RFP InterviewsJanuary 13 - 14, 2014New Orleans, LA

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8:00 – 8:30 am Breakfast and Registration

8:30 – 8:5o am Session 1 – Introduction1.1 Welcome and Congratulations Steve CochranWelcome from the competition.

1.2 Welcome from the Port of New Orleans Gary LaGrange Welcome from Port hosts.

1.3 Competition and Coastal Context Don BoeschHistorical and current perspectives on the Mississippi River, its delta and the coastal communities and industries that rely on it.

9:00 – 12:40 pm Session 2A – Team Interviews (4 teams)Individual presentations to Technical Team and Leadership Team members 15 min presentation, 35 min Q&A

Presentation topic: Presentation of a project that illustrates creative or innovative technical (engineering and ecological), economic and community interventions of a similar nature and scale to those most likely to be involved for the Lower Mississippi, and how lessons drawn from this work can be successfully applied in Changing Course.

9:00 – 9:50 CH2M HILL9:55 – 10:45 Moffatt & Nichol10 min break10:55 – 11:45 The Rising Tide 11:50 – 12:40 Ben C. Gerwick/COWI

12:40 – 1:10 pm Lunch Break

1:10 – 2:00 pm Session 3 – Planning Context

3.1 Update from the State: The Approach to the River, the State Master Plan and its Relationship to this Effort Kyle GrahamThe 2012 Master Plan and relevant projects underway; the competition as additive to the Master Plan. Approach and key updates and changes to modelling for the 2017 Master Plan; the importance of river diversions; and how the competition can influence future plans.

Day 1 - Introductions and InterviewsModerator – Kate Ascher

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Session 3 – Planning Context (continued)

3.2 Update from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Management of the River, Key Challenges and Opportunities Edward BelkPresent challenges faced by the USACE in the maintenance of the River (dredging, structures, policy on river diversions); key lessons and opportunities from LCA, MRHDMS and other key studies undertaken/underway.

2:10 – 5:50 pm Session 2B – Team interviews (4 teams)15 min presentation, 35 min Q&A

2:10 – 3:00 Baird & Associates3:05 – 3:55 Studio Misi-Ziibi10 min break4:05 – 4:55 AECOM5:00 – 5: 50 Arcadis

6:30 – 7:30 pm Cocktail eventOmni Royal Orleans Hotel621 St. Louis Street All attendees are invited to attend, with transportation provided.

Day 1 - Introductions and Interviews

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8:00 – 9:30 am Breakfast and Registration

Please note: Prior to the start of Day 2 there will be a separate 8:30 – 9:30 am breakfast briefing held with competition management and representatives of each candidate team to answer procedural and logistical questions regarding the competition process, RFP submission contents and Phase 1 Framework Design. Technical Team and Leadership Team attendance is optional.

9:30 – 9:45 am Opening Address: Designing for the FutureStephen CassellDiscussion of why Changing Course is pursuing the issues of coastal land loss, river sustainability, delta function issue as a design competition and how the design process can encourage robust engineering solutions that address the human, economic and ecological resources/needs of the lower River and delta landscape.

9:45 – 10:45 am Session 4 – The Delta’s People: Communities and CultureFacilitated panel discussion with audience questions. Facilitator: Laurie JohnsonPanelists: Bob Gramling, Jeffrey Hebert, Walter Leger Jr., Douglas Meffert

Perspectives of and from communities and culture along the lower River; present and forecast demographic and social change; vulnerability and environmental justice; key considerations from communities; cultural landscapes.

10:45 – 11:00 am Break

Session 5 – Briefing: The Delta’s Industries11:00 – 12:00 pm 5.1 Navigation and Ports

Facilitated panel discussion and audience questions with industry stakeholders. Facilitator: Spencer MurphyPanelists: Debra Colbert, Sean Duffy, Jay McDaniel, John Pennison

The needs of shipping (navigation and ports); overview of the industry; key present and future issues and considerations and potential impact that interventions could have (positive and negative) on these issues.

Day 2 – The Big Issues Moderator – Clint Willson

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Session 5 – Briefing: The Delta’s Industries (continued)

12:00 – 12:30 5.2 Fisheries Facilitated panel discussion and audience questions with non-profits and State and Federal agency representatives. Facilitator: John LopezPanelists: Kim de Mutsert, Glenn Thomas, James Wilkins

Key issues and considerations for the fishing industry in relation to potential design interventions.

12:30 – 1:15 pm Lunch

1:15 – 2:30 pm Session 6 – Building with Sediment: The State of the Science

Facilitated panel discussion with audience questions. Facilitator: Clint WillsonPanelists: Mead Allison, Gary Brown, Alex McCorquodale, Ehab Meselhe

The River and the Basin: changing sediment budgets; land building and evidence of sediment delivery and delta dynamics; current studies and models including MRHDMS; Master Plan projects: sediment dredging, pumping and diversions, etc.

2:30 – 2:45 pm Break

2:45 – 4:00 pm Session 7 – Towards a Solution: Key Challenges and the Workings of a Dynamic System

Facilitated panel discussion with audience questions. Facilitator: Sandra KnightPanelists: Marco Cocito-Monoc, Sean Duffy, Denise Reed, Charles Shadie Developing holistic design interventions for the Lower River requires an understanding of critical factors and how the dynamic natural and human systems work together. Major issues and considerations around flood risk reduction, the ecosystem, navigation and socio-economics to be considered for design team interventions.

4:00 – 4:15 pm Closing Closing remarks: Clint Willson

Day 2 – The Big Issues

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Mead AllisonDirector of Physical Processes & Sediment Systems, The Water Institute of the Gulf

A world-renowned expert on river sediment processes, Mead Allison, Ph.D., has researched river delta systems for nearly 25 years. He is one of the foremost experts on the Mississippi River’s sediment transport processes. His areas of expertise include sediment availability & management, subsidence and soil & water quality.

Prior to joining The Water Institute of the Gulf, he served the University of Texas as Associate Director and Senior Research Scientist at the Jackson School of Geosciences’ Institute for Geophysics.

Dr. Allison has held faculty positions at Tulane University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and at Texas A&M University’s Department of Oceanography.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from the College of William & Mary, a master’s in geology from East Carolina University and a doctorate in oceanography from State University of New York, Stony Brook. He studied at the University of Paris as a J. William Fulbright Fellow and was a post-doctoral scholar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

In addition to his responsibilities at The Water Institute of the Gulf, Dr. Allison is a professor at Tulane University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Kate AscherPrincipal, Happold Consulting, Milstein Professor of Urban Development, Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP)

Dr. Ascher is a Principal at Happold Consulting in NY, as well as the Milstein Professor of Urban Development at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP).

Her public sector work has involved overseeing major infrastructure and master planning projects for the NY metropolitan region, including the development of waste, telecommunications and energy plans in cooperation with community, environmental, business and other advocacy groups. She has also been responsible for navigating and completing a series of major waterfront redevelopment projects in Manhattan and in the Red Hook area of Brooklyn.

