Dr. George H. Allen is an Assistant Professor of Geography at Texas A&M University where he studies surface water resources using remote sensing data. His research advances the understanding of how river, lake, and reservoir water resources are changing in response to human activities. He is a member of the Dry Rivers NSF Research Coordination Network and the NASA Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite mission Science Team. He received his BS in Geology from UC Davis, his MS and PhD from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Dr. Allen Berthold is an associate director at the Texas Water Resources Institute, where he has worked since 2009. During his time at the institute, Allen has served in leadership roles for water-related projects in both agricultural and urban settings across Texas. His previous work has focused on helping local stakeholders address in-stream water-quality impairments by guiding them through the watershed protection planning process. Allen has also been involved in research programs focused on identifying potential savings by making advanced metering infrastructure data available to homeowners and on understanding the challenges water utilities face nationwide. Currently, he is a member of a team of researchers identifying alternative sources of water for agricultural production in the Rio Grande Basin and how those sources can most efficiently be used. His professional interests include: (1) understanding factors that drive behavioral change to encourage water conservation in both urban and agricultural settings, (2) developing new technologies and strategies to maximize water-use efficiency, (3) engaging local stakeholders to develop watershed protection plans, and (4) developing education programs for professionals, landowners, and homeowners. Allen received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural leadership and development in 2008, a master’s degree in water management and hydrological science in 2010, a certificate in nonprofit management in 2013 and a doctorate in agricultural leadership, education and communications in 2014 from Texas A&M University.

Dr. Genny Carrillo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the School of Public Health and Director of the Asthma Research and Education Program in the School of Public Health, Texas A&M Health Science Center. She obtained her MD from the University of Yucatan, School of Medicine, her MSPH, MPH, and Sc.D from Tulane University, School of Public Health Tropical Medicine. She conducts applied research, which focuses on children’s environmental health issues, especially asthma in South Texas. Other research topics include indoor air pollution, community-based participatory research projects related to drinking water safety.

Dr. Alicia Cooperman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Texas A&M University. She researches local and global challenges in water policy and politics, civil society and accountability, development, and climate change. Focused primarily in Brazil and the United States, she has received funding from the National Science Foundation and Fulbright-Hays Program, among others. Dr. Cooperman received a Ph.D. from Columbia University (2019), a Master of International Affairs (M.I.A.) from UCSD’s School of Global Policy & Strategy (2013), and a B.A. from Stanford University (2008). Prior to joining the faculty at Texas A&M, she was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University.

Dr. Andrew Dessler is a climate scientist who studies both the science and politics of climate change. He is a Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and holder of the Reta A. Haynes Chair in Geosciences at Texas A&M University. His scientific research revolves around climate feedbacks, in particular how water vapor and clouds act to amplify warming from the carbon dioxide that humans emit. During the last year of the Clinton Administration, he served as a Senior Policy Analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Based on his research and policy experience, he has authored two books on climate change: The science and politics of global climate change: A guide to the debate (Cambridge University Press, 3rd ed. 2019, co-written with Edward Parson), and Introduction to modern climate change (Cambridge University Press, 2nd ed. 2015). This latter book won the 2014 American Meteorological Society Louis J. Battan Author's Award. In 2012, he received the AGU’s Ascent Award from the Atmospheric Sciences section to reward exceptional achievement by a mid-career scientist. In recognition of his work on outreach, in 2011 he was named a Google Science Communication Fellow. Prior to his work on climate, his research focused on stratospheric photochemistry. He authored the book The chemistry and physics of stratospheric ozone (Academic Press, 2000) about his work on that subject. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Geophysical Union. From 2012-2015, he was Chair of the AAAS section on Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Sciences. He is currently President-elect of the AGU’s Global Environmental Change section.

Nick Duffield is Royce E. Wisenbaker Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the Texas A&M Institute of Data Science. He was previously Distinguished Member of Technical Staff and AT&T Fellow at AT&T Labs-Research. His research in Data Science spans graph learning, network measurement and resilience, and applications to urban science, transportation and agriculture. At TAMIDS he works with TAMU colleges and faculty to develop new education programs (including the MS in Data Science), collaborations to build research community (including the Thematic Data Science Labs), and training and service to enable new applications of Data Science. Duffield is a Fellow of the ACM, IEEE and IET, and received the ACM Sigmetrics Test-of-Time Award in 2012 and 2013.

