CORE TEAM & EXPERTISE
The dedicated team behind CERISE brings decades of experience in resilience, infrastructure, energy and related fields. Our core team has complementary areas of expertise that synergize to serve the mission and goals of CERISE.
JAMIE E. PADGETT
Associate Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Rice University
Faculty Lead, CERISE
Dr. Padgett’s research focuses on the application of probabilistic methods for risk, resilience and sustainability assessment of structures and infrastructure systems. Her work emphasizes energy and transportation-related infrastructures, such as storage tanks at petrochemical facilities subjected to multiple hazards including hurricanes, earthquakes, aging and deterioration. She serves in leadership for the NIST Center of Excellence for Community Disaster Resilience, and the NSF NHERI Cyberinfrastructure (DesignSafe). The National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Houston Endowment, and the Transportation Research Board, among others have supported her research.
PHILIP B. BEDIENT
Chair and Herman Brown Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Rice University
Director, SSPEED Center
Dr. Bedient has four decades of research experience in surface water hydrology, disaster management, and flood modeling and prediction systems. Dr. Bedient developed one of the first radar-based rainfall flood alert system (FAS4) in the U.S. for Houston Texas Medical Center. He formed the Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center at Rice University in 2007 consisting of several investigators from the Gulf Coast universities dedicated to improving storm prediction, education, and evacuation from disaster. The $10-million Center has recently designed the Galveston Bay Park Plan that protects the Houston Ship Channel and west side of Galveston Bay.
PEDRAM HASSANZADEH
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering & Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Rice University
Dr. Hassanzadeh’s research focuses on developing and using novel mathematical, numerical, and statistical models to understand the dynamics and predict future change of the climate system and in particular weather extreme events. He is the recipient of several awards including an Early-Career Research Fellowship from The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Gulf Research Program and a Ziff Environmental Fellowship from the Harvard University Center for the Environment. Dr. Hassanzadeh’s research supported by the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and Microsoft AI.
JIM B. BLACKBURN
Environmental Lawyer
Professor of Practice, Rice
Co-Director of SSPEED Center
Mr. Blackburn is an environmental lawyer, a Rice faculty scholar at the Baker Institute and Co-Director of the SSPEED Center. He has authored The Book of Texas Bays in 2004 and A Texan Plan for the Texas Coast in 2017. Blackburn received the Distinguished Alumni Laureate Award from Rice University in 2018 the Good Egg Award from the International Crane Foundation for litigation to protect the endangered whooping crane in 2015. Blackburn was among the founders of the Trinity Edwards Springs Association (TESPA), a Texas Hill Country non-governmental organization dedicated to protecting springs and groundwater, and he also founded the Bayou City Initiative (BCI), a Houston-based NGO focused on community recovery and long-term flood protection post Harvey.
TED LOCH-TEMZELIDES
Baker Institute Rice Faculty Scholar
Professor of Economics, Rice University
Dr. Loch-Temzelides has worked and consulted for the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Central Bank of Portugal. His current research interests include the energy transition towards a sustainable economy, conservation agreements, maritime transportation, and non-standard models of individual decision-making. His work has received funding from the National Science Foundation, and he is a CESifo fellow. He has served as a Vice-President of the Board of Directors, French-American Chamber of Commerce - Houston Chapter, he is on the editorial board of the journal Economic Theory and has written opinions for The Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Houston Chronicle and Forbes.
RACHEL A. MEIDL
Baker Institute Fellow, Energy & Environment
Dr. Meidl research interests focus on domestic and international policy and law as it relates to imports and exports of hazardous wastes; upstream and end-of-life management of byproducts and wastes; alternative and renewable energy and energy recovery technologies; chemical safety reform; and safety and environmental regulations of the treatment, storage, disposal, and transportation of chemicals within and outside the U.S. She previously served as deputy associate administrator for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation and was the director of regulatory and technical affairs at the American Chemistry Council, where she advanced a broad range of regulatory and policy issues.