In the private sector, she has worked in management consulting and corporate finance in London, advising government and private companies on private-public partnerships and strategic planning, and at Vornado Realty Trust in New York, where she oversaw the negotiation of mitigation, subway bonus and community benefits agreements associated with several commercial office projects in midtown Manhattan.

Dr. Ascher holds a doctorate from the London School of Economics and is the author of books on urban infrastructure and municipal service delivery and the executive producer of a PBS documentary on the impact of technology on the working waterfront. She serves on the Board of the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center and the Friends of the Hudson River Park.

Gary L. BrownResearch Hydraulic Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)

Gary L. Brown is a Research Hydraulic Engineer in the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He received both his B.S. (1993) and M.E. (1995) in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida.

Since that time, he has worked at ERDC, in the development and application of multi-dimensional numerical models to investigate hydrodynamics, salinity, and sediment transport in estuaries and rivers. His past work has included investigations of the Colorado River Diversion in Matagorda Bay, Texas; coastal wetland restoration efforts in Biscayne Bay, Florida; and the restoration of salt ponds to coastal wetlands in South San Francisco Bay, among others. More recently, he has worked on ERDC studies in the Lower Mississippi River, including an investigation into the causes of river shoaling in the vicinity of the West Bay Diversion, and an investigation into the sediment diversion efficiency of the Old River Control Complex.

Mr. Brown is the principle author of “A Simplified Analytic Investigation of the Riverside Effects of Sediment Diversions”, a recently published technical document that applies basic hydraulics and geomorphic analysis principles to provide a framework for understanding the potential impacts of diversions on the river. He is currently the Federal Co-Leader for the multi-dimensional modeling effort associated with the Mississippi River Hydrodynamic and Delta Management Study.

Speakers

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Debra ColbertSenior Vice President, The Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI)

Debra A. Colbert is Senior Vice President of Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI), the national public policy organization that advocates for a modern and well-maintained system of ports and inland waterways. In this role she manages internal and external communications, and media relations. She has worked with WCI since its inception in 2004, and developed the communications program of its predecessor organization, Waterways Work!

Prior to her work with WCI, Ms. Colbert served as Director of Public Affairs for the American Waterways Operators, Manager of Communications for the Telecommunications Industry Association, and Assistant Manager of Communications for the Aerospace Industries Association.

From 1995 to 2012, she served as President/CEO of Colbert Communications, a communications consultancy practice that offered media relations, communications, public affairs, marketing and advertising counsel to a variety of clients, primarily in the maritime industry.

Jeffrey HebertExecutive Director, New Orleans Redevelopment Authority

Jeff Hebert is the Executive Director of the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority where he is responsible for redevelopment projects for the City of New Orleans and the successful disposition properties that were acquired through the state’s Housing Recovery Program in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Prior to joining NORA, Mr. Hebert served as Director of Blight Policy and Neighborhood Revitalization for the City of New Orleans where he oversaw the development and implementation of Mayor Landrieu’s blight reduction strategy and the operations of the consolidated Code Enforcement and Hearings Bureau.

Before joining the Landrieu administration, Mr. Hebert was the Director of Planning for Concordia, LLC, where he oversaw planning and community development projects in New Orleans, San Antonia, and the East Bay area of Northern California.

In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Mr. Hebert started serving as the Director of Community Planning for the Louisiana Recovery Authority where he was tasked with working with local governments throughout the state to develop recovery plans – including the Unified New Orleans Plan.

A graduate of New York University, where he achieved a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Design and Architecture Studies, he completed his graduate studies in City Planning at M.I.T., where he received a Master in City Planning (M.C.P.) degree with a concentration in City Design and Development.

Mr. Hebert is currently a board member of the Young Leadership Council and the United Way Vision Council in New Orleans and is a trustee of the St. Mark’s historic Landmark Fund in New York City.

Gary P. LaGrangePresident and CEO Port of New Orleans

Gary LaGrange has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Port of New Orleans since 2001. Mr. LaGrange’s leadership brought the Port of New Orleans back into operation two weeks after Hurricane Katrina, the most extensive natural disaster in U.S. history.

Mr. LaGrange serves on the Boards and Executive Committees of the Waterways Council, Inc. and National Waterways Council. He also serves on the Boards of the Gulf Ports Association of the Americas and is past chairman and past president of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association. He serves on the executive committee of the Transportation Research Board. He is a member of the Louisiana Committee of 100. He was named the Maritime Person of the Year by the Propeller Club of New Orleans in 2003, and Maritime Person of the Year by the Propeller Club of the Port of Gulfport in 2001. He received the Leadership Award and named to the Hall of Fame by the International Maritime Association at the United Nations in New York. He serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Advisory Council on Trade and Transportation and the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration’s Port subcommittee. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the World Trade Center of New Orleans.

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Gary P. LaGrange (cont.)Before taking leadership at the Port of New Orleans, Mr. LaGrange served as the Executive Director of the Mississippi State Port Authority, the Port of South Louisiana and the Port of West St. Mary.

Mr. LaGrange received his B.A. in Geography/Economics from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He completed a Master of Arts in Urban Planning, with honors from USL, as well as the Professional Port Manager Certification (PPM) from the American Association of Port Authorities.

Walter J. Leger, Jr.Partner, Leger & Shaw , Vice-President and former President of the New Orleans Zephyrs Triple A Baseball Team

Mr. Leger has spoken widely on legal issues at Harvard Law School, Tulane, LSU, Loyola and others. Mr. Leger was a finalist for the “National Lawyer of the Year” Award, has been named to Louisiana “Superlawyers” and Citybusiness Newspaper’s “Leaders in Law Hall of Fame.” He received the “President’s Award” for leadership and public service from the New Orleans Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association and the Louisiana Association of Justice. After Hurricane Katrina Mr. Leger was appointed by Governor Kathleen Blanco and reappointed by Governor Bobby Jindal to the Louisiana Recovery Authority(LRA) as Vice Chairman and the Louisiana Land Trust(LLT) as its Chairman. He serves as Chairman of the LLT and served as Vice-Chairman of the LRA and was appointed by Mayor Mitch Landrieu to the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority.

He has testified before the U.S. Senate Sub Committee on Disaster Recovery whose participants included Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, Senator Joseph Lieberman, and then Senator Barack Obama. Mr. Leger has appeared on behalf of the homeowners of Louisiana before five Congressional and Senate committees and sub committees. He has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, and Associated Press. He has also made appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN, PBS, LPB and numerous local and national television and radio stations.

Alex McCorquodaleFreeport McMoRan (FMI) Professor of Environmental Modeling, University of New Orleans

Alex McCorquodale, Ph.D., is the Freeport McMoRan (FMI) Professor of Environmental Modeling in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of New Orleans. He holds a Ph.D. in Hydraulic Engineering from the University of Windsor, Canada. His Bachelors’ degree in Civil Engineering is from the University of Western Ontario where he was awarded the Board of Governors Medal. He is an Athlone Fellow and obtained a M.Sc. in Fluid Mechanics from the University of Glasgow. He also has a Diploma in Fluvial Geomorphology from Colorado State University.

