UC San Diego Post-Wildfire Analysis Experts
October 25, 2007
Kimberly Prather, professor of chemistry and biochemistry; expert in the study of air pollution and its health and climate impacts, is currently monitoring the San Diego area after the wildfires. She can also comment on the health impacts of atmospheric aerosols. Her laboratory has set up a streaming link displaying current aerosol concentrations (see red box at: http://atofms.ucsd.edu). Prather can be reached at 858- 822-5312, kprather@ucsd.edu, or at 858-822-5745 and 858-534-7430.
Jan Kleissl is an engineering professor who has done award-winning air monitoring and modeling work at spots around the world. He is leading the effort to use wireless weather stations around the UCSD campus. He can explain the how and why of the Santa Ana winds. His research page is at http://maeresearch.ucsd.edu/kleissl/ His cell number is 443-527-2740.
V. Ramanathan, professor of atmospheric chemistry at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, is an expert on long-range transport, atmospheric effects and climatic effects of soot and other particulate pollution. PIO contact: Robert Monroe at the Scripps Communications Office, rmonroe@ucsd.edu, scrippsnews@ucsd.edu, direct line (858) 822-4487 or cell (760) 889-1414 or office main number (858) 534-3624.
Anthony Westerling, principal investigator in the California Applications Program and the Calif. Climate Change Center at Scripps, and an Assistant Professor of Environmental Engineering and Geography at UC Merced, is an expert in relating wildfire severity to climate trends and also to wildfire suppression efforts. He’s at UC Merced but maintains an appointment at Scripps. Westerling can be reached at awesterling@ucmerced.edu or through Ana Nelson Shaw at the UC Merced Communications Office at (209) 228-4406. Alternate PIO contact: Robert Monroe at the Scripps Communications Office, rmonroe@ucsd.edu, scrippsnews@ucsd.edu, direct line (858) 822-4487 or cell (760) 889-1414 or office main number (858) 534-3624.
Steven Buckley is an expert in combustion science with a focus in air pollution and public health. At UCSD, he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on combustion, energy, and environmental classes. Buckley can be reached at a land line at 425-882-6905 and his cell is 425-894-9241. His research is here: http://maeresearch.ucsd.edu/buckley/
Steve Erie, political scientist and director of the UCSD Urban Studies and Planning program, can talk about the region's unpreparedness, which he says results from a population that is particularly tax-averse and local governments that don’t support funding of infrastructure. Steve Erie can be reached on his cell phone at 858-551-0324.
Richard Carson, professor of economics and immediate past president of the American Association of Resource and Environmental Economists, studies preparation for, and response to, disasters. Carson was evacuated during the latest firestorm. He says that preparation has gotten better since the big fire of 2003. But, he says there’s an absence of pre-planning and coordination with the military and for outside firefighters and equipment when it seemed clear they would be needed. Carson can be reached at 858-549-3070.
Forman Williams, professor, is a top expert on combustion and a member of a blue ribbon committee that investigated the cause of the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. He recently published a paper on the physical mechanisms of fire storms. His home phone is 858-455-1740; his home page is http://maeresearch.ucsd.edu/williams/
David Holway, associate professor of biological sciences, is an ecologist familiar with wildlife issues in San Diego. He can comment generally on the impact of the wildfires on San Diego’s ecology and wildlife. Holway can be reached at dholway@ucsd.edu . Cell: 858-342-2771.
Chaitan Baru, a Distinguished Scientist with the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego, is an expert on data technologies and can comment on efforts by people to connect with displaced families and friends during emergencies, such as the wildfires in San Diego. Baru, along with a team from Microsoft and others, developed a “missing and found” superlist for those displaced during Hurricane Katrina. Based on that experience, the American Red Cross developed the “Safe and Well” website (https://disastersafe.redcross.org), hosted at SDSC, and launched in July 2006. Baru can be reached at 858-945-6716 or baru@sdsc.edu.
Hans-Werner Braun, research scientist at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, is the principal investigator of the National Science Foundation-funded High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN), which connects remote public safety, science, and education sites. Hans-Werner can comment on the use of real-time IP cameras during wildfires. The real-time images collected by HPWREN cameras atop remote mountaintops throughout San Diego County and how those are used during wildfires by the public safety community. Hans-Werner can be reached at 858-336-0053, website here: http://hpwren.ucsd.edu/cameras