Charles Fletcher is Chairperson and Professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu. Fletcher teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Physical Geology, Paleoclimate and Coastal Geology. He conducts research in carbonate sedimentology, natural history of reefs, beach processes, and coastal hazards. Dr. Fletcher’s work is published in over 60 peer-reviewed, international scientific journal articles and 20 books and reports. He has been principal advisor in the awarding of 20 graduate degrees. For his work in service to government agencies and public groups, Fletcher is the 2006 recipient of the Hung Wo and Elizabeth Lau Ching Foundation Award for Faculty Service to the Community given by the University of Hawaii, Board of Regents. He is past recipient of awards for teaching, research excellence, and in recognition of community service.

Margaret A. Davidson has served since 1996 as the Director of NOAA’s Coastal Services Center, a national enterprise established to accelerate access to the science and technology capabilities of NOAA and its partners to improve coastal and ocean resource management as practiced at state and local levels.  From August 2000 to October 2002, Margaret also served as the Acting Assistant Administrator of NOAA for Ocean Services and Coastal Zone Management.  Before coming to NOAA, Margaret served sixteen years with the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, thirteen as the Executive Director.  She began her coastal career as an Assistant Attorney General and Special Counsel for the Louisiana Department of Justice.

Ms. Davidson holds a MMA from the University of Rhode Island and a JD from Louisiana State University. She has served in positions of leadership for several national and professional organizations, regularly teaches a graduate level multi-disciplinary course, and is frequently requested to serve as a facilitator and presenter for civic and professional organizations.

Her professional interests include climate and weather variability and its impact on coastal resources, integrated coastal management., and aquaculture and fisheries management.  She was a Fulbright Scholar for coastal resource management at Prince of Songkhla University, Thailand in 1992-93.  

Dr. Billy L. Edge is the Director of the Haynes Coastal Engineering Laboratory in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering.  He was Head of the Coastal and Ocean Engineering Division at Texas A&M University for nearly 10 years.   Previously, he worked in private practice for 10 years and spent 13 years with Clemson University.  He has worked in coastal engineering at projects around the world.  His research in dredging, beach nourishment and coastal structures has produced nearly 200 publications.  Recently Dr. Edge was invited to be a member of ASCE’s External Review Panel for the intensive Interagency Performance Evaluation Team (IPET) team during its study of hurricane Katrina. 

He is serving as Past-President on the Board of Governors of COPRI and has served on several other COPRI committees including the Coastal Engineering Research Council and the Coastal Structures Committee.  He also served as President of the Association of Coastal Engineers and continues as a member of their Board.  Dr. Edge is the 2007 recipient of the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal for U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, the 1998 John G. Moffat-Frank E. Nichol Harbor & Coastal Engineering Award and the 1997 International Coastal Engineering Award from ASCE.

Dr. Biliana Cicin-Sain (PhD in political science, UCLA, postdoctoral training, Harvard University) is Director of the Gerard J. Mangone Center for Marine Policy and Professor of Marine Policy at the University of Delaware’s College of Earth and Marine Studies, and Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Ocean & Coastal Management.   She is a leader in the field of integrated coastal and ocean governance, both in the United States and around the world, and has forged international collaboration among  all sectors of the international oceans community to advance the global oceans agenda.

Dr. Cicin-Sain is the organizer, Co-Chair and Head of Secretariat of the Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands, initially mobilized in 2001 to place issues related to oceans, coasts, and island states on the agenda of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and to agree on a detailed set of global ocean targets and timelines.  Since 2001, the Global Forum has brought together ocean leaders from governments, nongovernmental organizations, UN agencies, the private sector, and scientific associations from 93 countries to promote the implementation of international ocean agreements, analyze emerging policy issues, and advance international consensus on unresolved ocean issues. 

Dr. Cicin-Sain is the author of over 100 publications in marine policy, with an emphasis on cross-cutting issues related to integrated ocean and coastal governance. Dr. Cicin-Sain has served (or is serving as) as a policy advisor to:  international organizations--UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, World Bank, UN Environment Programme, Inter-American Development Bank; national governments--Governments of Albania, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia, R.O. Korea, United States, Vietnam; Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and U.S. coastal states and counties. 

Dr. Costas Synolakis has worked in the areas of coastal hazards, tsunamis and long waves throughout his career.  He is the director of the Tsunami Research Lab at the University of Southern California, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Southern California and professor of Natural Hazards at the Technical University of Crete.  The web site for the Tsunami Research Lab, www.usc.edu/dept/tsunamis has received over 30 million hits since its inception in 1998.  Dr. Synolakis has published over 60 peer-reviewed papers, helped author 4 books and over 100 conference papers.  His thesis on “The Runup of Long Waves” continues to be a major reference for students studying long wave and tsunami characteristics in shallow water.  The wave model, Method of Splitting Tsunamis (MOST), developed with Vasily Titov, has been used to determine potential inundation areas for much of the Pacific coast and is used now by NOAA for modeling and displaying tsunami wave propagation.  He has led or co-organized 17 international tsunami surveys to document tsunami damage as well as to quantify inundation and run-up for model calibration.  He is an enthusiastic advocate of public outreach efforts and education as the most effective methods of mitigating tsunami hazards. 

Dennis Hwang is an affiliate faculty member at the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program and counsel at the Law office of Reinwald O'Connor & Playdon. He has a BS in geology from the University of Rochester, a MS in geology & geophysics from the University of Hawai'i and a JD from the University of Houston where he concentrated in land use law. After finishing the "Hawai'i Coastal Hazard Mitigation Guidebook," he helped Indonesia put similar materials together to speed recovery from the 2004 tsunami and is currently assisting officials at LSU with the Louisiana Coastal Hazard Mitigation Guidebook. His clients include local planning departments, as well as numerous state and national emergency management agencies interested in implementing hazard mitigation measures within the community.

In his talk, "Key Concepts for Implementing Science in the Decisions of the Community," major concepts are introduced that will assist scientists, planners, government agencies and political leaders to avoid the common pitfalls in implementing their hazard mitigation programs. Strategies to improve implementation are presented and illustrated with several case studies dealing with different natural hazards (coastal erosion, sea-level rise, subsidence and hurricane preparedness).