Free Monthly Virtual Lecture Series: Flooding and Resilience

November 4 | 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Zoom Link: https://odu.zoom.us/j/95298277256

On Passing Time and Rising Tides: Engaging on Resilience in Tidewater and Beyond

When we look at flooding from a solely scientific perspective, we tend to lose the real and devastating impact that increasing tidal flooding, storm surges, and sea-level rise have on people, families, and communities. Different ways of engaging with flooding help people process what it means for people and places, and plan to take action. This panel discussion invites you to join a conversation with some of the voices of resilience at ODU, and explore what flooding means in Tidewater Virginia through art, planning, and experience. Brought to you in partnership with the ODU Office of Community Engagement, the Office of Distance Learning, the Institute for Coastal Adaptation and Resilience, and Remote Experience for Young Engineers and Scientists (REYES).

Learn more about our panelists and their research: www.oduadaptationandresilience.org

Greta Pratt is an artist, educator, and author whose work explores ideas surrounding American myth, place, and identity. Pratt is the author of four books, In Search of the Corn Queen (Smithsonian National Museum of American Art, 1995), Using History (Steidl, 2005), The Wavers (Blue Sky Books, 2014), and Nineteen Lincolns (Peanut Press, 2020). Her work has been exhibited internationally and nationally at Smithsonian American Art Museum, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, The Park Avenue Armory, Beirut Art Center, The Museum of Contemporary Photography, and Mattress Factory Museum, among others. Public collections include of Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Museum of Fine Art, Houston, Chrysler Museum, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Pratt was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Her photographs have been featured in Art in America, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and Harpers, along with numerous books and catalogs.

Wie Yusuf is a Professor of Public Service in ODU’s Strome College of Business and Assistant Director for Education with the Institute for Coastal Adaptation and Resilience. Her research focuses on issues at the intersection of politics, policy, the public, and private interests as it relates to sea level rise, flooding, adaptation, and resilience. This research creates knowledge that places people at the center of solutions and technologies for flood adaptation. As a Virginia Sea Grant extension partner, she supports Virginia’s coastal communities in efforts to plan for resilience, such as through The RAFT (Resilience Adaptation Feasibility Tool) and other approaches to building resilience.

Alfonso Macias Tapia is from southern Mexico, where he grew-up and did his undergraduate degree in environmental science engineering. Then, he moved to northern Mexico where he completed his master’s in coastal oceanography. For the past 4 and ½ years, he has been working on his Ph.D. in oceanography at Old Dominion University, in Norfolk (VA). His current research focuses on the water quality effects of extreme tidal flooding events, but his experience and interest range from waste-water treatment to natural water systems, including how they work, and how to preserve them through the science-policy interface. He is currently one of the leads of a non-profit organization called Virginia Scientist Community Interface (V-SCI). In February of next year, he will start a job with a U.S. federal agency as part of a program called the Knauss fellowship.

Image Credit: Greta Pratt, Tidewater Series, photography 2020