Click the underlined text below to view the presentation given at the 2023 Conference (if available). Read more about our 2023 Speakers below.
Keynote:
"Lessons Learned from Hurricane Ian"
Claire Jubb, AICP, CFM | Assistant County Commissioner, Charlotte County, FL
ASFPM FLOOD SCIENCE CENTER SPOTLIGHT (ASFPM)
Genevieve Moran | Flood Science Center Co-Director and Portfolio Manager
Tanyard Brook Culvert Replacement Project
Nicole Iannuzzi, PE & Jay Cobleigh | BETA Group, Inc.
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BETA presents their successful solution to a 4,500-foot culvert replacement, including a new culvert system incorporating green infrastructure design and Town-wide GIS incorporation for the Town of Bristol.
Delineating High-Resolution Urban Drainage with Stormwater Infrastructure
Peter Steeves & Alana Spaetzel | USGS
Project-based review of the USGS StreamStats program, for delineating drainage areas, computing basin characteristics, and estimating flow statistics for locations on streams.
The Pocasset River Plan: Hybrid Design Approaches for a Resilient Urban Watershed
Andrea Judge, PE | Fuss & O'Neill, Inc.
Gina DeMarco | NRICD
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This is the story of the Pocasset River Watershed project. Through innovative design and creative planning, a traditional grey infrastructure flood risk project is turning into a nature-based, resilient design which will be transformative for the six neighborhoods it stretches resulting in a resilient watershed and a resilient neighborhood.
Deepening Public Understanding of Flood Risks through a Climate Change Vulnerability Index
Noah Slovin | SLR Consulting
The Connecticut Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) creates a robust tool to help stakeholders and the public better understand how flood exposure interacts with sensitivity and adaptive capacity to create different levels of vulnerability and risk.
Mitigating Flood Risks in an Inland Community: Canton, MA Case-Study
Courtney Eaton, PE & Kyle Johnson | Kleinfelder
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The Town of Canton, MA identified inland flooding as their top priority climate hazard and embarked on a Flood Vulnerability and Mitigation study. The Town used this study as an opportunity to build a framework for including flood mitigation in the conversation of any major infrastructure project such as roadways and utility.
Rhode Island Coastal Hazard, Analysis, Modeling, and Prediction System (RI CHAMP)
RI-CHAMP, a University of Rhode Island Project is designed to help state and local emergency managers, and critical infrastructure facility operators anticipate the consequences from significant coastal storm impacts.
Searching for the “Right” Flood Mitigation Product
Charlie Mahall | FM Approvals
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The advancements in internet search engines have made it easier than ever to find products at the click of the keyboard. This presentation has been prepared to assist users with a methodology for selecting flood mitigation solutions that will work for their application.
Reza Hashemi | URI
The Pawtuxet River will be used as a case study to provide an overview of how a seamless web-based flood risk mapping tool for coastal and inland waters of RI, in a changing climate can be delivered to RI municipalities and communities at risk of flooding.
Afternoon
Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Planning Project
Matt Bellisle | Pare Corporation
Wood-Pawcatuck case study for flood resiliency needs at the watershed scale and factors that exacerbate flooding problems.
Darrell Moore | NRCS
The NRCS PL-566 and Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Programs expand climate change mitigation efforts by applying NRCS conservation practices.
Common Fence Point Project: Adapting to Coastal Change
Jeff Prater & Nicole Gotovich | Common Fence Point
Case study of the neighborhood level CFP Preparedness Committee and their execution of a grant for “Restoring and Increasing Stewardship of Common Fence Point’s Coastal Habitat.”
Funding for Climate Resilient Projects to Benefit Your Community
Rae-Anne Culp | RI Emergency Management Agency
Natural hazards are expected to become more frequent and more severe; RI EMA has funding opportunities to help communities reduce these impacts and become more resilient.