His research interests include physical and numerical modeling of environment processes involving flood control, hydraulics of water and waste water treatment systems, transient analyses of force mains and water distributions systems and shore protection. He has developed 2 and 3-D hydrodynamic and mass transport models for complex flows.

Professor McCorquodale’ s recent work involves the hydrodynamic modeling of the Lower Mississippi River as well as the Pontchartrain and Barataria Estuaries. He was a participant in the eco-hydrology component of the 2012 Coastal Master Plan for Louisiana. He supervised field studies and numerical modeling of pathogens and nutrients in storm water discharges and tributaries that impact the shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain. He has also been involved in riverine and lake modeling as a part of the Ontario Source Water Protection program. He has conducted 1-D and 3-D modeling of several waste water outfalls and water intakes in the Great Lakes and the Connecting Channels.

Jay McDanielSr. Port Captain, Kirby

Mr. McDaniel is a Sr. Port Captain at Kirby, and has worked in the navigation and shipping industry for over 30 years. He holds several inland waterways endorsements and serves on several trade association committees, including Co-Chair of the Lower Mississippi River Committee.

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Douglas J. MeffertExecutive Director, Audubon Louisiana, Vice President, Audubon

In his role, Dr. Meffert leads all of Audubon Louisiana’s administration and programming which includes large scale coastal conservation and landowner engagement through the Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign and the Rainey Conservation Alliance, chapter engagement through Bird Friendly Community and other initiatives, and climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives.

In addition, he and his team lead the management of the Paul J. Rainey Sanctuary, Audubon’s oldest and largest sanctuary and steward the protection of Louisiana’s 23 Important Bird Areas throughout the State in coordination with Audubon’s Mississippi Flyway and Gulf Initiative programs. Dr. Meffert is also a faculty associate at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy based in Cambridge, MA. Dr. Meffert has a B.Sce in Engineering and an MBA (Marketing & Finance) from Tulane University and Doctorate in Environmental Science & Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Prior to joining Audubon in February 2012, Dr. Meffert was most recently Director of Project Development and Associate Professor at Tulane University’s Payson Center for International Development as well as Executive Director of RiverSphere, an initiative to develop a new campus for the university oriented to water resources and renewable energy. Other prior posts include Deputy Director for the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (Baton Rouge, LA), Topanga Las-Virgenes Natural Resource Conservation District (Malibu, CA), TechLaw, Inc. (Washington, DC), and the U.S. Department of Energy (Washington, DC). Dr. Meffert received a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.

Spencer MurphyVice President, Risk Management at Canal Barge Company Inc.

Prior to joining Canal Barge Company in 2006, Mr. Murphy worked as Contracts Director for Intermarine, LLC, and as an associate at Phelps Dunbar, LLP in New Orleans. Mr. Murphy received a B.A. in History from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 and graduated from Tulane University Law School in 1996.

His responsibilities at Canal Barge include regulatory issues, claims and litigation, contract administration, business planning, and governmental affairs. Mr. Murphy is active in a number of civic and industry efforts focused on water management; he is the President of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association and served on the Framework Development Team for the State of Louisiana’s Coastal Restoration 2012 Master Plan.

John L. PennisonDeputy Director, Plaquemines Port Harbor & Terminal District

Mr. Pennison attended High School in Buras, La. at Delta Heritage Academy and college at LSU Baton Rouge, majoring in Business Administration. After leaving LSU, Mr. Pennison worked in the retail inventory auditing business for twenty-five years as an Area Manager, District Manager, and Regional Manager. Mr. Pennison began his career with Plaquemines Port Harbor & Terminal District in 2004 on the Port’s Rescue Boats, serving as Engineer and Rescue Boat Captain until 2007, giving him valuable insight into the Mississippi River navigation in Plaquemines Parish. He assumed the position of Port Assistant Manager in 2007, basically responsible for all operations of the Port. Mr. Pennison was promoted to the position of Port Manager in July of 2009, and served in that capacity until April of 2013, at which time he was promoted to Deputy Port Director. Mr. Pennison currently maintains a USCG Masters License, and is active in the maritime navigation industry, serving as a Navigational Consultant, particularly in areas in Coastal Plaquemines Parish serving the shallow draft oil industry.

Mr. Pennison was appointed to the Louisiana Coastal Ports Advisory Authority as the Plaquemines Port Harbor & Terminal District representative in 2013, an advisory board to make recommendations for improvements to the ports of Louisiana. In August 2013, he was appointed by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as the Port’s representative on the Lower Mississippi River Waterways Safety Advisory Committee.

Speakers

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Charles ShadieChief of the Watershed Division for the Mississippi Valley Division (MVD), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Mississippi River Commission (MRC)

Mr. Shadie is responsible for overall supervision, policy formulation, and federal, state and local entity coordination for total regional operation for the water management and hydrology, hydraulic and coastal engineering within MVD. Watershed Division supports evaluations, brief investigations and planning of hydrologic, hydraulic, environmental and river engineering features of major flood control, navigation, and environmental restoration projects throughout the MVD. Mr. Shadie also serves as the MVD Senior Water Control advisor and Water Control Community of Practice leader. Mr. Shadie graduated from West Virginia Institute of Technology in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, and in 1980 earned his master’s degree from Purdue University in civil engineering (hydrology and hydraulic engineering). He earned a master’s degree in 2007 from the University of Florida in water resources planning and management. He is a registered professional engineer in the states of Louisiana and Mississippi and is a Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

In 1982, Mr. Shadie transferred to the New Orleans District and worked on a number of water resources studies and projects related to flood risk reduction, navigation, and environmental restoration. Since 1997 he has provided technical expertise to the Watershed Division of MVD and its districts on a wide range of studies and projects, including the Mississippi River & Tributaries Project, the Louisiana Coastal Area study, and the Louisiana Hurricane Recovery Projects. Mr. Shadie has been Chief of the Watershed Division since March 2010.

Glenn ThomasFisheries Research Director, Louisiana Department of Wildlife And Fisheries

Glenn Thomas received his B.S. in Biology from Augusta State University, Georgia, and his M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from the University of Tennessee, writing his thesis on recreational fishing on freshwater artificial reefs. Dr. Thomas holds a Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from Louisiana State University.

Prior to joining the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, he was an associate professor at the LSU School of Renewable Natural Resources and Marine Extension Director at Louisiana Sea Grant College Program.

Dr. Thomas has been with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries for 20 years. Sample research topics include: Invasive Fish Species in Louisiana, Critical Issues in Louisiana Fisheries, Hook-Release Mortality of Spotted Seatrout in Louisiana, Coastal Restoration and Fishery Production in Louisiana.

James WilkinsDirector, Louisiana Sea Grant Law & Policy Program

Mr. Wilkins is a Professor in the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program where he is the Director of the Sea Grant Legal Program. Jim Wilkins received his B.S. in biology from Centenary College, M.S. from Texas A&M in marine biology, and a Juris Doctor from the LSU Law Center. Mr. Wilkins teaches a course in Coastal Zone Management and does research on a wide range of legal issues affecting the use and conservation of ocean and coastal resources.

