting work with Lindt & Sprüngli.
She also worked at Amazon. At Amazon, she advanced the company’s sustainability program by leading employee engagement activities, providing training on corporate sustainability standards, and supporting initiatives that integrated human rights and environmental considerations into operations. She also expanded the Amazon COVID-19 relief donation program to West Africa, promoting SRHR by donating over 1 million women’s hygiene items to girls in schools and women in jails, while delivering WASH workshops.
Amina recently graduated with a Master’s in Climate & Society at Columbia Climate School. She also holds a Master’s in Political Science from Brooklyn College, CUNY. With more than 18 years of experience in program management across human rights, gender equality, and climate action, she is committed to advancing proactive solutions in disaster risk preparedness and reduction, climate finance, and food security for vulnerable communities.
Shuyang Huang is a Senior Staff Associate I at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, where she works on disaster preparedness, emergency management training, public health emergency decision-making, and AI-supported resilience research. Her work combines qualitative and quantitative methods, data systems, GIS, machine learning, and natural language processing to support emergency management training, community preparedness, risk communication, and disaster decision support. She holds dual master’s degrees in Architecture and Urban Planning from Columbia University and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in engineering with a concentration in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Pennsylvania State University.
Andrew Kruczkiewicz has more than 10 years of experience working with the humanitarian, development, and disaster management sectors, including the Red Cross, World Food Programme, and World Bank, designing early warning systems, impact-based forecasting standard operating procedures, and contributing to the design of global climate policy. Andrew conducts research on extreme weather and climate events, focusing on individual hazards, such as cyclones, floods, and other hydrometeorological hazards, as well as compound events. He is involved in the application of climate and weather data, including forecasting, risk assessment, and integration within policy and decision-making. Andrew is the Principal Investigator of the NASA-funded research project, Towards A Global Flood & Flash Flood Early Warning Early Action System, driven by NASA Earth Observations, which seeks to increase the ability to forecast various types of floods, including flash floods, and inform early warning and early action standard operating procedures.
He is a faculty lecturer in the Columbia Climate School’s Climate and Society graduate program and is Co-Director of the Climate School Network: Sustainable and Resilient Living in an Era of Increasing Disasters.
Andrew serves on numerous national and international task forces and committees, including the World Meteorological Organization Task Team on ENSO Information and the UN OCHA IASC Early Warning Analysis Cell. He frequently appears on national and international television, radio, and print.
Nitin Magima is part of the Financial Instruments Sector Team at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP). In his role, he collaborates with climate scientists to devise strategies that assist national governments in mitigating climate risks. This involves partnerships with global entities like the World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization, World Bank, NASA SERVIR, Global Center on Adaptation, and One Acre Fund.
Previously, Nitin developed and executed research and training for climate risk reduction for Columbia University’s first World Project, Adapting Agriculture to Climate Today, for Tomorrow. ACToday provided 110 trainings in six countries, reaching over 2,150 participants, which helped national governments to develop climate forecasts and mapping tools for more effective national food security planning and policy.
Holding a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, Nitin is proficient in applying statistical tools and data analytics to address diverse policy and climate-related challenges. He is also a FSA Credential Holder.
Max Mauerman is a Senior Staff Associate III at Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) and a PhD candidate at the University of Reading Department of Agriculture, Policy and Development. His roles at NCDP include the development of decision-support tools for climate risk management and researching economic decision-making under climate uncertainty. Before joining NCDP, Max worked for Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), where he co-managed a large-scale evaluation of a rangeland conservation program in Namibia. He has also worked as a consultant for the World Food Programme and Tetra Tech on research topics related to climate resilience and conservation agriculture.
Das Dores Ngueussie Ngamini is a Staff Associate II at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), where she applies her expertise in atmospheric sciences and climate modeling to support research and disaster preparedness initiatives. Her work focuses on evaluating climate risks and integrating predictive tools to strengthen resilience strategies.
Before joining NCDP, Das was a fellow in the Small Innovation Grants Program (SIGP), a NASA- and USAID-supported initiative under the SERVIR West Africa program. She collaborated with Columbia University and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)-Senegal to develop tools for reconciling satellite and model data with farmer-sourced climate information. Through this work, she led remote evaluations of climate risk monitoring tools, conducted field research in Senegal, and utilized mobile crowdsourcing technologies to enhance community-based climate strategies.
