James Hocker is the Program Manager of SCIPP on the University of Oklahoma campus. Mr. Hocker holds Bachelors of Science and Masters of Science degrees in Meteorology both from the University of Oklahoma (2004, 2006). His research interests focus on applied climatology, the use of geographic information systems in the atmospheric sciences, extreme events, and hazards preparedness.

Lynne M. Carter is the program manager of SCIPP on the Louisiana State University campus. Dr. Carter is active in climate impacts and adaptation work. Among other things, she was a member of the writing team for the 2009 Climate Impacts on the United States document from the Climate Change Impacts Program (CCSP), was the regional liaison for the US National Assessment of Climate Variability and Change, as the director for a non-profit organization focused on building resilience and adapting to climate changes with communities, and continues to work in education and outreach around climate issues.

Mark Shafer is Director of Climate Services for the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, overseeing climate services and outreach programs for the Oklahoma Mesonet and state climate office. Dr. Shafer holds a Masters of Science in Meteorology and a Ph.D. in Political Science. His research focuses on the use of scientific information in public policy decisions, particularly on the topics of drought and climate information. Dr. Shafer serves on the Implementation Team for the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS).

Barry Keim is the State Climatologist for Louisiana and a faculty member in the Department of Geography and Anthropology at LSU. In addition to operating Louisiana's state climate office, Dr. Keim conducts research on climate change and variability, extreme climate events, hydroclimatology, and human dimensions of global change. Dr. Keim was previously State Climatologist of New Hampshire, where he was a member of the northeastern United States AIRMAP program.

David Brown is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Anthropology at LSU. Dr. Brown brings expertise from two RISA programs. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 2004, where he was part of the successful CLIMAS RISA program. He was then named New Hampshire State Climatologist, where he was involved with another RISA program in the northeastern United States.

Ken Crawford is the State Climatologist of Oklahoma and Regents' Professor of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Crawford leads the nation's largest state climate program and the Oklahoma Mesonet, the premier statewide real-time environmental monitoring network. He has actively linked observations to practice through the EARTHSTORM Program, which brought real-time weather into Oklahoma's classrooms, and the OK-First Program for public safety officials, which was recognized by Harvard University with its Innovations in American Government Award in 2001 for the way in which it transformed rural emergency management practices. Dr. Crawford's research focuses on mid-latitude synoptic meteorology and applied climatology. Prior to his career at OU, Dr. Crawford served as a forecaster, senior field manager, and Meteorologist in Charge for the National Weather Service. Under his leadership, the NWS Forecast Office in Norman developed new practices which became templates for the NWS Modernization Program of the 1990s. Dr. Crawford is a Councilor for the American Meteorological Society and served as President of the American Association of State Climatologists from 2005-2007.

Dr. Lamb is George Lynn Cross Research Professor of Meteorology and Director of the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS) at the University of Oklahoma. Prior to joining the OU faculty, Dr. Lamb was a Senior Scientist at the Illinois State Water Survey and head of their Climate and Meteorology Section. Dr. Lamb's primary research interest is in the physical and dynamical processes responsible for climate and its seasonal-to-interannual-to-decadal-scale variations, particularly for regions where the vital growing season rainfall is delivered by mesoscale weather systems, such as the Southern Great Plains. His other physical-dynamical climate research has focused on the large-scale atmospheric circulation, sea-air interaction, and hydrospheric and atmospheric heat budgets of the tropical Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the relation between the North Atlantic Oscillation and Moroccan winter precipitation. Dr. Lamb has collaborated with economists for many years in applied research dealing with the use of weather and climate information by U.S. agriculture. He was Chief Editor of the Journal of Climate from 1989-95 and has served on several national and international advisory committees in recent years.

Mark Meo holds degrees in Marine Sciences and Ecology/Policy Analysis and is a professor in the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Meo's research interests include strategic policy innovation and social learning, corporate environmental management, use of scientific and technical information, clean fuels and sustainable energy systems, climate policy, and integrated river basin management. Dr. Meo has served as Director of the OU Science and Public Policy Program and has been a team member of numerous community-based stakeholder engagement studies. Recent research projects include corporate green technological innovation, urban environmental policy innovation, drought risk perception and response in Oklahoma, management options for the Illinois River basin, and wind power assessment in Oklahoma.

Dan O'Hair is Professor of Communication and Director of the Center for Risk and Crisis Communication at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. O'Hair's academic interests include organizational communication, health communication, and risk communication. He is the author/editor of fourteen books and has published more than sixty research articles in communication, business, management, and psychology journals and volumes. Dr. O'Hair has served on the editorial boards of eighteen research journals and is a former editor of the Journal of Applied Communication Research. Dr. O'Hair served as President of the National Communication Association in 2006-2007.