Speakers

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Charles AllenDirector, City of New Orleans, Office of Coastal and Environmental Affairs

Charles E. Allen is director of the New Orleans Office of Coastal and Environmental Affairs and serves as advisor to the Mayor on such affairs. He is also a former president of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association and until the summer of 2010 was acting director of the Lower 9th Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development.

Mr. Allen serves as a board member of a project known as REACH-NOLA, which works to improve access to quality health care for New Orleans residents. He has served as a board member and secretary of the New Orleans Hospital Services District A Board. The District A Board is currently working to rebuild a hospital for the Eastern New Orleans community.

Mr. Allen is also a member of the board of directors of the Louisiana/Haiti Sustainable Village Project. Finally, he serves on the Louisiana Governor’s Advisory Commission on Coastal Restoration and Protection. Mr. Allen received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Xavier University of Louisiana and his Master of Science in Public Health from Tulane University. Mr. Allen is a life-long resident of New Orleans.

Don BoeschProfessor of Marine Science and President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science

Donald F. Boesch was born and raised in New Orleans and spent formative years in his youth exploring the marshes, bayous, and beaches of the northern Gulf Coast. A graduate of the Holy Cross School and Tulane University in New Orleans, he received a Ph.D. in biological oceanography from the College of William and Mary.

After a Fulbright postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Queensland in Australia and eight years at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Dr. Boesch returned to Louisiana as the first director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON). There he was responsible for building the LUMCON Marine Center at Cocodrie and the research vessels Pelican and Acadiana, initiated research on the Gulf of Mexico “dead zone,” and led assessments of the long-term effects of offshore oil and gas development.

Since 1990 he has been President of and a professor in the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science that operates four laboratories across that state. He also serves as Vice Chancellor for Environmental Sustainability for the University System of Maryland. Dr. Boesch has returned to the Gulf Coast frequently to lead task forces and scientific panels on Gulf ecosystem protection and restoration. He was appointed by the President as one of seven members of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling and has recently completed service as chair of the Ocean Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences.

Stephen CassellBoard Chair, Van Alen Institute and Principal, Architecture Research Office

Stephen Cassell is principal and co-founder, with Adam Yarinsky, of Architecture Research Office, a New York-based firm practicing modern architecture and visionary urbanism. The practice has completed more than seventy-five projects nationwide for clients such as Goldman Sachs, Princeton University, Prada, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The firm’s portfolio of work includes civic, academic, commercial, residential, and conceptual architecture. Winner of the 2011 National Design Award for Architecture and the 2010 Academy Award for Architecture, Architecture Research Office has received numerous honors and frequent media coverage. Recent work includes the renovation of Union Square’s historic pavilion and a new modern building at the park’s northeast corner; a riverfront education center and recreational pavilion in Beacon, NY; a new entrance building at Brooklyn Botanic Garden; a theater complex in Lower Manhattan; and a museum dedicated to the life and work of the American sculptor Donald Judd. Architecture Research Office was a member of the 2007-2009 AIA Latrobe Prize project team that reconceived the New York-New Jersey harbor in response to rising sea levels. The firm’s vision for Lower Manhattan was the centerpiece of Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront, an exhibit at The Museum of Modern Art. Mr. Cassell holds an undergraduate degree in architecture from Princeton University and received his Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Mr. Cassell has twice served as the Shure Professor at the University of Virginia and as the Friedman Professor at the University of California at Berkeley. He has also taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, Princeton, Syracuse, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He has lectured widely throughout the United States and abroad.

Mr. Cassell has served as the Board Chair of Van Alen Institute since 2012.

Leadership Team

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Steve CochranDirector, Mississippi River Delta Restoration

As the Director for Environmental Defense Fund’s Mississippi River Delta Restoration project, Steve Cochran works to restore the natural functioning of the river while addressing the needs and health of southern Louisiana’s diverse communities and economic infrastructure. With local, state and federal attention turning towards this delta, executing a strategy for its timely and responsible large scale restoration is crucial. In addition, Steve works within Louisiana and nationally to encourage communities, economic interests and political leaders to see delta restoration as a fundamental priority to the nation.

Steve spent two years as Executive Director of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation in New Orleans, Louisiana, and seven years with Louisiana Congressman and then Governor Buddy Roemer. He served as Legislative Director in D.C., then Field Director, and ultimately Chief of Staff to the Governor. In his prior role as Vice President of Climate and Air at Environmental Defense Fund, Steve Cochran managed EDF’s domestic and international efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution. Steve served as the Executive Vice President of our 501 c(4) organization, the Environmental Defense Action Fund (EDAF), and was the Political Director of EDAF’s Political Action Committee. He formerly served as the director of the National Climate Campaign. Prior to that, Steve managed EDF’s media, legislative and Internet advocacy work and served as Environmental Defense’s legislative director.

Marco Cocito-MonocDirector of Regional Initiatives, Greater New Orleans Foundation

GNOF’s regional initiatives are overseen by Marco Cocito-Monoc, Ph.D. who has been working in this capacity since the summer of 2007. Dr. Cocito-Monoc has extensive experience in community revitalization and economic development, having been executive director of Baltimore’s Southeast Community Development Corporation for four years and, prior to that, having led economic development initiatives at the municipal and regional levels.

Prior to his time in Maryland, Dr. Cocito-Monoc was director of economic development for the City of Covington, Louisiana. Dr. Cocito-Monoc’s background in economic and community development was enriched by earlier work in Hammond and Houma, Louisiana, where he directed the former’s Downtown Development District and the latter’s Main Street program. He earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees in political science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his doctorate in history from the University of Cambridge in England, where he was also a research and teaching fellow at Magdalene College.

Maurice CoxDirector, Tulane City Center and Associate Dean for Community Engagement, Tulane University School of Architecture

Maurice Cox, a nationally respected community designer and leader of the public interest design movement, has been named director of the Tulane City Center as well as the new associate dean for community engagement at the Tulane University School of Architecture in New Orleans. In his new roles, Mr. Cox will oversee a wide range of initiatives with Tulane architecture faculty and students throughout the New Orleans community

Mr. Cox, who studied architecture at Cooper Union in New York under the guidance of John Hejduk, comes to Tulane from the faculty of University of Virginia. A co-founder of the national SEED (Social, Economic, Environmental, Design) Network, Cox served as design director of the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC from 2007-2010. In that capacity, he led the Mayor’s Institute on City Design, the Governor’s Institute on Community Design and oversaw the award of more than $2 million a year in NEA design grants across the United States.

Mr. Cox’s appreciation of the civic process led him to serve as City Councilmember and then mayor of the City of Charlottesville from 1996-2004. During Cox’s mayoral term (2002-2004) the city was ranked as the “#1 Best Place to Live in the USA & Canada” by Frommer’s Cities Ranked and Rated. The city was also the smallest in America to maintain a AAA-bond rating for excellence in fiscal management with a municipal city budget of $100 million. Under his leadership, Charlottesville completed several large projects, including the passage of an award-winning zoning ordinance in support of mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented development; new infill residential neighborhoods and mixed-income, higher-density housing; and the design of a two-mile, federally funded parkway entrance into the city.

