POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN ECOLOGY
SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY – NEW BRUNSWICK

Let’s Talk About… Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, Disaster Science, Emergency Management, Energy Security, Environmental Justice, Homeland Security, Humanitarian Affairs, Public Health Crises Management

I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Rutgers University’s Department of Human Ecology, affiliated with the Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH) where I work with the Human Systems Dynamics Team.

I am a climate adaptation and mitigation policy, crisis and emergency management, environmental and energy security expert with a well-established career in the academic, corporate, and not-for profit sectors as an analyst, business developer, data analyst, project manager, and researcher.

My research interests focus on the nexus between climate, environmental, energy, and human security. My goal is to explore a variety of topics failing in this nexus with the intent of strengthening communities’ resilience to climate change-resulting crises.

It sounds easy to accomplish on paper but less in the real world, right? That is why my studies always include these key elements: in-the-field qualitative data collection and interviews, visuals often in the form of GIS-based maps, policy development strategies, and cost-benefit analysis so my policy recommendations can better advocate for themselves.

I have also extensively studied state responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, co-authoring a paper about that in Florida included in the World Health Organization COVID-19 Global Literature on Coronavirus Disease database. My research has also focused on where to locate and how to design resilient alternative energy sources to ensure coastal and vulnerable communities’ energy security in the aftermath of extreme weather events. Past research has looked at how the structures of institutions demanded to respond to disasters internationally and in the United States shape the local emergency management capabilities.

My commitment to the field of climate security made me receive various grants and awards, and it makes me an active public speaker, with more than 30 published articles and policy commentaries. I have expertise in grant writing, project management, and multi-method research involving qualitative, quantitative, and spatial analysis.

I am a lifetime member of the Phi Sigma Alpha National Political Science Honor Society, a member of the Disaster and Emergency Research Network and of the New York Chapter of the Italian Scientists and Scholars in North America Foundation while being a founding member of the Southeast Chapter, and among the researchers and co-founding members of the COVID-19 Working Group for Public Health and Social Sciences Research – Emergency Management and Policy Analysis in a Pandemic.