Keynote Theatre 1: Sponsored by SeeDevil Lighting
The KeyNote Theaters at The Natural Disaster Expo are at the heart of the event. With the Keynote Speaker topics being tailored by industry leaders at the forefront of disaster prep and recovery, all visitors who attend a Keynote Seminar will expect to discover some of the latest trends, insights, and expertise in their profession.
Expect to see plenty of visitor recordings and selfies, online press and blogger coverage, as well as numerous photos, announcements and posts regarding the Keynote Theater lineup.
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Monday
11.00 - 11.30
Robert McSwain
NASAExploring Opportunities Between Autonomy Research and Emergency Response Operations
Emergency response operations provide a unique environment where autonomous systems can build trust and save lives. NASA has several research projects which can be leveraged by emergency response communities. The relationship between research experiments and operational deployment can be complex, but when understood can empower first responders with cutting edge technologies. Autonomy research is a multi-disciplinary field with many stakeholders, and it is critical to have basic concepts understood by all. From satellites to small aircraft, the scale of applications of autonomous systems in emergency response is vast. A NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) project called CAS (Convergent Aeronautics Solutions) has initiated an activity called STEReO (Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations) to research the feasibility of increasing air traffic capabilities to support manned and unmanned aircraft in wild fire and hurricane operational environments. STEReO concepts and ideas are being developed in collaboration with emergency response communities.
11.45 - 12.15
Christopher Landsea, Ph.D.
National Hurricane Center- NOAAHurricanes and Global Warming: Expectations Versus Observations
Climate variability and any resulting change in the characteristics of tropical cyclones (tropical storms, subtropical storms, and hurricanes) have become topics of great interest and research within the past few years. Some recent scientific articles have reported a large increase in tropical cyclone energy, numbers, and windspeeds in many basins during the last few decades in association with warmer sea surface temperatures. These increases in tropical cyclone activity have been linked to man-made greenhouse gas changes. It is not disputed (by this speaker) that anthropogenic forcing has been the cause of at least a substantial portion of the observed warming during the 20th Century. It is likely that some increase in tropical cyclone peak windspeeds has occurred and will continue to occur if the climate continues to warm. However, whether greenhouse gas warming is related to increases in tropical cyclone activity is NOT the most relevant question. One needs to address instead: What is the SENSITIVITY of tropical cyclone intensity, frequency, and overall activity to greenhouse gas forcing? Is it indeed large today, or is it likely to be a small factor even several decades from now? These questions as well as an attempt to reconcile theoretical/numerical modeling studies with some recent (well-publicized) observational papers will be addressed in the talk. Finally, how these greenhouse gas warming changes compare versus other alterations in our society (increased population and infrastructure in vulnerable coastal locations) will also be discussed.
12.30 - 13.00
Brittany Black
Erickson IncDeveloping an Optionally-Piloted 40,000 Pound Firefighting Drone
Night firefighting is a major key to managing damage due to forest fires. Our approach to aerial firefighting at night is to develop an advanced pilot-optional firefighting system based on our S-64 helicopter using airliner-grade avionics and sensor systems. Come learn about this new technology and how it is being developed at Erickson.
13.15 - 13.45
Antwane Johnson & Norman Speicher,
FEMA & DHSA New Phase of Emergency Alerting
DHS S&T and FEMA IPAWS Equip Emergency Managers and First Responders with New Tools to Notify Public and Enhance Safety The IPAWS Program Planning Toolkit will change the way our public safety community prepares for, responds to, manages, and recovers from emergencies. It''s a first step for alerting authorities and emergency managers to set their teams up for success in the Alerts, Warnings, and Notifications (AWN) landscape. And, thanks to the stakeholder-driven research that''s gone into the development of this toolkit, it is uniquely tailored to provide the AWN community with guidelines that they will need when implementing emergency response plans. Developed for and by alerting and public safety stakeholders, the toolkit provides guidance on establishing a new AWN program or refining an existing one. Emergency managers, public information officers, alert originators and administrators, and experts all contributed best practices that will help additional agencies/jurisdictions nationwide ensure their AWN programs run smoothly. Previously, stakeholders would contact IPAWS with issues or questions. The goal of the new toolkit is to put reference tools at their fingertips.
14.00 - 14.30
Christopher Todd
Airborne International Response Team (AIRT)Drones and Related Technology for Emergency Management and Disaster Response
Small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) – widely known as “drones” are revolutionizing how the Whole Community prepares for, responds to, and recovers from complex incidents and disasters. Discover how emergency response teams are using sUAS to support response and recovery operations. Learn about the latest drone tech innovations that AIRT teams are using to help to prepare communities to use sUAS to save lives and gather crucial information during a response.
14.45 - 15.15
Erik Salna, M.S.