Community Leadership in Action with WRWC’s New Voices/ Nuevas Voces Program
Alicia Lehrer | Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council
Discussion of the development and results of New Voices/Nuevas Voces, an 8-month program that teaches residents living on the frontlines of climate change leadership and climate preparedness.
Grant Funding for Watershed Implementation Projects
Tom Ardito & Ian Dombroski | SNEP
The Southeast New England Program (SNEP) is focused on coastal habitats and waters of RI and southeastern MA, and provides funding opportunities including the 2024 SWIG Program.
Morgane Houssais | Clark University
An assessment utilizing data compiled from hydrodynamics separators, can enhance the prevention and mitigation, both locally and globally, of flooding impacts in urban areas.
Kim Jacobs | Civil Engineer & Resilience Planning Consultant
Alyse Oziolor | Town of Westerly
Westerly shares their lessons learned and best practices developed through incorporating the Community Rating System (CRS) into their planning process effectively. The program incentivizes communities to go beyond the minimum National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) requirements by offering a reduction in the NFIP flood insurance premiums paid by property owners/residents in the municipality.
Fragility Analysis of Dunes Reinforced with Geosynthetic Sand Containers
Christopher Baxter | URI
A fragility analysis of a Federally funded GSC reinforced dune in Montauk, NY was done to quantify the resiliency of reinforced coastal systems.
Benefit-Cost Analysis 101: Using FEMA BCA Toolkit
Bin Wang | GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc.
A high-level introductory overview of the FEMA Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) methodology; shared project experiences in assembling key input parameters and steps of the FEMA BCA Toolkit; and case studies to demonstrate how BCA works in the decision-making process.
Challenges in Global Flood Modeling and Mitigation
Alain Dib | FM Global
The development of flood maps is usually met with major challenges which include finding appropriate data for a defined project. FM Global will share their solutions to tackle major challenges using flood maps on a local, regional, and global scale.
FFRMS - A New Approach to Flood Resilience
Katie Rand | FEMA Region 1
The Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS) was authorized by Executive Order to address future and current flood risk and to ensure projects funded by taxpayer dollars are resilient.
2023 Speakers
2023 Keynote Speaker
Claire Jubb | Charlotte County Board of County Commissioners, Charlotte County, FL
Claire Jubb, AICP, CFM is the Assistant County Administrator of the Charlotte County Board of
County Commissioners. Claire has been with Charlotte County government since 2003, when she
started as Business Services Manager with Community Development. In 2015, she was promoted to
Director of Community Development, where she oversaw the day-to-day operations of more than 100
employees tasked with the management of all land development activities in the county. A nationally
recognized expert in floodplain management, Claire received the 2015 Innovator of the Year award
for Citizen Engagement from the Governing Institute. She also received the 2013 Award for
Excellence in Mapping from Accela Inc. and the inaugural Commissioner's Award for Customer
Service. She currently acting as the Associate Director of Legislation for the Florida Floodplain
Managers Association. The focus of her talk will discuss impacts from Hurricane Ian.
Alain Dib | FM Global
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Alain Dib, PhD, is a Lead Research Scientist within the Structures and Natural Hazard Research Division at FM Global in Norwood, Massachusetts, performing research on flood hazards through various modeling and mapping techniques since 2018. Before this, Alain had a two-year stint as a postdoctoral scholar in the Hydrologic Research Laboratory at the University of California, Davis where he also received his PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering with an emphasis on Water Resources Engineering. Alain has broad experience in hydrologic and hydraulic modeling for flood risk analysis on different scales as well as in watershed hydrology modeling under future climate change. He also has extensive experience in regional atmospheric modeling and in stochastic modeling of unsteady open-channel flows.
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Alicia Lehrer | Executive Director, Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council (WRWC)
Jenny Mercado | New Voices/Nuevas Voces Co-Facilitator , Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council (WRWC)
Alicia Lehrer joined the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council (WRWC) as Executive Director in March 2008. She holds a BA in Environmental Science from Columbia University and an MS in Natural Resources Science from the University of Rhode Island. Alicia has received multiple awards including the 2020 Urban Waters Learning Network Learning Network Signature Award and Rhode Island Clean Water Action’s 2019 Community Builder of the Year Environmental Champion Award.
