Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Laboratory for 22 years, last as a supervisory ocean engineer. He earned an M.S.E. in ocean en-
gineering from the University of Washington. His interests include the development of moored
systems to serve research and operational requirements of global-scale measurements and
observation with a focus on materials, sensors, data telemetry, and deployment methodologies.
Mr. Milburn is also involved in the development of sealoor observatories utilizing advanced
communications for data acquisition and desktop control. He lead the team that developed the
NOAA Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (DART) system. In 2005, he received
the Department of Commerce's Gold Medal for research and development leading to the cre-
ation of a tsunami forecasting capability.
Dennis Mileti
is a professor emeritus in the Department of Sociology and a research scien-
tist in the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado. Dr. Mileti was director of the
Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder, which is the nation's national
repository and clearinghouse for social science research on natural hazards and disasters, and
he is currently also a researcher at the Department of Homeland Security's START Center of the
University of Maryland at College Park. Dr. Mileti earned a Ph.D. in sociology from the University
of Colorado. His research focuses on environmental sociology, complex organizations, research
methods, and collective behavior. In 2007, he earned the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal
from the U.S. Department of the Army. Dr. Mileti has served on previous NRC committees,
including the Committee on Natural Disasters.
Emile Okal
is a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Northwestern
University. Dr. Okal earned a Ph.D. in geophysics from the California Institute of Technology. He
is currently researching tsunami generation, risk, and warning using post-event ield surveys
and modeling. Dr. Okal's general research interests include seismology, structure of the Earth's
interior, properties of seismic sources, marine geosciences, volcanism, and underwater acoustics.
Costas Synolakis
is a professor of civil, environmental, aerospace, and mechanical engineer-
ing and the director of the Tsunami Research Center at the University of Southern California.
Dr. Synolakis earned a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the California Institute of Technology. His
research focuses on tsunami run-up, computer tomography, vibration, isolation of art objects,
and earthquake hazards reduction.
Nathan Wood
is a research geographer at the U.S. Geological Survey. Dr. Wood earned a Ph.D.
in geography from Oregon State University. His research focuses on characterizing and com-
municating societal vulnerability to natural hazards, with emphasis on tsunamis in the Paciic
Northwest. He develops and applies geospatial modeling and mapping techniques, as well as
collaborative community-based processes, to better understand how individuals, communities,
and coupled human-environment systems are vulnerable to tsunamis.
Harry Yeh
is the Miles Lowell and Margaret Watt Edwards Distinguished Chair in Engineering
and a professor of coastal and ocean engineering at
Oregon State University. Dr. Yeh earned
