Keynote Speakers
Shannon Van Zandt:
'The importance of understanding the equity implications associated with resiliency planning'
Dr. Shannon Van Zandt is a professor of urban planning and head of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University, where she is also a fellow with the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center. She has expertise in coastal resilience, social vulnerability to disasters, and low-income housing.
In 2008, Van Zandt began a multi-year National Science Foundation study of community recovery in Galveston, Texas, after Hurricane Ike. She currently serves as co-PI on four disaster mitigation-related grants from the NSF, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and others. She is co-author of the 2014 book "Planning for Community Resilience: A Handbook for Reducing Vulnerability to Disasters" from Island Press.
She will address the importance of understanding the equity implications associated with resiliency planning.
Michael Gerrard: 'Urban heat waves:
Legal adaptation to the most lethal climate disaster'
Michael B. Gerrard is the Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia Law School, where he teaches courses on environmental and energy law and directs the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. He is also Chair of the Faculty of Columbia’s Earth Institute.
Before joining the Columbia faculty in January 2009, Gerrard was partner in charge of the New York office of the Arnold & Porter law firm; he is now the firm’s senior counsel. He practiced environmental law full time in New York City from 1979 to 2008. He was the 2004-2005 chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy and Resources. He has also chaired the executive committee of the New York City Bar Association, and the Environmental Law Section of the New York State Bar Association.
Since 1986, Gerrard has written an environmental law column for the New York Law Journal. He is author or editor of thirteen books, two of which were named Best Law Book of the Year by the Association of American Publishers: Environmental Law Practice Guide (twelve volumes, 1992) and Brownfields Law and Practice (four volumes, 1998). Among his other books are “Global Climate Change and U.S. Law” (with Jody Freeman) (2d ed. 2014); “Law of Clean Energy” (2011); “Climate Engineering and the Law: Regulation and Liability for Solar Radiation Management and Carbon Dioxide Removal” (with Tracy Hester 2018); and “Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States” (with John Dernbach, forthcoming 2018).
He received his B.A. from Columbia University and his J.D. from NYU Law School.