Leadership Team

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Sean M. DuffyExecutive Director, Big River Coalition

Sean M. Duffy, Sr. assumed the duties of Executive Vice President - Maritime Advocate with the Louisiana Maritime Association in 2011 and was hired to promote improvements beneficial to maritime stakeholders along the Lower Mississippi River. He was also chosen to lead the Big River Coalition and accepted the role of Executive Director. Mr. Duffy served as the President and Chief Executive Office for the Gulf States Maritime Association from 2005 to 2011. During his previous tenure, he became a proponent for local industry and specialized in lobbying Capitol Hill for supplemental funds for maintenance dredging and waterway maintenance and on efforts to fix the broken Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund mechanism. Or “Taxation Without Channelization.” As the third generation of his family to work in the maritime industry, Mr. Duffy began working on the docks in the Port of New Orleans in his early teen years during breaks from school. Previous employment experiences include various management duties, Boarding Agent, Deckhand, Stevedore General Superintendent and Marine Surveyor. Mr. Duffy is intimately familiar with obstacles faced by the maritime industry, both nationally and those specific to Louisiana, and he has become an expert on coastal restoration and maintenance dredging. The Big River Coalition under his tutelage has grown and now represents navigation interests across the entire Mississippi River Basin. He continues in this role to passionately represent the economic engine of navigation on the largest and most dynamic river system in the world. The term he prefers is the “world’s economic superhighway”.

Carlton DufrechouGeneral Manager, Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

Carlton Dufrechou has been coordinating public-spirited projects and programs for over twenty-five years. Mr. Dufrechou received both his B.S. degree in civil engineering and his M.S. degree in civil/environmental engineering from Tulane University. Immediately following school, Mr. Dufrechou had experience in civil and architectural design and real-estate development. From December 1986 through early June 1992, Mr. Dufrechou was a planner and project manager with the New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mr. Dufrechou participated in the planning, implementation, and management of water resource, environmental restoration, and flood control projects in central and southern Louisiana. The projects include rural and urban flood control in central Louisiana, marsh creation and wetland restoration in the Mississippi River delta region, hurricane protection in the New Orleans metropolitan area, delta building in Atchafalaya Bay, and environmental enhancement projects in the Atchafalaya Basin. In June 1992, Mr. Dufrechou became Executive Director of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. As director, he coordinated the overall planning and implementation of efforts to restore and preserve the ecology of the 10,000-square-mile Pontchartrain Basin surrounding metro New Orleans. Pontchartrain’s restoration activities include water-quality improvement, coastal restoration and storm protection, habitat preservation, and education/outreach projects. The projects ranged from construction of livestock waste retention lagoons to creation of the 16,000-plus-acre Big Branch National Wildlife Refuge to development of the Multiple Lines of Defense Strategy to preserve our coast. The projects have received numerous recognitions including The National Watershed Award, two EPA Environmental Excellence Awards, and a Presidential Environmental Education Award. In August 2009, Mr. Dufrechou was selected as General Manager of the Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission. He is now responsible for all operations of the “world’s longest bridge” including emergency response, traffic control, maintenance, administration, and future planning.

Mr. Dufrechou has and continues to participate on numerous regional, state, and national committees and task forces dealing with water quality, coastal and storm protection, and environmental issues. Currently, he serves on the Coastal Advisory Committee of the South Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East, the Non Flood Assets Management Authority, the American Public Works Association’s Sustainability Task Force, and the Pontchartrain Basin Foundation Board. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, American Planning Association, Society of American Military Engineers, and the Society of Tulane Engineers. He is a Rotarian, a Paul Harris Fellow, and recipient of numerous awards including the Young Leadership Council of New Orleans Role Model Award, Gambit’s Best of New Orleans Award, Coastal Stewardship Award, and White House Champions of Change Award.

Robert GormanExecutive Director, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux

Robert Gorman is the executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux (Louisiana) where he has worked since 1982. Mr. Gorman is a founder of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and its first Chair. He remains an active board member. He is a founder of the Tri-City Interfaith Stewardship Initiative, the past Chair of the Louisiana Interchurch Conference (LIC) Commission on the Stewardship of the Environment and the current Chair of the LIC Public Policy Task Force.

Mr. Gorman has testified and conducted workshops on environmental justice and environmental stewardship issues throughout Louisiana and other parts of the country, including testimony to the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, to the President and Vice President at the White House and to a national interfaith gathering at Baylor University.

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Robert Gorman (cont.)He served on the National Advisory Committee for the United States Catholic Conference Environmental Justice Program and has worked since its formation with the National Religious Partnership for the Environment. He has been active in assisting communities in Grand Bois, Gibson, and Morgan City in opposing toxic and hazardous waste operations. He is the founder of Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing (BISCO), a congregation-based community organization working on coastal issues, and a founder of TRAC, the longest continuously operating community-based disaster recovery nonprofit in the United States.

Mr. Gorman is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, a Board Approved Clinical Supervisor, and a member of the Academy of Clinical Social Workers. He lives in Thibodaux, Louisiana.

Kyle GrahamDeputy Executive Director, Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority

Kyle Graham is the Deputy Executive Director for Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority with responsibility for establishing policies, programs, and projects consistent with the State’s goals of a sustainable coastal area. Prior to joining the State of Louisiana, Mr. Graham worked as a wetland scientist, restoring streams and wetlands, permitting impacts and preparing environmental documentation. He holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina and a M.S. in Biology from Appalachian State University.

Nancy KeteManaging Director, The Rockefeller Foundation

Dr. Nancy Kete joined the Rockefeller Foundation in January 2012. As Managing Director, Dr. Kete leads the foundation’s global work on resilience including developing strategies and practice for infusing resilience thinking throughout the foundation’s work.

During her 25 year career in government, civil society, and private sector, Dr. Kete brought technical, institutional, and managerial leadership to bear on a number of major environment and societal challenges. She has been a diplomat, a climate change negotiator, a social entrepreneur, and a highly successful fund-raiser.

Before joining the Foundation, Dr. Kete spent thirteen years at the World Resources Institute (WRI), first as Director of the Climate, Energy, and Pollution Program and then as founder and Director of EMBARQ, a distinguished program that catalyzed environmentally sustainable transport solutions to improve quality of life in cities in Mexico, Brazil, India, Turkey and the Andean region. She also served on President Obama’s National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. In her role as Senior Advisor on Corporate Safety and Risk Management, Dr. Kete provided recommendations on unilateral steps the industry should take to improve safety above and beyond what the regulations would require.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Kete worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency where she led the development of the acid rain control title of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, the first and as yet most successful application of market instruments for pollution control.

Dr. Kete holds a Ph.D. in Geography and Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s in Geography from Southern Illinois University.

