Raha Hakimdavar is a second-year Ph.D. candidate in the department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, focusing on  hydrology. Her main research interests are: hydrologic modeling, flood vulnerability analysis, and urban green infrastructure. After receiving her Master’s degree from Columbia in 2011, Raha was awarded the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) fellowship from the National Science Foundation to pursue an interdisciplinary doctorate in engineering. She is currently working on hydrologic monitoring and modeling efforts of green roofs in New York City and environmentally degraded watersheds in southern Haiti. Raha is also working to develop community driven emergency response programs in the southern coast of Haiti and to assist the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) efforts in identifying hydroelectricity potential in the region. Raha is the current President and co-founder of SNIPS. Research contact: [email protected]

Madeleine Lopeman is first-year Ph.D. candidate in Columbia University’s department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics focusing on structural vulnerabilities to natural hazards. She is currently studying windstorm vulnerability models used in the reinsurance industry, with an emphasis on a critical comparison.

Previously, Madeleine was involved in the transportation and telecommunications portions of the ClimAID study under the guidance of Klaus Jacob and Professor George Deodatis. The study was a New York State-wide effort to quantify the potential effects of climate change on the state’s infrastructure funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Madeleine was heavily involved the calculations of the potential inundation of the New York City subway system in the event of a storm surge under current and future sea level rise projections, which was closely in line with the outcome of Hurricane Sandy. Madeleine received her B.S. in 2010 and her M.S. in 2012, both from Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Research contact: [email protected]

Lauren Ames Fischer is a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Her research focuses on metropolitan spatial form, transportation policy and economic development with particular attention to transport investments made in urban areas facing disinvestment and decline. Previously, Lauren served as Associate Director at the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development in Chicago where she coordinated research initiatives related to the intercity bus sector, impact of technology on travel behavior and urban economic development. She has taught courses on transportation policy and urban planning as an adjunct faculty member at DePaul University and worked as a political organizer in St. Louis, MO. Lauren holds an M.S. in Public Policy from DePaul University and a Bachelor of Arts from Indiana University. Research contact: [email protected].

Lindsay Dolan is a first-year Ph.D. student in Columbia University’s Department of Political Science, where she focuses on international relations and comparative politics. She primarily examines political responses to water scarcity at both an international and a sub-national level. Lindsay is interested in issues of political economy of development, collective action, conflict and cooperation, and the Middle East. Previously, she interned with the Environmental Security program at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, where she researched natural resources in the Indian Ocean and transboundary rivers. Lindsay received her B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Swarthmore College in 2012. Personal website: http://www.lindsayrdolan.com Research contact: [email protected]

Amanda Bradshaw is a first-year doctoral student at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Her research broadly focuses on international development, political economy, and environmental planning, with a focus on Latin America. She has budding interests in GIS, and its social and representational implications. She was awarded the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) fellowship from the National Science Foundation to pursue interdisciplinary research.

Previously, Amanda worked as a research assistant for several city planning institutes at the University of California, Berkeley. From 2011-2012, Amanda was a Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellow, where she completed her Master’s thesis as a visiting student researcher at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. This summer she is collaborating on an environmental remediation project in Rio de Janeiro’s “pacified” favelas. Research contact: [email protected].

Rob Elliott is a Civil Engineering Ph.D candidate developing high performance vegetated systems by bridging civil engineering, computer science, biology, and architecture. As a recipient the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP) and Columbia’s Egleston Fellowship he has traveled to New Zealand, Italy, and Japan researching novel green infrastructure archetypes. Rob is currently working on quantifying ecological, societal, and permaculture understandings to prototype more human oriented green infrastructure.