Los Angeles, CA Seminar Planning for Disaster Resilience in Economic Forecasting

SPEAKERS

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  Adam Rose, Ph.D.

  University of Southern California

  Adam Rose is a Research Professor in the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy, and a faculty affiliate of USC’s Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE). His main research interests include the economics of energy and climate change. His most recent work in this area was modeling and policy analysis of cap-and-trade systems and macroeconomic impacts of climate action plans at the state, national and international levels using the REMI PI+ model. Professor Rose’s other research area is the economics of natural disasters and terrorism. He spearheaded the development of CREATE’s comprehensive economic consequence analysis framework to include aspects of mitigation, resilience, behavioral responses, and remediation. He has conducted pioneering theoretical and empirical research on resilience to disasters at the level of the individual business/household, market/industry and regional/national economy. Professor Rose is the author of over 250 professional papers and several books, including most recently “Economic Consequence Analysis of Disasters: The E-CAT Software Tool” (Springer), “Defining and Measuring Economic Resilience from a Societal, Environmental and Security Perspective” (Springer), and “The Economics of Climate Change Mitigation Policy” (Elgar). He is a Fellow of the Regional Science Association International and President of the International Society for Integrated Disaster Risk Management. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including an economic analysis award from REMI. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University.

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  Dan Wei, Ph.D.

  University of Southern California

  Dan Wei is a Research Associate Professor in the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California (USC). She is also a faculty affiliate of USC’s Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE). Her research focuses on modeling of economic impacts of energy and climate change policies, analysis of market-based greenhouse gas mitigation policy instruments, and analysis of economic consequence of and resilience to natural or man-made disasters. She performed macroeconomic impact analyses on state climate action plans for several major states and regions in the U.S. and conducted analysis of cap and trade systems and/or carbon taxes at the regional, state, national, and international levels. She also participated in the capacity building on macroeconomic impact modeling of climate action plans in Guangdong, China and Baja California, Mexico. In the area of economics of natural hazards and terrorism, she contributed to the development of an algorithm to perform rapid economic impact analyses of disasters for California Emergency Management Agency. She is the co-author of a study for the U.S. Coast Guard on the economic impacts from and resilience to a shutdown of a major U.S. seaport and thus disruptions to the supply-chain. She has made significant contribution in the studies of the economic impacts of four major disaster scenarios for the U.S. Geological Survey. She recently led a Caltrans study to develop and apply an economic framework to evaluate resilience in recovering from major port disruptions. Dr. Wei is the author of nearly 30 peer-reviewed journal articles, and the recipient of Regional Economic Models Outstanding Economic Analysis Award and Sir Richard Stone Best Article Award. Dr. Wei holds a B.E. degree in Engineering Physics and an MSc degree in Public Policy from Tsinghua University, and a Ph.D. in Geography from The Pennsylvania State University.

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  Shah Dabirian, Ph.D.

  South Coast Air Quality Management District

  Shah Dabirian , Ph.D., is an Economist and a Program Supervisor at South Coast Air Quality Management District. Since joining SCAQMD more than 25 years ago, Dr. Dabirian has conducted numerous cost-benefit analyses of stationary, mobile, area source regulations, NOx and SOx Trading (RECLAIM Program), fleet rules, and toxic regulations. He has used REMI since 1992 to analyze the regional macroeconomic impacts of the air quality regulations and air quality management plans in the South Coast Air Basin, which includes the counties of Los Angeles and Orange, and portions of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, encompassing a region with a population of 17 million, 10 million jobs, 20,000 miles of highways, 450 miles of passenger rail, six commercial airports, and two large marine ports. Dr. Dabirian has presented his work as a guest lecturer and continuously designs, manages, and conducts research projects recommended by the businesses, environmental communities, Scientific Technical Review committee, Ethnic Advisory Committee, and Small Business Assistance office within the SCAQMD’s jurisdiction. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Economics from the University of Wyoming.

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  Cameron Luther

  REMI

  Cameron Luther is an Economic Associate at REMI, responsible for client support and business development. Mr. Luther joined the REMI team as a recent graduate of The Ohio State University. While studying at Ohio State, Mr. Luther was heavily involved in Columbus’ Smart Cities program. He served as a liaison between Columbus and OSU, assisting the city with academic expertise. He was also a founder of Smart Campus, a student group dedicated to applying novel technology to campus problems. As a result, he is interested in using REMI’s many products, such as TranSight, to model to analyze the complex effects of smarter cities and other economic issues related to the regional economy. While at Ohio State, Mr. Luther also conducted research, investigating neuroeconomic explanations for recent findings in behavioral economics. Mr. Luther graduated from OSU with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a concentration in Statistics.

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  Keith Waters, Ph.D.

  REMI

  Keith Waters , Ph.D. is an Economist at REMI. Dr. Waters has experience researching regional economic development, analyzing the geographic allocation of economic activity, and incorporating geography into an agent-based model to study firm formation’s linkages with inter-regional migration and the spatial distribution of labor within a country. Prior to joining REMI, Dr. Waters worked with organizations such as the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments, the U.S. Economics and Statistics Administration, and the U.S. Economic Development Administration compiling research and data for reports on geography, economic and community development, and economic impact studies. Since completing his education, Dr. Waters has been a teaching assistant and lecturer, speaking on subjects related to public policy, GIS and spatial analysis, regional economic development, and statistics. Dr. Waters earned his Ph.D. in Public Policy at George Mason University after receiving his master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Geography and bachelor’s degrees in Economics, Geography, and Mathematics from Western Michigan University.