Merritt LanePresident and CEO, Canal Barge Company

H. Merritt Lane III has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Canal Barge Company, Inc. since 1994 and as a director of that company since 1988. Mr. Lane is actively involved in industry affairs, including serving as Past Chairman and current Treasurer of the board of directors of the American Waterways Operators, as a Vice-Chairman of the Waterways Council Inc., and as a director of the National Waterways Foundation and the U.S. Coast Guard Foundation. He also serves on the board of directors of Hibernia Homestead Bancorp, a publicly-traded company, and Pontchartrain Materials Company, a privately-owned company based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mr. Lane is active in numerous civic organizations, including the Business Council of New Orleans & the River Region and the Young President’s Organization. Mr. Lane is the current Chairperson for the Board’s Audit Committee and a member of our Nominating and Governance Committee.

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Stacy MethvinRetired Vice President, Refining Margin Optimization, Shell Oil Company

Stacy Methvin is currently the Board Chair and President of the Girl Scouts San Jacinto in southeast Texas. She recently retired Shell Oil Company, after a 33-year career, the first 19 years working in the Upstream followed by 14 years in the Downstream. Her last role was Vice President, Refining Margin Optimization, where she was responsible for crude selection and scheduling for Shell’s refineries globally. She began her career with Shell in 1979 as a geological engineer in the Exploration & Production (E&P) offices in New Orleans. Ms. Methvin held several managerial positions in E&P including President of the Shell Louisiana Company. She moved to Shell’s Downstream business in 1998 as President of Shell Deer Park Refining Company and then President of Shell Pipeline Company LP in 2002-2003. In 2004, Ms. Methvin was appointed Vice President, Base Chemicals North America and Global C4C5’s. She served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Shell Chemical LP., from 2006 through 2008. She was then appointed as Vice President, Global Distribution responsible for Shell’s terminals and trucking operations in more than 35 countries in 2009-2010. Ms. Methvin’s board experience includes serving on the Louisiana Governor’s Advisory Board for Coastal Restoration, Protection and Conservation since 2003, the Houston Zoo Board, a trustee for Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, the finance committee for Memorial Hermann Hospital System, and the American Chemistry Council Board. She is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum Class XXI. Ms. Methvin graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor’s degree in Geology and Geophysical Sciences.

Anne MillingFounder, Women of the Storm

Anne McDonald Milling, attended Newcomb College and continued her education as a Woodrow Wilson Scholar at Yale University, where she received a Masters of Art. Married to R. King Milling, retired Whitney National Bank president, they have lived in New Orleans where they raised their three sons.

Her entire adult life has been dedicated to improving the community in which she lives. Her numerous volunteer activities have enabled her to hop-scotch across the city, providing her an opportunity to work side by side among the diverse people of New Orleans. She has served as president pro temp of the Sewerage and Water Board of the City of New Orleans, chairman of the Bureau of Governmental Research; chairman of Loyola University’s board of trustees, president of the Junior League of New Orleans, president of Longue Vue House and Gardens and a member of the boards of the New Orleans Museum of Art, Second Harvesters Food Bank and Project Lazarus, the first residential facility for people with AIDS in New Orleans.

After the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, Mrs. Milling founded the grassroots organization Women of the Storm, an economically, socially and ethnically diverse group of women from metropolitan New Orleans and south Louisiana, with a simple mission ... .invite and encourage our national leaders to see first-hand the devastation and challenges which the region faced! And indeed, they did just that! After several journeys on charter flights to Washington, 58 Senators and 142 members of the House of Representatives accepted the Women of the Storm invitation to visit New Orleans; the Road Home money was secured and revenues from offshore oil and gas leases were approved for coastal restoration.

With the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010, the Women of the Storm broadened its base to include women from across the five Gulf states and have played a significant role in advocating the successful passage of the RESTORE Act. In addition they will monitor the allocation and expenditures from any of the BP oil spill fine dollars.

She currently serves on the board of the Tulane Medical School Board, the New Orleans Advocate, Entergy New Orleans Advisory board and Louisiana Children’s Museum national advisory board. Mrs. Milling has received numerous honors and awards, among them the Times-Picayune Loving Cup in 1995.

Denise ReedChief Scientist, The Water Institute of the Gulf

Denise Reed, Ph.D., is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in coastal marsh sustainability and the role of human activities in modifying coastal systems. She has studied coastal issues in the United States and around the world for over 30 years.

Dr. Reed has worked closely with Louisiana’s state government in developing coastal restoration plans. Her experience includes helping monitor natural resources in the Pontchartrain Basin and researching ecosystem restoration and planning in the California Bay-Delta.

She has served on numerous boards and panels addressing the effects of human alterations on coastal environments and the role of science in guiding restoration, including a number of National Research Council committees.

Leadership Team

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Denise Reed (cont.)Prior to joining The Water Institute of the Gulf as Chief Scientist, Dr. Reed served as Director of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Sciences and as a professor in the University of New Orleans’ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. She is a member of the Chief of Engineers Environmental Advisory Board and the Ecosystems Sciences and Management Working Group of the NOAA Science Advisory Board. She earned bachelor and doctoral degrees in geography from the University of Cambridge.

Steven StocktonDirector of Civil Works, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, D.C.

Steven L. Stockton has served as the Director of Civil Works, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), in Washington, D.C. since June 2005. In this position he shares the responsibilities of the Deputy Commanding General, Civil and Emergency Operations, under the policy guidance of the Chief of Engineers and the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), for managing and directing the policy development, programming, planning, design, construction, emergency response, and operation and maintenance activities of the Army Civil Works Program, a $5 billion annual program of water and related land resources of the United States. He previously served in a number of positions in the South Pacific Division of USACE in San Francisco, California. Principal areas of responsibility include planning and management of flood damage reduction, navigation, ecosystem restoration, regulatory, and emergency response programs. From May to November 2004 he was temporarily assigned to the Gulf Region Division, in Baghdad, Iraq, as the Director of Business Management. From January 1996 through July 1998, he served as Chief, Engineering Division, Civil Works Directorate, Headquarters, USACE, in Washington, DC. In this position, Mr. Stockton was responsible for oversight and management of the engineering functions supporting the Civil Works program. He previously served as Chief, Planning and Engineering Division, Portland District, USACE, in Portland, Oregon.

Mr. Stockton received his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Oregon State University in 1971. Mr. Stockton is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Oregon and a member of the Senior Executive Service.

Clinton Willson(Chair of Technical Team) Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Louisiana State University and Director of the Engineering Design and Innovation Program, The Water Institute of the Gulf

With more than 15 years’ experience in applied research in water resources and environmental engineering, Clinton Willson, Ph.D., P.E., is an expert in numerical and physical modeling systems that test river management proposals. He joined The Water Institute of the Gulf as Director of Engineering Design and Innovation to develop innovative concepts, technologies, and projects that protect communities from large storms while improving the effectiveness of coastal restoration efforts.

In addition, Dr. Willson is a professor at Louisiana State University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and serves on the university’s Coastal Sustainability Studio executive board. At LSU, he oversees construction of a new, large-scale physical model of the lower Mississippi River that will be used to test the effectiveness of various river management strategies.

