Catastrophe Modeling

Natural hazards research is a fascinating and complex scientific problem that demands an understanding of the interplay between hazard, economic conditions, public policy, and the business world. The re/insurance field is at the forefront of societal risk management, but it faces a range of challenges, both near-term, with the expansion of wealth and population into high-risk metropolitan areas, and long-term, as climate change enhances the risk of extreme storm surges, floods, and heat waves.

A climate scientist and geologist by training, I am passionate about bridging the gaps between sources of new knowledge in the research world and end-users in the private sector. My scientific specialty is the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, the largest driver of year-to-year climate variability, which is where changes in the ocean and atmosphere intersect most dramatically with short-term events like hurricanes and floods. However, my geology background and experience in the re/insurance sector allow me to be comfortable working with the full suite of natural perils.

I am excited to bring a flexible toolbox of stochastic modeling, geospatial analytics, machine learning, open source datasets, and social media to the field of catastrophe modeling.