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The Impacts of Natural Disasters: A Framework for Loss Estimation (1999)

Chapter: Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 1999. The Impacts of Natural Disasters: A Framework for Loss Estimation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6425.
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Appendix B
Biographical Sketches of Committee Members

ROBERT E. LITAN (Chair) is the director of the economic studies program at the Brookings Institution, where he served as a senior fellow from 1984 to 1993 and as director of two research centers in the program from 1987 to 1993. He is both an economist and an attorney. In 1972 he received a B.S. in economics (summa cum laude) from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. He received a J.D. from Yale Law School (1977) and both his M.Phil. and Ph.D. in economics from Yale University (1987). Dr. Litan has served in several capacities in the federal government. During 1995 and 1996, he was associate director of the Office of Management and Budget (where he was responsible for overseeing budgetary and other policies of six cabinet agencies). From 1993 to 1995, he was deputy assistant attorney general, in charge of civil antitrust litigation and regulatory issues, at the Department of Justice. From 1977 to 1979, he was the regulatory and legal staff specialist for the President's Council of Economic Advisers. From 1982 through 1990, he was affiliated with Powell, Goldstein, Frazer and Murphy, first as a senior associate, then as a partner, and subsequently as counsel.

RICHARD A. ANDREWS is director of the Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES) in California. He oversees planning and training for all natural, technological, environmental, and terrorist emergencies in the state. Dr. Andrews serves as senior policy adviser on a wide variety of public safety issues, reporting directly to the governor. As director of OES, he has legal responsibility for managing all state resources during major emergencies and has set crisis management policies and strategies for recovery efforts following numerous disaster and emergency declarations. Dr. Andrews received his A.B. from DePauw University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Northwestern University. He is chair of California's Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Response Commission and has served on two NRC committees: the Committee on Real-Time Earthquake Warning and the United States-Japan Working Group on Urban Earthquake Hazards.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 1999. The Impacts of Natural Disasters: A Framework for Loss Estimation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6425.
×

STANLEY A. CHANGNON is professor of atmospheric sciences and geography at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He also serves as principal scientist and chief emeritus of the Illinois State Water Survey. Dr. Changnon has participated in four National Research Council studies and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Meteorological Society. He has authored numerous works on weather climate and water resources and has received awards for his contributions to the building sciences, water resources research, and climate change.

LLOYD S. CLUFF is manager of the Geosciences Department at the Pacific Gas and Electric Company and is an expert on the identification of active seismic faults and their potential motions. Mr. Cluff has served the NRC in a number of capacities: as chair of the Committee on Practical Lessons from the Loma Prieta Earthquake, as a member of the U.S. National Committee for the Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, and as a member of the Board on Earth Sciences. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and has served on numerous NRC committees, including the Subcommittee on Earthquake Research and the Committee on Earthquake Engineering Research.

RONALD T. EGUCHI is vice-president and director of the Center for Advanced Planning and Research at EQE International in Irvine, California. He has directed major research and application studies in risk analysis, earthquake engineering, and natural hazards engineering for government agencies and major western and central U.S. utility companies and is on the mayor's blue-ribbon panel that is developing an earthquake hazard mitigation program for the city of Los Angeles. Mr. Eguchi is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Earthquake Engineering Research, Institute and the Seismic Risk Committee. He received an M.S. degree in Systems and Earthquake Engineering (1975) and a B.S. in Engineering (1974), both from the University of California, Los Angeles.

JAMES F. KIMPEL received his B.S. from Denison University and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Kimpel currently is a professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma and director of the National Severe Storms Laboratory. He develops scientific programs in hydrometeorology and remote sensing and works with Next-Generation Radar Operations, the National Severe Storms Laboratory, and others. Dr. Kimpel is a member of the National Academy of Sciences' Board on Natural Disasters, American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 1999. The Impacts of Natural Disasters: A Framework for Loss Estimation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6425.
×

ANNE S. KIREMIDJIAN received her Ph.D. in structural engineering from Stanford University, where she is currently a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and director of the Blume Earthquake Engineering Laboratory. Her research interests are within the area of probabilistic methods in civil engineering. Dr. Kiremidjian specializes in developing models for earthquake occurrences, ground motion characterization, structural damage evaluation, and reliability analysis of structures. She has published over 100 journal papers, technical reports, and conference proceeding papers and has been an invited and keynote speaker at several major conferences, seminars, and professional meetings both on the national and international levels. Dr. Kiremidjian is a member of Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

RICHARD J. ROTH JR. is the chief property/casualty actuary for the California Insurance Department, the state agency that regulates all aspects of insurance in California, including solvency and rates. In addition to working on issues related to workers' compensation and other types of insurance (automobile, homeowners), he has taken a special interest in the insurance of natural catastrophes, particularly earthquakes. Mr. Roth administers the surveying of all licensed insurers and reports on their projected earthquake exposures and probable maximum loss, publishing these results and assessing California's earthquake insurance market every two years. He is a fellow and member of the board of directors of the Casualty Actuarial Society and has addressed officials both nationally and internationally on earthquake insurance issues. Mr. Roth has master's degrees in economics and statistics from Stanford University and a law degree from the University of Connecticut.

THOMAS C. SCHELLING is a distinguished professor of economics and public affairs at the University of Maryland and the Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Political Economy, emeritus, at Harvard University. He earned an A.B. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He has served in the U.S. Bureau of the Budget, the Economic Cooperation Administration in Europe, and the White House Executive Office of the President. He joined the faculty at Harvard University after serving five years on the faculty at Yale University. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Schelling currently serves as a

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 1999. The Impacts of Natural Disasters: A Framework for Loss Estimation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6425.
×

member of the NRC's Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources.

RICHARD T. SYLVES is a professor of political science at the University of Delaware and director of the environmental and energy policy graduate program. Dr. Sylves has focused his career on the politics and policies of disaster management. He currently serves as principle investigator for three disaster studies: ''Economics of Disaster Instructor Guide"; "Politics of Disaster Instructor Guide"; and "Disasters and Coastal Zone States: A Policy Analysis." Dr. Sylves received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1978.

CAROL TAYLOR WEST is professor and chair of the Department of Economics at the University of Florida. Her primary research interests include regional economic analysis and forecasting, applied microeconomic theory; and mineral economics. She has been a member of the State of Florida's Comprehensive Plan Committee and currently serves on the Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology. Dr. Taylor West received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan in 1974 and her B.A. from Harvard College in 1967.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 1999. The Impacts of Natural Disasters: A Framework for Loss Estimation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6425.
×
Page 65
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 1999. The Impacts of Natural Disasters: A Framework for Loss Estimation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6425.
×
Page 66
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 1999. The Impacts of Natural Disasters: A Framework for Loss Estimation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6425.
×
Page 67
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members." National Research Council. 1999. The Impacts of Natural Disasters: A Framework for Loss Estimation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6425.
×
Page 68
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We in the United States have almost come to accept natural disasters as part of our nation's social fabric. News of property damage, economic and social disruption, and injuries follow earthquakes, fires, floods and hurricanes. Surprisingly, however, the total losses that follow these natural disasters are not consistently calculated. We have no formal system in either the public or private sector for compiling this information. The National Academies recommends what types of data should be assembled and tracked.

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