Dr. Willson is also chairman of the technical team for the Lower Mississippi River Design Initiative and has served as a reviewer for several federal agencies. In 1997, he was a visiting professor at the Laboratory for Soil and Environmental Physics at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Dr. Willson earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Pennsylvania State University. He earned a master’s in environmental health engineering and a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Texas. He spent seven years as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

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Jaye CableChair, Curriculum for Environment and Ecology and Professor, Department of Marine Science University of North Carolina Chapel HillDr. Cable’s research focuses on hydrologic processes at the land-sea boundary, with an emphasis on sources, sinks, and transformations of biogeochemical constituents to coastal water bodies. Current projects include:

• Hydrologic interactions between coastal aquifers and marine surface waters systems, specifically investigating the role paleochannels play in deltaic systems as a vast subterranean estuary network (Mississippi River Delta; EAR 1141685)

• Characterization of hydrologic and biogeochemical processes across the tidal creek-salt marsh interface and export to the ocean, specifically quantifying water and DOC export in a Florida salt marsh (Econfina-Aucilla Rivers, Florida; OCE 0928162)

• Radionuclide applications in marine and environmental processes (e.g., sediment accretion, resuspension, and water mass tracing)

This research is currently supported by grants from NSF.

John DayDistinguished Professor, Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State UniversityJohn W. Day, Jr. is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, School of the Coast & Environment at Louisiana State University, where he has taught since 1971. He has published extensively on the ecology and management of coastal and wetland ecosystems and has over 200 peer-reviewed publications. He is co-author (with M. Kemp, C. Hall, and A. Yáñez-Arancibia) of Estuarine Ecology (and co-editor of the second edition which is due out late in 2012), coeditor (with C. Hall) of Ecological Modeling in Theory and Practice, coeditor (with W. Conner) of The Ecology of the Barataria Basin, An Estuarine Profile, and coeditor (with A. Yáñez-Arancibia) of the Ecology of Coastal Ecosystems in the Southern Mexico: The Terminos Lagoon Region. Professor Day received his PhD in marine sciences and environmental sciences from the University of North Carolina in 1971 working with Dr. H.T. Odum. Since then, he has conducted extensive research on the ecology and management of the Mississippi Delta region and for the last 30 years, he has studied coastal ecosystems in Mexico. He was a visiting professor in the Institute of Marine Sciences of the National University of Mexico in 1978-1979, at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands during 1986, at the Laboratoire d’Ecologie, Unversité Claude Bernard in Arles France during 1992-93, and in the Department of Geography at Cambridge University in 2000-2001. He has also worked with the University of Campeche and the Institute of Ecology in Xalapa, Mexico. Since 1992, Professor Day has worked in the Mediterranean studying the impacts of climate change on wetlands in Venice Lagoon and in the Po, Rhone and Ebro deltas. He is presently working on using wetlands as a means of removing nitrogen from the Mississippi River. Dr. Day served as a member of the hypoxia reassessment taskforce and published with Dr. William Mitsch an article in BioScience on approaches to removing nitrogen from the Mississippi River. He served as chair of the National Technical Review Committee reviewing the restoration program for the Mississippi delta, and as Chair of the Science and Engineering Special Team (SEST), a group of scientists established by the environmental NGO community to identify current topics of interest on Mississippi delta restoration. He is currently active in delta restoration. He is the recipient of the Estuarine Research Federation Cronin Award for excellence in teaching in coastal sciences. He has served as major professor for 68 MS and PhD students.

Kim de MutsertAssistant Professor, Department of Environmental Science & Policy, George Mason UniversityDr. Kim de Mutsert’s research interests include fish ecology in the marine, estuarine and freshwater environment. She is especially interested in the effects of environmental and anthropogenic stressors on nekton community structure and food web dynamics. In current projects she studies the response of living marine resources to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico, the effects of freshwater diversion on nekton communities in Louisiana estuaries, the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on Gulf shrimp in Louisiana estuaries, the spawning success of river herring in Potomac River tributaries, and the effects of nutrient reductions and inflow of treated wastewater on two tidal freshwater embayments of the Potomac River. She uses a combination of field research and ecosystem modeling in her projects. She teaches courses in freshwater ecology, estuarine ecology, fish ecology, and fisheries science. She is a faculty fellow at the Potomac Environmental Research and Education Center. Dr. de Mutsert earned her doctoral degree in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences from LSU, and her Master of Science degree in Biology from the University of Amsterdam.

Bob GramlingEmeritus Professor, Sociology, University of Louisiana, LafayetteRobert Gramling is an environmental sociologist and emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He is the author or co-author of four books and numerous journal articles. His research has focused on coastal communities and natural resource development; coastal restoration; and on natural and technological disasters and recovery. He has served on National Academy of Science committees and scientific committees for state and federal agencies, including National Marine Fisheries Service, Northwest Power Planning Commission, and the states of Alaska and Louisiana. His research has been funded by a number of agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Interior.

Technical Team

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Laurie JohnsonPrincipal, Laurie Johnson Consulting

Dr. Laurie Johnson is an urban planner with over 25 years of professional experience, specializing in disaster recovery and consulting, and catastrophe risk management. She is the Principal and Founder of Laurie Johnson Consulting | Research and a Senior Science Advisor to AIG/Lexington Insurance. She has written extensively about land use and risk, disaster recovery and reconstruction, and the economics of catastrophes, and has studied most of the world’s major urban disasters, including the 2011 Tohoku Japan, 2010 and 2011 Christchurch NZ, and 2008 China earthquakes and 2005 Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, she was a lead author of the recovery plan for the City of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and coauthored the book, Clear as Mud: Planning for the Rebuilding of New Orleans. Her latest book on post-disaster recovery governance organizations and approaches from around the world will be published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in 2014. She is advising Sea Bright, New Jersey in recovery following Hurricane Sandy and a lead author on the update of the American Planning Association’s post-disaster recovery planning guidebook. She completed her Doctor of Informatics degree at Kyoto University, Japan in 2009 and is a graduate of Texas A&M University, where she received both a Master of Urban Planning and a Bachelor of Science in Geophysics.

Sandra K. KnightPresident, WaterWonks LLC

Sandra Knight PhD, PE, D.WRE, D.NE is founder and President of WaterWonks LLC in Washington, DC. Her company was formed to capitalize on her extensive experience as a national policy expert, international and nationally recognized engineering professional and research and innovation advisor to provide strategic direction to clients in the public and private sector in the areas of water resources, the environment, disaster resilience, and research to operations. Additionally, Dr. Knight was recently appointed to the position of Senior Research Engineer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering where she will work with her other colleagues in the development of water policy and flood risk management initiatives. She is a senior advisor to Dawson and Associates and a member of the Secure Sustainability Institute.