Kevin Robbins is Director of the Southern Regional Climate Center and Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Anthropology at LSU. Dr. Robbins' research interests are in tropical climatology, applied climatology, and agricultural climatology. Dr. Robbins is one of the chief architects of the Applied Climate Information System (ACIS), which serves as the climate data backbone for the Regional Climate Centers, National Climatic Data Center, National Weather Service, and United States Department of Agriculture.

May Yuan is the Director of the Center for Spatial Analysis, and the Associate Dean for the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Yuan's research interest is in geographic representation, spatiotemporal information modeling, and applications of geographic information technologies to dynamic systems. Her research centers on temporal GIS for meteorological applications and representation models for dynamic geographic phenomena, such as wildfires, rainstorms, air-pollution plumes, and landcover change. She also has been developing methods for spatiotemporal query and analysis on these phenomena. Dr. Yuan is a Board member for the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science and serves on the editorial boards of the Annals of American Association of Geographers, the International Journal of Geographic Information Science, and Transactions in GIS. Dr. Yuan has organized numerous national and international workshops on Geographic Information Science.

David Bennett is an assistant managing editor at Delta Farm Press, headquartered in Clarksdale, Miss. He has been with the publication for 15 years and has covered a wide range of agriculture-related topics. Stories he's done on climate-related issues can be accessed at deltafarmpress.com. Bennett lives in central Arkansas.

Gregg Garfin is Deputy Director for Science Translation and Outreach with the University of Arizona's Institute of the Environment. He is a co-investigator on the Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS), a NOAA-funded Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) program. Dr. Garfin is a member of Arizona's drought monitoring technical committee, and contributed significantly to Arizona's Drought Preparedness Plan. His current research focuses on climate variability and change, climate impacts, adaptation to a changing climate, and knowledge exchange between scientists and society.

Michael Hayes became the Director for the National Drought Mitigation Center in August 2007 and has worked at the NDMC since 1995. The NDMC now has 24 faculty and staff working on local, tribal, state, national, and international drought and water-related issues. Dr. Hayes is also an Associate Professor in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His responsibilities include conducting research on the economic, environmental, and social impacts of drought; developing new drought monitoring and impact assessment methodologies; assisting with the development and review of drought plans; and helping to organize and conduct drought workshops and conferences. Dr. Hayes received a Bachelors Degree in Meteorology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his Masters and Doctoral Degrees in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Dr. Bill Hooke is Senior Policy Fellow and Director of the AMS Policy Program - a position he has held since 2000. An atmospheric scientist, he worked for NOAA from 1967-2000, in a series of research and management positions, including Deputy Chief Scientist and Acting Chief Scientist. He also served as Senior Scientist to Commerce Secretary William Daly. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2006, and a National Associate of the NRC/NAS in 2008.

Dr. Kelly Hurt is the Chief Environmental, Health and Safety Officer for the Chickasaw Nation Division of Commerce. Dr. Hurt has worked for the National Academy of Sciences and U.S. EPA as a Post Doctoral Researcher, with the U.S. EPA as a contract Hydrogeologist and also has a private water resources practice. He earned his B.S. in Geology and Ph.D. in Environmental Science/Forestry from Mississippi State University..

Rebecca Jennings is a Hurricane Program Specialist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Region IV in Atlanta where she supports a variety of projects to help State and local agencies prepare for hurricane hazards. These include providing assistance to State and local agencies for developing hurricane evacuation plans, conducting vulnerability assessments, and increasing public awareness through training and outreach programs. She is also a member of the Hurricane Liaison Team (HLT), which consists of FEMA, National Weather Service, and emergency management officials deployed to the National Hurricane center to ensure the rapid exchange of information prior to and during land-falling tropical cyclones. The HLT works directly with National Hurricane Center forecasters to monitor storm tracks and facilitate communication with Federal, State, and local emergency managers.

Previously, Rebecca worked for The Weather Channel as a member of the local programming team. As the emergency management liaison, she worked closely with emergency managers to provide information to local communities during land-falling hurricanes and other significant weather events. In addition, she was as a meteorology product manager for the Local on the 8s and Weatherscan.

Rebecca earned her Master of Science in Earth and Atmospheric Science from Georgia Tech and Bachelor of Science in Communication from Ohio University, Athens, OH. She is an active member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and a Weather and Society Integrated Studies (WAS*IS) fellow.

Dr. Shirley Laska is professor emerita of sociology and founding past director of the Center for Hazards Assessment, Response and Technology at the University of New Orleans (UNO-CHART). She has been conducting applied research in the field of hazards, disaster response and community studies for 25 years. Her work includes studies on residential flood mitigation, hurricane response, coastal land loss effects, global climate change, community risk assessment and risk management for coastal hazards, use of information technology and GIS as support tools for disaster management, and evacuation of the vulnerable.