Das holds a Master’s in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Yaoundé I, where she studied extreme weather forecasting using the Weather Research and Forecasting model. She later pursued a Master’s in Mathematical Sciences at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) Rwanda, where she specialized in climate modeling, including simulations of tropical cyclone Batsirai over Madagascar. Her academic and professional experiences have equipped her with strong analytical skills in climate science, disaster resilience, and predictive applications.
Passionate about bridging technical expertise with practical applications, Das is committed to developing innovative solutions for climate adaptation and disaster preparedness.
Dr. Daniel Osgood leads the Financial Instruments Sector Team at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), linking climate information to financial tools to improve livelihoods in developing countries. His team supports most index insurance projects that have gone to scale, with hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers purchasing index insurance contracts they have helped design through farmer-driven, science-based processes, leading to significant development impacts. His research topics include uncertainty in decision-making, environmental valuation, remote sensing proxies, information, and work specific to index insurance and economic development. He has been involved in global policy processes such as the UNFCCC, with projects he works on highlighted by Ban Ki-moon in the opening speech at the 2015 Paris COP. He has had press coverage in venues spanning Voice of America, Al Jazeera, the Guardian, Nature, New York Times, and Reuters.
Dr. Irwin Redlener is a Senior Advisor for the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), Columbia Climate School, at Columbia University, which works to understand and improve the nation’s capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. Dr. Redlener founded NCDP in 2003 and served as its director from 2003-2020. He is a nationally recognized expert on disaster preparedness policies, pandemic influenza, the threat of terrorism in the U.S., the impact and consequences of major natural disasters and related issues. Dr. Redlener is the author of The Future of Us: What the Dreams of Children Mean for Twenty-First-Century America which earned the 2020 Gold Nautilus Book Award. He is also the author of Americans At Risk: Why We Are Not Prepared For Megadisasters and What We Can Do Now. Previously, he served as one of the ten members of the congressionally established National Commission on Children and Disasters.
He also serves as a regular Public Health Analyst for MSNBC programs such as the 11th Hour with Brian Williams, Deadline White House with Nicolle Wallace, Katy Tur, and more. Dr. Redlener is also a columnist for The Daily Beast on issues ranging from COVID-19 and public health to children and disaster management.
Dr. Redlener is also President Emeritus and Co-Founder, along with singer-songwriter Paul Simon, of the Children’s Health Fund (CHF), a philanthropic initiative created to develop health care programs in some of the nation’s most medically underserved communities. CHF programs are now active in 25 urban and rural communities around the U.S. providing quality comprehensive medical care to more than 80,000 children each year. Dr. Redlener holds an M.D. degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine, an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Hofstra University.
Dante Salazar Ballesteros is a development professional committed to more broadly building and implementing evidence on climate adaptation, food security, and social vulnerability. His work focuses on translating technical knowledge into public action by providing tools to guide decision-making processes at different program and policy design stages. He has held positions in the public and non-profit sectors, mostly supporting fieldwork operations, program evaluation, and research projects. He is interested in building innovative, more secure paths to development while exploring the intersection of climate services, social inclusion, and food systems.
Antonia Samur is a Senior Staff Associate at NCDP. Her role at NCDP includes conducting research and managing initiatives to support disaster planning and community resilience. Antonia managed a three-year capacity-building initiative for the child-care sector in Puerto Rico, aiming to enhance institutional preparedness to meet the needs of children in disasters. Under this initiative, she led the development of a training curriculum and delivered training. She also teaches about community engagement in disaster management in the MA in Climate and Society at the Columbia Climate School.
Before NCDP, Antonia worked for the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), where she led a global sustainable development education program, and for the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), where she conducted research and policy analysis on social and economic development issues, including childhood poverty and sustainable development in Latin America.
She holds a dual Master’s degree in International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University and the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Chile.
Antonia is keenly interested in climate change adaptation, community engagement, participatory planning and public policy, applied research, and education.
