Experts Guide

Mehmood is an expert in emergency and trauma care, global health and disaster management, humanitarian relief and homeland security.

Dixon is director of the Geospatial Analytics Lab and executive director of the Initiative on Coastal Adaptation and Resilience at USF. Her research includes development of a web-based application that gathers crowdsourced data in coastal communities to identify flood risks and inform emergency managers and policy, and development and application of tools and systems for modeling and managing land-water interfaces in the context of extreme weather events and climate change.

Research areas include paleoceanography/paleoclimate, stable isotopes, carbon cycling. His specialties include climate change, oceanography, stable isotope geochemistry, radiocarbon dating, oceanic petroleum pollution and marine ecosystems.

Wilkins is an expert in community-engaged teaching through Florida history, museology, art and health. She is leading a project -- "Hurricane Histories" -- that captures the oral histories of hurricane survivors in her hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Research areas include ocean optics and optical remote sensing. Specialties include ocean color remote sensing, radiative transfer modeling, harmful algal blooms, coastal water quality and pollution.

Smoak studies soil carbon accumulation rates in coastal wetlands as indicators of long-term ecosystem stability and how climate change, rising sea level and hurricanes impact coastal wetland ecosystems. He is part of the Initiative on Coastal Adaptation and Resilience (iCAR), which uses research and education to provide the understanding and ideas needed to make critical decisions regarding changing and vulnerable coastlines.

Dunn is an expert in global disaster management and preparedness, including for vulnerable populations. She also researches humanitarian relief, homeland security, community resilience, refugee resettlement and migration, international humanitarian assistance, human security and anti-human trafficking.

Mitchum is an expert on storm surge, sea level rise and hurricanes. He studies the global impacts of sea level rise and the broader connections between climate change and storms. His research includes a focus on areas including tides, ocean eddies, El Niño, tsunamis and ocean physics.

Collins is an expert on hurricanes, tropical cyclones, proposed changes to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale to account for rain and flooding and human behavior relating to hurricane evacuation. She is also interested in the interaction between large scale climatic patterns such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation and the Madden–Julian Oscillation and seasonal patterns of tropical cyclone activity in multiple oceanic basins.

Ivey studies red tide, harmful algal blooms, water quality and microplastics and the use of a model to estimate the underwater light field through remote sensing of ocean color.

Bryant's research focuses on language development and psycholinguistics. She can discuss typical child development, preschoolers, language development, and children and hurricanes.

Burns' research focuses on social media platforms and social media influencers, including how social media influencers can help -- or mislead -- communications during disasters like hurricanes.

Peterson's primary research interest is long-term care policy and practice and communication concerning decision-making, disaster planning and advance care planning for older adults.

Rafter studies marine carbon cycling and climate from the past, present and future and the influence of greenhouse gases on climate events such as El Niño.

Wang is a leading expert on coastal erosion and nourishment. He can discuss the effects of extreme weather, particularly hurricanes, on coastlines and beaches. His work has been prominently featured in newspapers and on television stations in Florida and across the country.

Dixon is an expert on the effects of hurricanes on coastal flooding and long-term changes to the coastline. He can also discuss the use of satellite geodesy to study coastal subsidence, earthquake and volcano deformation, aquifer depletion and melting ice sheets and glaciers.

Liu is the director of the Ocean Circulation Lab at the USF College of Marine Science. An oceanographer, he aims to better understand the coastal ocean circulation and air-sea interactions on the West Florida Shelf, including the exchanges of water properties between the estuaries, the shelf and the offshore (Loop Current) system of the Gulf of America. He can discuss ride tide forecasts, pollutant tracking, storm surge, oil spills and other issues related to our oceans.