Jenny Mercado participated in the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council (WRWC) Nuevas Voces Program in 2021 as a resident of the neighborhood of Olneyville in Providence, RI. Upon graduation, Jenny became a Co-Facilitator of the Nuevas Voces Program and now co-leads the program part time for WRWC. Jenny also holds a position as Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) for Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, RI. Jenny is also the Director of Hermandad por Nicaragua where she connects Nicaraguans new to the United States to needed services such as housing, schools, jobs and more.
Andrea Judge, PE | Project Manager, Fuss & O’Neill, Inc.
Gina DeMarco | Special Projects Manager, Northern RI Conservation District
Andrea Judge, PE is a Project Manager at Fuss & O’Neill, a 300+ person multi-disciplinary consulting engineering firm with offices throughout all six New England states. Andrea is a civil engineer with 15 years of experience in a variety of multi-disciplinary projects involving climate resilience, assessment, design, permitting, and construction of dam repair and removal projects in New England. Andrea earned a Bachelor of Engineering from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, and is a licensed professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. After serving for over 30 years as District Manager, Gina has taken on the role as Special Project Manager at the Northern RI Conservation District, focusing entirely on flood mitigation projects funded by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Her role includes partnership coordination between NRCS, the Rhode Island Association of Conservation Districts, engineering firms, political leaders, and property owners. Currently she is working on projects on the Pocassett, Runnins and Woonasquatucket River watersheds.
Bin Wang, PE, CMF | Senior Consultant, GZA GeoEnvironmental
Ms. Bin Wang, PE, CFM is a Senior Consultant with GZA GeoEnvironmental. A structural/geotechnical engineer by training and a water resources/coastal engineer by working, Bin has performed various engineering analyses for major hydroelectric and water supply dams throughout the Northeast. Her recent work has involved post-Fukushima external flood hazard reevaluation projects throughout the United States (for active power plants and other critical infrastructure sites). Her areas of expertise include numerical modeling, probabilistic analysis, coastal resiliency studies and designs.
Charlie Mahall | FM Approvals
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After graduation as a mechanical engineer Mr. Mahall has spent his whole career working with products as an application engineer, design engineer, research and development and for the past 20 plus years in product certifications. This experience has allowed for extensive global travel working with both manufacturers and users of fire protection, liquid leak, and flood mitigation areas. When not at work, Mr. Mahall will be found spending time with family and friends, in his woodshop, or exploring mountain bike trails whenever possible.
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Christopher Baxter | Joint Professor in the Departments of Ocean/Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Rhode Island
Christopher Baxter is a joint Professor in the Departments of Ocean/Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Rhode Island and was Chairman of the Ocean Engineering Department from 2011-2017. He has been a member of the URI faculty since 2001 and is a registered professional engineer in Rhode Island. His research expertise is in the areas of marine geotechnics, fundamental soil behavior, coastal resilience, and offshore renewable energy. Dr. Baxter is currently the lead investigator on two projects funded by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to perform structural health monitoring of the Block Island Wind Farm and the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Farm.
Courtney Eaton, PE | Kleinfelder
Kyle Johnson | Kleinfelder
Courtney Eaton, PE is a water resources engineer and Kyle Johnson is a climate resiliency specialist at Kleinfelder, an engineering/planning firm with multiple New England offices. Kleinfelder is an industry leader in localized climate vulnerability and adaptation planning, resilient design, and technical and funding assistance strategies. In particular Courtney, Kyle, and their colleagues specialize in assisting municipal clients with a range of inland stormwater, riverine, and coastal flood issues. Their team helps prioritize near-term and cost-effective resiliency actions, and helps communities align these with funding through municipal resilience grant programs.