FIU | Extreme Events InstituteCommunity Resilience: Increasing Public Understanding of Risk and Vulnerability to Natural Hazards through Research and the NSF-NHERI Wall of Wind
The Extreme Events Institute (EEI) and International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC) at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami is at the forefront of reducing the impact of natural hazard events by reducing community vulnerabilities and understanding and managing exposure to hurricanes, storm surge and earthquakes. The goal is to provide a better public understanding of how changes in exposures and vulnerabilities will determine whether a community experiences an emergency, disaster or catastrophe. The end-result is improved community resilience. This is accomplished through research in disaster risk reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean, storm surge modeling, economic loss modeling, and wind engineering by the NSF-NHERI Wall of Wind. The Wall of Wind is the largest and most powerful university research facility of its kind and is capable of simulating a Category 5 hurricane. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has designated the Wall of Wind as one of the nation’s major “Experimental Facilities” under the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) program. EEI also collaborated on a one-hour independent documentary, “Built to Last?” Saving our Homes in the Age of Disasters.” The documentary focuses on how architectural innovations can mitigate the harm caused by natural hazards and illustrates what ordinary people around the world can do to make their homes safe and hazard-resilient.
15.30 - 16.00
Lisa Orloff
Resiliency Advisors & World Cares CenterThe Importance of Emotional Resiliency In Disaster Management
Traumatic events have the power to overwhelm normal coping abilities of individuals and groups. Emotionally charged, high stress jobs and volunteer work can have a negative impact on individuals if they are not aware of the risks or coping skills, the negative impact a manager with low resiliency skills can significantly hinder their team's and client's recovery. Resiliency training can reduce the impact that disasters, disaster work and caregiving has on those that seek to help. During the session attendees will understand the emotional risks related to disaster work and its impact on their team, recognize the signs and symptoms of disaster work related stress in their team and learn techniques to increase their ability to build and maintain emotional resiliency in disaster response.
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Tuesday
11.00 - 11.30
Troy Johnson
Miami-Dade County Office of Emergency Management (OEM)Emergency Management Program – Keys to Success
tbc
11.45 - 12.15
Robert Molleda
National Weather ServiceBuilding a Weather Ready Nation
NOAA/National Weather Service’s mission is to “issue accurate and timely forecasts and warnings for the protection of life and property, as well as to enhance the nation’s economy”. As part of the Weather-Ready Nation initiative, NOAA’s National Weather Service is transforming its operations to help America respond. Offices now provide forecast information in a way that better supports emergency managers, first responders, government officials, businesses and the public make fast, smart decisions to save lives and property and enhance livelihoods. While we at NOAA are taking these and other steps towards building a Weather–Ready Nation, we cannot do it alone! The devastating impacts of extreme events like record breaking snowfall, violent tornadoes, destructive hurricanes, widespread flooding, and devastating drought can be reduced by taking advanced action, which is why the Weather–Ready Nation initiative is so important. In this presentation, we will discuss ways in which the National Weather Service is fostering community preparedness and resilience, as well as how you can become a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador and help us build a Weather-Ready nation one family, one business, and one community at a time!
12.30 - 13.00
Mark Taylor & Ken Graham
AWARN AllianceAdvances in Disaster Alerting Technology - Before, During and After
There are many exciting developments that are in place and coming soon - tied to keeping the public informed with need to know and trusted source information - before, during, and after disaster strikes. These exciting advances will certainly save lives and enable the public to better stay informed with need to know information when it matters most. I will update the keynote attendees on some of these key developments, as well as what is coming soon.
13.15 - 13.45
Phil Petit
International Association of EMTs & ParamedicsDisaster Crossover: Protecting and Providing for EMS Professionals Abroad
14.00 - 14.30
Cheryl Nelson
Prepare With Cher, LLCCommunicating the Need to Prepare & Practicing What We Preach
We’ve all heard the preparedness message… we know that it is important to prepare for natural disasters. But do we practice what we preach? For example, most of us know that we should have a NOAA weather radio, yet some rely solely on a cell phone to receive weather notifications. I’ll examine reasons behind why some people don’t prepare in advance and discuss potential solutions.
14.45 - 15.15
Brad Dubuisson MBA, ATP
AeroCare Medical Transport System, Inc. Florida Green Building CoalitionFixed Wing Operation for Disaster Evacuations
Use of fixed-wing operators to facilitate evacuations before and after natural disasters: coordination of medical teams and aviation personnel to provide the necessary means to transport affected individuals.
15.30 - 16.00
William P. Mahoney III
National Center for Atmospheric ResearchAdvancements in Predicting Wildfire Behavior
Extreme wildland fire behavior is caused by the interaction of dry and abundant fuels, wind, and low humidity. Two-way interactions between the heat and moisture released from the wildfire and atmosphere can result in localized extreme weather conditions that drive dangerous fire conditions. This talk will describe a new wildland fire behavior prediction system that is designed to capture this fire-weather interaction.
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