Jonathan has over fifteen years of experience in qualitative and quantitative research with a deep emphasis on disaster field research and study design, implementation, management, and data architecture and analysis. He contributes to a broad multi-method disaster research portfolio, including natural hazards mapping, rural preparedness, mental health and psychosocial support, community coalition building, and child-focused community resilience. Jonathan has significant experience in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and their use in disaster preparedness and recovery, and has led NCDP’s Natural Hazards Index projects, including NHI v2.0 and the U.S. Natural Hazards Climate Change Projections project. He has also conducted research evaluating the unanticipated consequences of pandemic flu, determining racially and ethnically appropriate emergency messaging, and analyzing the long-term disaster resiliency and recovery issues of Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy, and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Jonathan developed and teaches the Disaster Research Methods course at the Columbia Climate School. He holds a master’s degree in public health from the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, where he is currently pursuing a doctorate of public health in Leadership in Global Health and Humanitarian Systems.
Alex Yixuan Xu is a part-time Senior Project Coordinator at NCDP, assisting with designing learning experiences for FEMA training projects. She is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Design and Development of Digital Games for learning at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Alex holds a B.S. in Integrated Digital Media from New York University and is interested in designing accessible learning experiences enabled by educational technology.
Alaty Adel Almejhed is a Research Intern at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), where she supports the FIFA World Cup 2026 Heat Mitigation Project, contributing to emergency management research and heat risk assessment for large-scale sporting events. She is also a Communications and Social Media Intern at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, where she helps communicate research on climate law and policy to broader audiences.
Her research focuses on climate adaptation, vernacular architecture, nature-based solutions, and Lo-TEK design, with particular interests in food security, drought risk management, and just energy transitions in the Global South. Previously, she conducted her dissertation research on Saudi earthen architecture as a climate-resilient and culturally grounded housing solution, and led a coastal resilience fieldwork project in Oban, Scotland exploring community adaptation frameworks for storm resilience. Currently, Alaty is working with fellow students to co-found the Sustainable Food Systems student organization at the Columbia Climate School. Alaty holds a BSc in Sustainable Development from the University of St Andrews and is currently pursuing an MSc in Climate Science with an advanced certificatate in Climate and Disaster Risk Management at the Columbia Climate School.
Reva Bhardwaj is pursuing a Master’s in Climate Finance at Columbia University. She is interested in leveraging AI to unlock scalable solutions. At the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, she is building on the Disaster Genome Project, and at the Columbia Business School, she is building on the open climate curriculum.
Prior to Columbia University, she worked as a management consultant in Sustainability and ESG Business Advisory at PwC and BDO, advising multi-national clients across manufacturing, oil and gas, health tech, pharmaceuticals, ship management, and IT services. Her work spans across GHG accounting (Scope 1, 2, 3), decarbonization strategy, climate risk assessments, ESG ratings, sustainability reporting, integrated reporting, and due diligence.
Reva has a background in Biotechnology Engineering, with early work focused on carbon capture, storage, and conversion into industrially viable products such as methanol. This foundation continues to shape her interest in bridging technology, finance, and scalable climate solutions.
Louise is currently getting their Master of Science in Climate with an advanced certificate in Climate and Food Systems at Columbia University. Their academic and research interests focus on different modes of action for integrated pest management on grasslands and agroecosystems to support our food system in the midst of a changing climate, maximizing carbon sink capacity in forest ecosystems, and bolstering biodiversity in cities and our food system to make them more resilient against climate shocks. Louise is also interested in behavioral psychology and religion, and how these anthropogenic aspects intertwine with knowledge transfer, action, and communications between science and policy related to climate change and climate justice.
They have 6 years of experience in environmental consulting, with 3 of those years dedicated to GIS/AutoCAD mapmaking. Louise also has a background in environmental communication, beekeeping, and grassland conservation. They have also collaborated to start a Sustainable Food Systems student organization at the Climate School. Louise received their B.S. in Sustainable Development from Appalachian State University.
Xin (Jessica) Chen is a Graduate Instructional Design Intern for the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), working with the Education and Training team. She is pursuing a Master’s in Instructional Technology and Media at Teachers College, Columbia University, and holds a B.A. in Communication and Culture from Fordham University. Jessica designs learner-centered educational experiences that integrate research, technology, and user needs to support effective learning and engagement. Her interests include instructional design, UX-informed learning design, and the development of interactive learning solutions that bridge theory and practice.
Zack is a Graduate Student Research Assistant at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, working on the Disaster Risk Communications: Enhancing Adult Climate Literacy research project. Building on prior federally funded and peer-reviewed research, this project explores the cognitive, social, and communication factors that influence climate literacy, with particular attention to disaster preparedness, emergency management, and climate resilience.