She has numerous publications, has presented her work at numerous national conferences and workshops, including the National Academy of Science and the American Meteorological Society's Capital Hill Briefings. Since Katrina her work has been focused specifically on lessons to be learned from the event, especially in the realm of community recovery and hazard resiliency. She is the 2008 recipient of the American Sociological Society's Public Understanding of Sociology Award for her continual collaboration with physical scientists and her presentations nationwide on Katrina/Rita impacts. Pre-Katrina she served as a member of the Naval Research Advisory Committee (NRAC).

Putnam Reiter is the Information Technology Officer for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and formally the Project Impact Officer. Prior to his employment, he was a volunteer in emergency management from July 1991, to July 1995, for the Oklahoma County Emergency Management Office. His current duties include maintaining computers, network infrastructure, communications, and system security for OEM. Putnam graduated from Oklahoma University in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geography and again in 2002 with a Master's in Regional and City Planning.

Dr. Tracie Sempier is the Coastal Storms Outreach Coordinator for the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium. She is working to design a Coastal Storms outreach and education program that will introduce people to storms tools, information, and partnerships. In this capacity she works with local communities, state and federal agencies, non-profit organizations, port authorities, emergency and floodplain managers, residents, and other audiences to try and decrease the negative impacts of coastal storms on families, communities, the environment, natural resources, and property.

Tracie has over fifteen years of professional experience in education and outreach with various audiences in formal and informal learning environments. She completed her Ph.D. at Mississippi State University in Curriculum and Instruction, has a M.S. in Science and Mathematics Education from Oregon State University, and holds a B.S. in Marine Science and Biology from the University of Alabama.

Dr. Russell Vose is the chief of the Product Development Branch at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center. Over the past two decades his research has primarily focused on understanding climate change and integrating climate observations, particularly for use in international climate assessments and operational climate monitoring.

Dr. Thomas Wilbanks has been a Corporate Research Fellow at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 1986 and leads the Laboratory's Global Change and Developing Country Programs. He conducts research on such issues as sustainable development, responses to environmental hazards and changes, and the role of geographical scale these regards. Co-edited recent books include Global Change and Local Places (2003), Geographical Dimensions of Terrorism (2003), and Bridging Scales and Knowledge Systems: Linking Global Science and Local Knowledge (2006). He played roles in the first U.S. National Assessment of Possible Consequences of Climate Variability and Change (1997-2000); the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II (Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability) Third Assessment Report; and aspects of the UNEP et al. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment related to issues of geographic scale and regional and local assessments. He served as Coordinating Lead Author for the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report, Working Group II, Chapter 7: "Industry, Settlement, and Society" and as a Lead Author of the Working Group II Technical Summary and Summary for Policymakers He has led several "synthesis and assessment" reports for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP), including summaries of current knowledge about impact and resilience issues for human settlements in the U.S. and for energy production and use in the U.S. Wilbanks is Chair of NRC's standing Committee on Human Dimensions of Global Change, and he serves on a number of other NRC committees and panels, including the NAS/NRC Committee on America's Climate Choices and serving as vice-chair of the adaptation panel for that study.

James Lee Witt has been at the forefront of disaster and crisis management for more than 25 years. As Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 1993-2001, Witt was responsible for the agency's overhaul. In 1996, Witt became the first FEMA Director to be elevated to a Cabinet position.

During his tenure, Witt transformed FEMA into an effective disaster response agency that provides hands-on assistance to those at risk, both before and after disaster strikes. Witt led FEMA through more than 350 federally declared disasters in more than 6,500 counties in all 50 states and territories.

After 12 years as a successful businessman and community leader, he was elected County Judge for Yell County. At age 34, he was the youngest county judge elected in Arkansas. After being re-elected six times to the position, Witt was tapped by then-Governor Bill Clinton to assume leadership of the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services.

Currently, as CEO of James Lee Witt Associates (JLWA), a crisis management and preparedness services consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., a part of GlobalOptions Group, Inc. JLWA also has offices in Little Rock, Atlanta, Chicago, and Sacramento. Witt Associates provides local governments, the international community, corporations, hospitals, universities, and other non-profit organizations with innovative disaster mitigation solutions, including planning and preparation. The firm also offers a complete range of recovery services in the event of natural and manmade disasters.

Witt currently advises Governor Bobby Jindal on the long term recovery efforts in Louisiana following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Mr. Witt is the author of Stronger in the Broken Places, Nine Lessons for Turning Crisis Intro Triumph. Mr. Witt and his wife, Lea Ellen, currently resides in Alexandria, Va. and Dardanelle, Ark.