Dr. Robert Greer, Assistant Professor of public budgeting and finance in the Bush School of Government and Public Service, is an expert in state and local financial management and has published in the areas of debt management, municipal security markets, and water infrastructure financing. His recent publications focus on issues of governance structure and their relationship to infrastructure finance and debt management. Current projects continue this work by considering complex networks of special districts and the connection between their fiscal capacity and performance. His work has been published in Public Administration Review, Policy Studies Journal, Public Budgeting & Finance, Municipal Finance Journal, Urban Studies, Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, and Public Finance Review. Greer earned both his MPP and PhD from the Martin School of Public Policy and Administration, University of Kentucky, and has a BA in economics and business administration from Trinity University and an MPA from University of North Texas. He was the recipient of the 2012 Emerging Scholar Award from the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) and was also awarded the Hatton W. Sumner Scholar Award.

Dr. Lucas Gregory currently serves as an assistant director and quality assurance officer for the Texas Water Resources Institute. He joined the Institute in 2006 and focuses his work on understanding the drivers of changing surface water quality and restoring impaired waters. In this role, he develops effective and efficient research projects and provides stakeholder leadership for developing local plans to restore water quality. He has led planning and restoration efforts in 10 watersheds covering parts of 65 counties resulting in three restoration successes to date. Additionally, he supervises and trains Aggie students working for TWRI and trains volunteers in water quality monitoring techniques for the Texas Stream Team.

Dr. Inci Güneralp is an Associate Professor of Geography at Texas A&M University. She received her Ph.D. in Geography from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a fluvial geomorphologist. Her research advances the process understanding of how river landscapes (with both their abiotic and biotic components) in lowland and coastal environments evolve and how this evolution interacts with environmental change across spatial and temporal scales. This knowledge is fundamental for developing effective strategies to manage these systems and their ecosystems and reduce hazards―to both people and infrastructure―associated with bank erosion, channel change, and flooding. She has been studying rivers from different geographies, including those in the tropics, the Arctic, and the Gulf Coast of the U.S. She uses process modeling, remote sensing and geoinformation science, and field-based approaches. Recently, she has been employing socio-ecological and socio-hydrological frameworks in her interdisciplinary geomorphological research in the Amazonian rivers and on the Texas Coast.

Bardia Heidari is a research scientist in the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) team at Texas A&M AgriLife Research center in Dallas, TX. His research focuses on urban hydrology and flooding, impacts of climate change on water infrastructure, application of data science techniques in stormwater management, and Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI). He worked as a Postdoctoral extension associate in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at Texas A&M from 2019 to 2021. He also received his Ph.D., M.Sc., and B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from University of Illinois, Virginia Tech, and Sharif University of Technology in 2019, 2014, and 2012 respectively.

Dr. Fouad Jaber is a professor and water resources extension specialist located at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas. He received his Ph.D. in 2001 in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Purdue University with emphasis in Natural and Environmental Resources Engineering. Dr. Jaber worked as a Postdoc Research Associate at the University of Florida from 2002 to 2007, after which he joined Texas A&M as an assistant professor. He conducts research and extension programs related to green stormwater infrastructure, water quality and stream restoration in the urban environment with funding exceeding 2.5 million dollars since 2007.

Dr. Jantrania has worked with on-site/decentralized wastewater systems for more than 30 years. His career in wastewater began in 1989 at the EPA-funded National Small Flows Clearinghouse, based in West Virginia University. At the Clearinghouse, Dr. Jantrania coordinated information development and dissemination of innovative/alternative (I/A) on-site wastewater technologies and assisted with developing EPA’s National Onsite Demonstration Project (NODP) program. When the City of Gloucester, MA received NODP-Phase 1 funding, he assisted the city as a private consultant to address the city resolve long-standing CWA violation. After this effort, Dr. Jantrania then joined the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and acted as the Technical Service Engineer on their onsite wastewater program. While at VDH he worked with both private and public sector professionals on numerous projects demonstrating the use of I/A technologies to overcome regulatory disputes. In 2014, Dr, Jantrania was hired by Texas A&M University (TAMU) where he holds both academic and extension appointments with Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering (BAEN) and TAMU AgriLife Extension. His responsibilities include graduate and undergraduate teaching, state-wide extension education, conducting demonstration programs, and managing research projects related to on-site wastewater treatment and reuse systems. His research and extension interests focus on developing sustainable infrastructure to ensure the availability of clean water and safe sanitation which protects public health and environmental quality. Since joining TAMU Dr. Jantrania successfully rejuvenated the OSSF Research and Demonstration Center at the TAMU RELLIS Campus and has secured more than $1M in grant funding from federal and state agencies. This included a multi-year grant from USD-NIFA to initiate a Research and Extension Experience for Undergraduates which focused on wastewater reuse and water quality.