Here, Zack contributes to extending existing research frameworks into new fields, supporting ongoing manuscript development, and designing an independent Enhancing Adult Climate Literacy study under faculty advisement. He assists with qualitative research design, conducts interviews, supports literature reviews, contributes to academic writing, and conducts qualitative analysis. Zack holds a B.S. in Environmental Sustainability Science from Cornell University, and is currently pursuing an M.S. in Climate at Columbia University, where he is completing an Advanced Certificate in Climate and Disaster Management.
Jasmine Gates is a graduate student research assistant at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP). She is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health in the Health Policy & Management Department at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. She is passionate about exploring the intersections of health, law, and the environment, particularly in advancing community strengthening as a form of disaster management. Additionally, Jasmine holds a B.A in Medical Anthropology and Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies from Barnard College.
Dorothy Janick is a research assistant at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), where she supports the development of an impact-based flood forecasting system funded by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Previously, Dorothy served as a geospatial researcher with NASA DEVELOP, a Data Science Institute Scholar at the Center for Integrated Earth System Information (CIESIN), and a research fellow with the Climate and Resilience for Interdisciplinary Science and Practice (CRISP) Earth network. Her work examines how human and environmental systems interact to shape climate resilience, with a focus on extreme events and land-use dynamics. She has also created science communication content for the National Park Service and the American Geographical Society.
She is currently pursuing an MA in Climate and Society at the Columbia Climate School.
Michelle Jerry is a graduate student worker at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP). She is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health degree in the Epidemiology Department at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. She previously worked in the Infectious Disease Department at Mass General Hospital and is passionate about advancing healthcare, strengthening public health systems, and contributing to NCDP’s mission through research, analysis, and evidence-based practice.
Stuti Johri is a former Project Consultant at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and currently serves as a Research and Project Associate at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia Climate School. Her work sits at the intersection of analytics, product, and institutional innovation.
She is deeply interested in building data-driven products that create tangible value across complex organizations, with a particular interest in how emerging technologies can strengthen decision-making for both public and private institutions navigating uncertainty. Her focus is on translating analytics and AI into deployable systems that move from insight to implementation. She is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Applied Data Analytics at Columbia University.
Humayra Khan is a student at Columbia University, majoring in Economics. At the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, she supports marketing and administrative initiatives. She is interested in learning how her academic background connects with the School’s mission of building a more sustainable future.
Fabricio Correa Lara is a Field Observer and Research Intern with the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) at Columbia Climate School, where he works on the FIFA Heat Mitigation in the Stadiums project, leading the Transportation section and documenting heat mitigation, thermal safety, transportation systems, and access points during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. He holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and is currently pursuing an M.S. in Climate at Columbia Climate School, alongside an Advanced Certificate in Disaster Management.
His research interests focus on the intersection of violence, environmental degradation, climate justice, and socio-environmental governance, examining how environmental crises intertwine with territorial conflict, inequality, and community vulnerability across Latin America. Fabricio has worked with youth and community networks dedicated to environmental defense and collective responses to the climate crisis, and through ENJUVES has driven regional processes linked to the Escazú Agreement, including the monitoring of socio-environmental conflicts and the protection of environmental defenders.
Eunice Lee is a Graduate Instructional Design Intern for the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), as part of the Education and Training team. She is pursuing a Master’s in Instructional Design and Media at Teachers College, Columbia University, and holds a B.A. in Secondary Education, English, and Cybersecurity Policy from Boston College. She designs learning experiences that explore how preparation methods can enhance learning and incident mitigation, informed by her background in education and cybersecurity governance (GRC).
Chenxi Li works with the Education and Training team at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), supporting instructional design for web-based training projects. She recently completed her M.A. in Instructional Technology and Media at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Chenxi designs learner-centered educational experiences for adult and professional learners. Her work and interests focus on disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, as well as the use of educational technology to make complex information more accessible and actionable. She is also interested in AI literacy, responsible AI adoption, and implementation in organizational contexts.
Allison Karabu is a General Projects Intern at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), where she supports the development of curriculum for FEMA-funded disaster preparedness programs targeting rural and Tribal communities. Her work integrates participatory climate resilience, community engagement, and inclusive program design.