Darrell Moore, PE | State Conservation Engineer and the Watershed Program Manager for Rhode Island with Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) - USDA
Darrell A. Moore, PE is the State Conservation Engineer and the Watershed Program Manager for Rhode Island with Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) - USDA. Among many other duties, he manages the Watershed Protection and Flood Reduction program and Emergency Watershed Protection programs.
J. Matthew Bellisle, P.E. | Chief Operating Officer, Pare Corporation
J. Matthew Bellisle, PE has been practicing geotechnical engineering for more than 30 years on projects throughout the northeast. Projects have ranged from geotechnical site evaluations for small developments to large earthwork projects to support the new Amazon Project in Johnston, RI and the deep tunnel for the Phase III CSO tunnel for the Narragansett Bay Commission. Mr. Bellisle’s personal area of special interest is dam engineering, although well versed in traditional geotechnical applications for standard and non-standard development, construction and ground improvement projects, as well as waterfront structures and resiliency.
Jeff Prater & Nicole Gotovich | Common Fence Point Preparedness Committee of Portsmouth
Jeff Prater and Nicole Gotovich are residents of the Common Fence Point (CFP) neighborhood of Portsmouth, a coastal peninsula at the northern tip of Aquidneck Island. Jeff is a retired Naval Officer, and having lived in coastal areas across the U.S. and overseas, is keenly aware of the destructive force of weather (hurricanes in particular) and the potential impact of climate change and sea level rise. Nicole is a long time CFP resident and avid volunteer. Nicole is a board member of the CFP Preparedness Committee and Jeff is a founding member of the CFP Shoreline Erosion and Preservation Action Committee (SEPAC), both of which help bring tangible and long-lasting efforts to educate the community on resilience and mitigate the neighborhood’s coastal erosion and flood hazards.
Katie Rand | Senior Emergency Management Specialist (FFRMS), FEMA Region 1
Katie Rand is a Senior Emergency Management Specialist (FFRMS) at FEMA Region 1 in the Floodplain Management and Insurance Branch. As the FFRMS Specialist, Katie provides consultation and guidance to other Federal agencies to ensure their implementation procedures for the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS) and amendment to EO 11988 are consistent with the National Flood Insurance Program requirements. Katie has worked as a Federal employee for 15 years and has been with FEMA since 2017.
Kim Jacobs | Civil Engineer & Resilience Planning Consultant
Alyse Oziolor | Principal Planner & Chair of the HM&FMP Advisory Committee, Town of Westerly
Kim Jacobs is a Civil Engineer & Resilience Planning Consultant and is the technical advisor and principal author of the Town of Westerly 2023 Hazard Mitigation & Flood Management Plan (HM & FMP). From her origins as a Peace Corp engineer in Nepal, Kim has maintained throughout her career a community-centric and integrated approach to her projects. That approach led her to assist communities in more fully integrating CRS and community engagement into the hazard mitigation planning process. Alyse Oziolor is the Principal Planner for the Town of Westerly and serves as Chair of the HM&FMP Advisory Committee. She holds a BS in Environmental Studies and an MS in Biology and is a certified Climate Change Professional (CC-P). Alyse is heavily involved in resiliency and environmental planning projects for the Town, using her prior experience as an environmental consultant specializing in wetland and wildlife assessment and permitting.
Kyle McElroy | PhD Candidate, Deparment of Marine Affairs, University of Rhode Island
Kyle McElroy is a third-year Ph.D. candidate from the University of Rhode Island in the Department of Marine Affairs. Her research focus is coastal hazard risk analysis processes and tools and using flood hazard risk information in policies and future planning. Her background is formally in coastal engineering design and marine construction. She has professional experience working in marine construction on dredging projects with Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, LLC, and in coastal engineering modeling and design, working in public (USACE Norfolk District) and private (Mott MacDonald Consultancy Group) professional sectors.