Dr. Wendy Jepson, Associate Director for Research (Social Science) at the Texas Water Resources Institute and Interim Associate Director for Texas A&M AgriLife at Dallas, holds a University Professorship in the Department of Geography at Texas A&M University where she has been on faculty since receiving her Ph.D. in Geography from UCLA in 2003. Dr. Jepson leads several research projects and institutional initiatives on water security. She is a recipient of several National Science Foundation grants (south Texas colonias; urban Brazil) and externally funded projects on household water insecurity. She leads the NSF-funded Household Water Insecurity Experiences – Research Coordination Network (HWISE-RCN) and is the principal investigator for a $1.5M Texas A&M University Presidential Excellence Grant. Dr. Jepson was Fulbright Scholar (2016-2017) and AAAS Leshner Fellow for Public Engagement (2018-2019).

Dr. Koliou is an Assistant Professor at the Zachry Department of Civil and Environment Engineering at Texas A&M University. She joined the department after having been a Postdoctoral Fellow at the NIST-funded Center of Excellence for Risk-based Community Resilience Planning at Colorado State University. She received her Diploma (2008) in Civil Engineering from the University of Patras, Greece, while she holds Master’s (2010) and PhD (2014) degrees from the University at Buffalo. Her research interests span the fields of structural dynamics, earthquake engineering, and multi-hazard performance-based design for system functionality and community resilience. She has a diverse research portfolio with projects on the performance and functional recovery of wood and cross-laminated timber (CLT) structures as well as moldable and wave tunable materials for application in complex freeform structures.

David Matarrita-Cascante is an Associate Professor in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management. His research on the human dimensions of natural resources is guided by the fields of natural resource and environmental sociology. His work seeks to understand the role the natural world plays in defining human behavior as well as people's values and actions associated with its management and protection. His work, conducted through quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research methods in domestic and international settings, sits at the intersection of the above interests and various literatures including community development, amenity migration, tourism, protected areas, natural events, and community health.

Dr. Mendoza’s research interests include experimental and mathematical models to understand transport and persistence of contaminants in the environment and associated health effects. She is currently working on antibiotic resistance and how humans contribute to and are affected by reservoirs of contaminant antibiotics and antibiotic-resistance genes in the soil, for example the reuse of treated wastewater for agriculture and its impact on human health.

Dr. Mendoza studied Civil Engineering at Instituto Politecnico Nacional in Mexico. She conducted masters and doctoral studies in environmental engineering at Texas A&M University, and postdoctoral research training at Michigan State University and Tufts University.

Michelle Meyer, Ph.D. is Director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center and Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M. Her research addresses disaster recovery and mitigation, specifically the interplay between hazards and social stratification. She uses the lens of social capital to understand how relationships between individuals, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations generate or reduce disaster risk and recovery, especially for marginalized populations. Her research projects are interdisciplinary and often involve community participation, connecting engineering, construction science, landscape architecture, public administration, public health, and anthropology with local organizations, students, and residents.

Sayd Randle is a Ciriacy-Wantrup postdoc in the Department of Geography at the University of California Berkeley. Her research focuses on water management and politics in the US West. Her current book project, based on nearly two years of ethnographic fieldwork among Southern California-based water experts and activists, uses a case study of the Los Angeles waterscape to examine how efforts to adapt the urban landscape to anticipated effects of climate change shape spatial politics. Her writing related to this research has been published in WIREs Water, GeoHumanities, Critique of Anthropology, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Dr. Taehyun Roh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Texas A&M University. He has a broad background in environmental health, with specific training and expertise in toxicology and epidemiology. He participated in international research projects on arsenic exposure from drinking water in Chile and Bangladesh. Currently, he conducts environmental epidemiology research on the chronic health effects of drinking water contaminants. He has initiated community-engaged research projects assessing the burden of arsenic exposure and developing interventions for cancer prevention in rural and border communities in Texas.