Previously, Allison served as a Climate Resilience Intern with the Aga Khan Foundation in Kenya, co-developing its first Global Toolkit for Community Climate Resilience across six countries and piloting water-security tools now reaching over 1,600 households in rural coastal Kenya. She has also conducted SSHRC-funded research on Indigenous self-determination and participatory methodologies in Brazil and Argentina, examining how local and traditional knowledge inform disaster and adaptation planning.
Allison holds an Honours B.A. in Global Development from Huron University at Western and is pursuing an M.S. in Climate at Columbia University, where she is completing an advanced certificate in data analytics with a focus on climate disaster management.
Madison Malthaner is a graduate student in the MS in Climate program at Columbia Climate School, pursuing an advanced certificate in Climate Systems and Analytics. She is working at the intersection between climate and disaster knowledge and analytics within the Disaster Genome Project. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences from UC Berkeley, with minors in Chinese and Environmental Economics & Policy. Her interests include climate data analysis, risk assessment, and advancing climate literacy.
Tushar Mittal is a graduate student researcher at NCDP, where he supports the Disaster Genome Project. He is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Computer Science at Columbia University, with a concentration in Machine Learning. His research interests center on leveraging large language models and agentic AI systems across diverse real-world settings to democratize access to this technology for all.
Prior to joining Columbia, he worked as a Software Engineer at JPMorgan Chase, where he focused on building and scaling large-scale financial systems. He is also the co-founder of Vouch, a social discovery platform built through Columbia Startup Studio, reflecting his broader drive to apply AI and technology to real-world product challenges.
Celeste Paerels is a graduate student worker at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), where she provides public health and epidemiological support and insight. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in Environmental Biology and is currently pursuing a master’s degree at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in the department of Environmental Health Sciences, with a focus on Infectious Disease Epidemiology. She is passionate about the intersection of climate and health, and is excited to contribute her background in epidemiology, climate, risk assessment, and public health to NCDP initiatives.
Eva Papanikolaki is an M.A. student in Climate & Society at Columbia University’s Climate School. She currently works at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), focusing on course development for disaster management. Eva earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and has experience in food waste, climate education, NGO program management, and applied research.
Dion Tapahe (Diné/Navajo) works at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) as a student worker and supports the curriculum development for FEMA grant-based training courses for tribal and rural communities. She is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Sustainability Management at Columbia University.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from Brigham Young University. Her research included environmental toxicology, soil science, and most notably, COVID-19 virus hotspots in Utah. Before starting her graduate studies, Tapahe served as the Program Coordinator at NavajoStrong, a nonprofit organization that provides healthcare and technology resources to the Navajo Nation.
She is an advocate for American Indian rights, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), and the integration of traditional ecological knowledge within Western science. Tapahe has been a speaker at various museums, conferences, and universities, including the United Nations, National Ainu Museum, and the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial.
Caitlin Traver is a research assistant at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), where she supports the development of an impact-based flood-forecasting system funded by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Previously, Caitlin was a practicing landscape architect and project manager, most recently at the Central Park Conservancy, where her multidisciplinary projects focused on ecological design, native planting systems, and infrastructure and habitat restorations. Her interests include the intersections of climate, hydrology, land use management, and human systems, and how these inform disaster management, climate adaptation, and community resilience strategies.
Caitlin holds a B.S. in Biology from Duke University and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. She is pursuing an M.S. in Climate at Columbia Climate School, with an advanced certificate in disaster management.
Mikaela (Songqi) Zhang is a Master’s student in Climate and Society at the Columbia Climate School. She is currently supporting the Disaster Genome Project at NCDP, where she contributes to research and product development efforts aimed at translating complex disaster risk dynamics into actionable insights for decision-makers.
Her work focuses on synthesizing disaster case data, structuring amplification variables, and supporting the development of tools that bridge research, policy, and practice. She is particularly interested in how risk information can be operationalized to inform preparedness, resilience planning, and institutional decision-making.
Mikaela holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Toronto, where she developed a strong foundation in economic analysis and its application to complex societal challenges. Prior to this, she has worked on projects related to climate finance, community engagement, and urban resilience, with a focus on connecting analytical frameworks to real-world implementation. She is especially interested in the intersection of disaster risk, governance, and scalable solutions that enhance adaptive capacity.