Dr. Knight gained her experience serving at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), in various leadership positions and roles. At FEMA, she was the Deputy Associate Administrator for Mitigation responsible floodplain mapping, floodplain management and mitigation grants supporting the National Flood Insurance Program. She was also responsible for environmental and historic preservation compliance, oversight of the National Dam Safety Program and emergency management for mitigation. At NOAA, Sandra was the Director of the Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation where she was responsible for the development of corporate policies and planning strategies, to ensure scientific excellence, transparent operations, and improved performance of NOAA’s research portfolio. As Technical Director for navigation research at the USACE Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, MS, she supported the sustainable development and management of the nation’s waterways infrastructure through innovative research and technology. On special assignment to USACE HQ, she led the development of an asset management strategy for the USACE, establishing accountability and life-cycle guidance for over $200 billion of the nation’s real property assets. She received her doctorate in Civil Engineering from the University of Memphis in 1996. She is a registered professional engineer in the state of Tennessee and has been certified as a Diplomate, Water Resource Engineer (D.WRE) and as a Diplomate, Navigation Engineering (D.NE). She is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers, Sigma Xi and a Fellow for PIANC.

Ehab MeselheDirector of Natural Systems Modeling & Monitoring, The Water Institute of the Gulf

Ehab Meselhe, Ph.D., P.E., has more than 20 years of experience researching coastal wetland hydrology, sediment transport, and computer modeling of coastal wetland, estuarine, and riverine systems. He has been heavily involved in large-scale coastal ecosystem restoration programs in south Louisiana and the Florida Everglades.

Dr. Meselhe serves as Louisiana’s technical lead for the Mississippi River Hydrodynamic and Delta Management Study. He is Associate Editor of the Journal of Hydrology and participates in steering and organizing committees for national and international conferences.

Prior to joining The Water Institute of the Gulf, Dr. Meselhe directed the Institute of Coastal Ecology and Engineering at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, where he also served as professor for the Department of Civil Engineering.

He earned a master’s and doctoral degrees from the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research at the University of Iowa.

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James MorrisDirector, Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences, University of South CarolinaDr. James Morris is the Director of Belle Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences, Professor of Biological Sciences, Class of ’32 Distinguished Professor of Marine Studies at the University of South Carolina, and a Fellow of the Society of Wetland Scientists

and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the University of South Carolina Research Foundation Award (2011), the Mortar Board Excellence in Teaching Award (2001), and the Society of Wetlands Science Merit Award (2012). He served as a Program Officer at the National Science Foundation from 2003-2005 and was a visiting professor at Aarhus University, Denmark in 1990. His academic background includes degrees in environmental sciences, (BA, Univ. Virginia), biology (MA, Yale) and forestry and environmental studies (PhD, Yale). He held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole before taking a faculty position at the University of South Carolina in 1981. Morris has authored 90 peer-reviewed publications, and has done pioneering work on the responses of coastal wetlands to changing sea levels, including development of the Marsh Equilibrium Model (MEM). He has served on panels for numerous agencies, including the US National Science Foundation, the Irish National Science Foundation, and the National Research Council.

Elizabeth MossopPrincipal, Spackman Mossop Michaels and Professor of Landscape Architecture, Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture at Louisiana State UniversityElizabeth Mossop is a landscape architect with wide-ranging experience in both landscape design and urban planning. She is Professor of Landscape Architecture at Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture at LSU and Principal of Spackman Mossop Michaels landscape architects. Her practice concentrates on urban infrastructure and open space projects like Cook and Phillip Park in Sydney and Viet Village in New Orleans. She has recently been involved in many aspects of the post-hurricane reconstruction of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Elizabeth was Director of the Landscape Architecture Program at the University of New South Wales before taking a position at the Harvard Design School as the Director of Landscape Architecture Programs and Associate Professor in Landscape Architecture. Currently, Elizabeth is the former Director and Professor of Landscape Architecture at Louisiana State University. Her research and teaching focus on landscape and urbanism, through investigation of contemporary landscape design both at the urban scale and at the site scale. Recent publications include Contemporary Landscape Design in Australia (2003), Hong Kong: Defining the Edge (2001) and City Spaces: Art and Design (2001).

William NuttlePrincipal, Eco-hydrology.comWilliam K. Nuttle is an independent consultant based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, who works with water managers, engineers, Earth scientists and ecologists to plan eco-hydrology research and to apply the results of this research to ecosystem restoration and management of natural resources. He currently also serves as a Science Integrator for the University of Maryland’s Integration and Application Network in support of the America’s Watershed Initiative. Dr. Nuttle has 20 years of experience in ecosystem research and resource management in South Florida and Louisiana. He was director of Everglades Department for the South Florida Water Management District in 2000-2001, and prior to that he served as Executive Officer for the Florida Bay Science Program. Dr. Nuttle received his M.S. and Ph.D. (1986) degrees in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his BSCE from the University of Maryland.

Gary ShafferProfessor of Biological Sciences, Southeastern Louisiana State UniversityGary Shaffer is a native of California and obtained his B.S. and M.S. at the University of California at Santa Barbara in aquatic and population biology. He obtained his Ph.D. in mathematical ecology at Louisiana State University and subsequently served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Experimental Statistics for four years at LSU. Dr. Shaffer is currently serving as a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Southeastern Louisiana University where he studies wetlands science, restoration ecology, and statistical ecology. Dr. Shaffer has published several dozen papers in refereed journals and, in the last decade, received over seventy research grants totaling over $6 million. He has received numerous awards for his research, including the Faculty Research Award of the Association of Southeastern Biologists (twice), SLU’s career award for Excellence in Research, the Distinguished Paper Award from the World Organization of Systems and Cybernetics, and was named “Lead Ecologist” in the state of Louisiana by the Ecological Society of America (7,000 members) for their science education program. Dr. Shaffer has given invited presentations at universities and workshops across the nation, and at conferences of the Ecological Society of America, the Operations Research Society of America, the Estuarine Research Federation, the International Institute for System Studies, the World Organization of Systems and Cybernetics, and the Society of Wetland Scientists. Dr. Shaffer enjoys teaching several of the following courses each semester: applied biostatistics, botany, ecology, ecological methods, estuarine ecology, experimental design, plant ecology, multivariate statistics, simulation modeling, and wetlands ecology. He is an avid surfer, water skiier, fisherman, backpacker, and gardener.

Technical Team

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An independent effort led by local and national leaders, with the support and participation of the State of Louisiana and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Changing Course will contribute additional innovation, competition, and private sector engagement in time to inform Louisiana’s next coastal Master Plan in 2017.

Changing Course is led by the Leadership Team and guided by the Technical and Stakeholder Advisory Teams. Staff from Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Van Alen Institute provide support to the Leadership Team.

Environmental Defense Fund is one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the U.S. dedicated to research, analysis, and advocacy for the world’s most urgent environmental issues, and has a thirty-year track record of involvement in the Mississippi area.

Van Alen Institute is an independent nonprofit architectural organization that promotes inquiry into the design of public space, and has a track record of producing design competitions that transform the public realm.

Buro Happold Consulting Engineers and Happold Consulting are providing technical management of the solicitation and competition process.

A donor-advised fund has been established at the Greater New Orleans Foundation to receive support for the competitive phases of Changing Course.

Changing Course

Changing Course is grateful for the funding from the following supporters:

Changing Course would like to thank the following sponsors whose generosity made this event possible:

COVER IMAGESFirst Image (Top): Dave Herholz - flickr

Second Image: John RaeThird Image: Yuki Kokubo

Fourth Image (Bottom): Tim Carruthers