Seminar Focuses on Hurricane Katrina

EVANSTON, Ill. --- As New Orleans and the Gulf Coast continue to recover from Hurricane Katrina, Northwestern University experts will deliver fresh perspectives on the lessons that can be learned from the destructive storm at a special seminar Monday, Oct. 17.

The seminar, “Hurricane Katrina: Preparation, Response and Rebuilding,” is free and open to the public. It will begin at 3 p.m. in Room M345 of the Technological Institute, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston campus, and is expected to last approximately three hours. (The event also will be Webcast live. Instructions will be posted at <http://www.iti.northwestern.edu>).

Organized by the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, the seminar will be moderated by Joseph Schofer, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and will feature these speakers and topics:

• Charles Dowding, professor of civil and environmental engineering, McCormick School, will examine the levee and pump system in New Orleans and discuss where and how they failed and what can be done to better protect New Orleans from future hurricanes.

• Kimberly Gray, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, McCormick School, will review likely environmental damage from the flood and pollution cleanup efforts, as well as the issue of wetland restoration as a flood prevention/mitigation measure.

• Henry Binford, associate professor of history, Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, will discuss the historical and social background of natural disasters in the New Orleans area.

• Anne Johnsos, adjunct lecturer, Medill School of Journalism, will look at the role of media coverage of the Katrina disaster and its aftermath.

• Donald Haider, professor of management and strategy and director of the Public/Nonprofit Management Program, Kellogg School of Management, will consider the relationships of local, state and federal governments in the disaster response.

• David Schulz, director of Northwestern’s Infrastructure Technology Institute, will discuss issues and strategies for rebuilding New Orleans.

Time permitting, there will be an opportunity at the end of the program for discussion among the participants and audience.

For more information, call (847) 491-8795.

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