Next Pardee House Seminar: Managing Disasters

The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future will hold a Pardee House Seminar on Thursday, April 7, 2011, on ‘Managing Disasters: Turning Knowledge Into Action’. The seminar will feature Dr. Hani O. Mowafi (BU School of Medicine), Prof. Enrique R. Silva (BU City Planning and Urban Affairs) and Dr. Pablo Suarez (BU Pardee Center). The seminar will be moderated by Pardee Faculty Fellow, Prof. Muhammad H. Zaman, from the Boston University School of Engineering.

The Seminar will be held on Thursday, April 7, 2011 (lunch will be available from 11.30 AM, seminar starts at 12.00PM. Please RSVP to pardee@bu.edu by Tuesday, April 5, 2011. Seating is limited to 30 participants.

Hani O. Mowafi is Assistant Professor at the Department of Emergency Medicine and Co-Director of Section of Public and Global Heath at Boston University. He is also affliated faculty at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

Prof. Enrique R. Silva is Assistant Professor of Urban Affairs and City Planning, at Boston University. An expert in comparative urbanization and the formation of public sector planning institutions and practices, He has worked abroad in the fields of international development, philanthropy, and human rights, and has several years of professional experience as a city planner and environmental permitting consultant in the Greater Boston area.

Pablo Saurez is a visiting scholar at Boston University and a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). He has worked and published on a diverse range of issues including transportation modeling, food security implications of changing rainfall patterns, microinsurance instruments for subsistence farmers, and the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on disaster management organizations. His current work addresses adaptation to climate change, institutional innovation and integration, and the use of video and other communication tools for awareness, advocacy and capacity building.

Muhammad H. Zaman is Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine from Boston University and principal investigator of the Laboratory for Molecular and Cellular Dynamics at Boston University. His research focuses on the interface of cell biology, mechanics, systems biology and medicine.

This is a continuation of the Pardee Center’s focus on disasters. Previously, the Pardee Center held a seminar on Dealing with Disasters on March 30, 2010, which was followed up by university-wide dialogue on “The University’s Role in Dealing with Disasters and Complex Human Emergencies” held on May 3, 2010 and co-hosted by the Pardee Center and the Office of the BU Provost. One of the result of these two events was a Pardee Center Issues in Brief on the subject written by Prof. Enrique Silva (here).

The Pardee Seminar Series focuses on a variety of issues and invites experts from different disciplines to discuss the long-range challenges and trends in that particular issue.

The Seminar will be held at Pardee House (67 Bay State Road, Boston) on Thursday, April 7, 2011. A light lunch will be available from 11.30PM, and the seminar itself will start at 12Noon. Please RSVP to pardee@bu.edu by Tuesday, April 5, 2011. Seating is limited to 30 participants.