Andrew Rumbach is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning at Texas A&M University and the Education Director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center. Rumbach is a mixed-methods researcher whose work centers on household and community risk to natural hazards and climate change, in the United States and India. Using a mix of qualitative, quantitative and geospatial data, he is especially interested in how urban growth and development shape uneven exposure and resiliency to flood and wildfire hazards. Rumbach received his PhD and Masters in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University and a BA in Political Science from Reed College.

Dr. Garett Sansom is an investigator in the Texas A&M University SUPERFUND Research Center Community Engagement Core and a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health. His professional interests revolve around the human health implications of the environmental quality, urban planning, and the impacts of natural and anthropogenic hazards. This research exemplifies the belief that investigators should be afforded the opportunity to achieve dual goals that extend scientific knowledge and build local capacity to enacting positive change within the communities they analyze.

Dr. Lucas Seghezzo is Senior Research Scientist at the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI), Professor of Environmental Sociology at the National University of Salta, Argentina, and Independent Researcher with Argentina’s National Research Council (CONICET). He is also scientific advisor of the Latin America Focal Point of the Land Matrix Initiative, an independent global monitoring initiative that promotes transparency and accountability in land issues. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. His research focuses on sustainability assessment, social-ecological systems, political ecology, social perspectives on social-environmental issues, water and sanitation safety plans, decentralized sanitation, and environmental justice.

Dr. Virender K. Sharma is currently a Professor at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health (SPH), Texas A&M University. He is also serving as the Director of the Program for the Environment and Sustainability of the SPH. He is a Fellow of American Chemical Society. Dr. Sharma has performed pioneering research on Ferrate, an earth-abundant iron-based molecule to perform an efficient surface disinfectant in hospital settings and as a water treatment oxidant. His research encompasses strategies for decreasing the levels of toxic emerging contaminants, microplastics, disinfection byproducts, arsenic, selenium, and lead in treatment processes.

Dr. Alexa Wood is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Geography at Texas A&M University. She is a qualitative researcher who utilizes mental models to illustrate how marginalized populations perceive and respond to climate-related hazards. More specifically, Dr. Wood has focused on gender, food security, and climate change in West Africa, and is expanding her research into the intersection of race and environmental change in the Southern United States. In 2020, Dr. Wood earned her PhD in Forestry and Environmental Resources from North Carolina State University. Her research has been published in The Journal of Peasant Studies and Climatic Change.

Dr. Xinyue Ye, Associate Professor and Director of Urban Data Science Lab, holds a Harold Adams Interdisciplinary Endowed Professorship in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on geospatial artificial intelligence, smart cities, spatial econometrics, and urban computing. His projects have been continuously funded by federal agencies such as National Science Foundation, National Institute of Justice, Department of Commerce, Department of Energy, and Department of Transportation, since he received Ph.D. in Geography from UCSB-SDSU in 2010. He is among the top four most cited urban planning associate professors in North America according to Google Scholar.

Dr. Zhang is an assistant professor in Geography at Texas A&M University. Her research interests include disaster resilience planning, CyberGIS, spatial decision analysis, GeoAI, and social sensing. She leads the “CyberGIS and Decision Support Systems” research initiative at the UCGIS. She is a guest editor and an associate editor for Transactions in GIS and Computational Urban Science journals. She has published peer-reviewed articles in several leading GIS-related journals such as the International Journal of Geographic Information Science, International Journal of Digital Earth, International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection, PlosOne, and Journal of Hydrology. Her research has been funded by NSF, NOAA, U.S. DOT, and other agencies.

Dr. Lei Zou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at Texas A&M University (TAMU). His research interests are developing theoretical and intelligent models with innovative big data to understand and predict the interactions between human activities and environmental threats, including natural hazards and climate changes. Currently, he is leading and collaborating on NSF and TAMU-funded projects to analyze geospatial big data, develop Geographical Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) algorithms, create web/smartphone-based GIS applications, measure and improve community resilience to disasters (e.g., hurricanes, flooding, drought, and covid-19), and establish digital twins for simulating future urban and landscape dynamics.