Morgane Houssais, PhD | Research Scientist, Clark University
Dr. Morgane Houssais has conducted research on sediment transport in many different types of environment, but mostly focused on alluvial rivers for the last 13 years. She is a Levich Institute Fellow at the City College of New York, and focuses on geophysics, complex fluids, granular media, geomorphology and earth surface processes.
Nicole Iannuzzi, PE | Vice President, BETA Group, Inc.
Jay Cobleigh | BETA Group, Inc.
Nicole Iannuzzi has 30 years of experience specializing in transportation, civil, and stormwater projects. She has been involved in several town wide stormwater/sewer modeling projects. Her experience includes the preparation of design concepts, preliminary and final design plans, permitting and preparation of construction documents, and construction administration. Nicole serves as the technical lead design engineer for many of BETA’s stormwater related projects. Jay Cobleigh is an Engineering Designer with BETA Group, Inc.
Noah Slovin | Senior Resilience Planner, SLR Consulting
Noah Slovin is a Senior Resilience Planner at SLR Consulting with nearly a decade of experience working with communities to understand the best approaches for building climate change resilience based on the uniquely local needs and experiences of residents, businesses, and policy makers. As a graduate student at UMass Amherst, Noah helped governments consider the long-term sustainability of hazard mitigation projects from social, economic, environmental, and physical perspectives. He also completed an advanced graduate studies program through Tufts University focused on integrating environmental justice and sustainability into urban planning. In his current position, Noah uses these skills to engage communities in collaborative planning processes to identify practical, applicable, fundable actions that can be taken to reduce risks and increase resilience.
Peter Steeves | GIS Specialist, USGS
Alana Spaetzel | Hydrologist, New England Water Science Center
Pete Steeves has been a GIS Specialist with the USGS since 1988, working primarily on the Water Program. In the 90s he was part of a tandem in Massachusetts that launched what was to become known as StreamStats, which went National in the early 2000’s. Alana Spaetzel is a hydrologist with the New England Water Science Center. She helps federal, state, and local partners address water-quality issues related to transportation, urban hydrology, and water-supply protection. While pursuing her graduate degree in Geology at Boston College, Alana studied methods of estimating phosphorus loads in the Charles River Watershed.
Rae-Anne Culp | Mitigation Planning Supervisor, RI Emergency Management Agency
Rae-Anne Culp is a Mitigation Planning Supervisor for RI Emergency Management Agency. She is a constant learner, nature lover, and analytical thinker with excellent attention to detail. Her expertise is in grants management, disaster management, and data analysis.
Reza Hashemi, PhD | Associate Professor of Ocean Engineering, University of Rhode Island
Reza Hashemi, PhD is an Associate Professor of Ocean Engineering at University of Rhode Island. Research themes include ocean physics, mostly related to ocean renewable energy (tides and waves), climate change, and coastal problems (e.g. flooding and erosion). Reza is interested in mathematical and numerical modeling of waves, and free surface flow from watersheds to coasts. Reza applies new and powerful numerical techniques such as Differential Quadrature Method, Radial Basis Function Based Meshless methods (Multiquadric and RBF-DQ) and Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) to model the flow field and other open source structured/unstructured ocean/wave models such as ROMS, TELEMAC, SWAN and ADCIRC.
Thomas Ardito | Director of SNEP Watershed Implementation Grants
Ian Dombroski | Life Scientist EPA, Region 1
Tom Ardito is Director of Southeast New England Program (SNEP) Watershed Implementation Grants. SNEP Watershed Implementation Grants (SWIG) is a partnership between Restore America’s Estuaries and the US Environmental Protection Agency, Region 1. He has been funding, leading and managing coastal, watershed and urban restoration projects for more than 25 years. Ian Dombroski is a Life Scientist with the Environmental Protection Agency, Region 1 (New England) where he works on topics related to the Southeast New England Program, Massachusetts nonpoint source pollution , as well as decentralized wastewater.