A.J. Faas is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology, the Organizational Studies Program and a member of the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center. His research addresses disasters and environmental crises, with attention to cooperation, reciprocity and mutual aid; postcolonialism and the anthropology of the state; humanitarianism; and displacement and resettlement. Faas’s research includes an ongoing longitudinal study of disaster recovery and resettlement in the Ecuadorian highlands; a collaborative study of COVID-19 and the cumulative effects of successive disasters; and participatory action research projects on disaster preparedness, vulnerability and community-based leadership in San José, California. He holds a doctorate degree in anthropology from the University of South Florida.
Disaster Preparedness
Alison Bridger
Alison Bridger is a professor emeritus in the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science. Her research focuses on large-scale atmospheric dynamics (Earth and Mars) and numerical prediction. She holds a doctoral degree in atmospheric science from Colorado State University.
Bryce Westlake
Bryce Westlake is an associate professor of justice studies at the College of Social Sciences. His research interests include digital forensic science, online sex crimes, cybercrime, social network analysis and capital punishment. He holds a doctoral degree in criminology from Simon Fraser University.
Craig Clements
Craig Clements is a professor and chair of the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science, director of the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center (WIRC) and director of the Fire Weather Lab. His research focuses on the micro-meteorology and behavior of wildland fires, mountain and boundary-layer meteorology, air pollution and turbulence. He holds a doctoral degree in geophysics from the University of Houston.
Frances Edwards
Frances Edwards is Deputy Director of the National Transportation Security Center at the Mineta Transportation Institute. She is a professor emeritus of political science and former director of the Master of Public Administration program. Her research focuses on issues related to climate change, emergency management, homeland security, continuity of operations for government and businesses and global supply chain security. She holds a Ph.D in public administration from New York University. She is also a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) with 20+ years of experience as Director of Emergency Services in San Jose and Irvine, CA.
Gordon Douglas
Gordon Douglas is the director of the Institute for Metropolitan Studies and an associate professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. His work focuses on social inequality in planning and development, neighborhood identity and gentrification, and peoples’ relationships to their physical surroundings from streetscape design to disaster response. He is currently working on local improvement efforts in San José and Oakland, including affordable housing production, safe streets, and the rights of our unhoused community members. Prior to joining SJSU, Gordon helped lead the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University and worked on the U.S. exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale. He holds master’s degrees in media and communication from the University of Southern California and the London School of Economics; and a doctoral degree in sociology from the University of Chicago.
Jan Null
Jan Null is a lecturer in the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science in the College of Science. He holds a bachelor’s in atmospheric science from the University of California, Davis, and a master’s in geography from SJSU. He was a meteorologist and lead forecaster for 25 years at the National Weather Service’s San Francisco Bay Area office. His research focuses on California precipitation climatology and heatstroke deaths of children forgotten in vehicles.
Kimberly Blisniuk
Kimberly Blisniuk is an associate professor of neotectonics (the study of motions and deformations of Earth’s crust) in the Department of Geology at the College of Science. Her research focuses on studying the San Andreas fault and measuring its age and movement. She holds a doctoral degree in earthquake geology/geochronology (the science of determining the age of rocks, fossils, and sediments using signatures inherent in the rocks themselves) from the University of California, Davis.
Sen Chiao
Sen Chiao is an emeritus professor in the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science in the College of Science. He earned a doctoral degree in atmospheric science from North Carolina State University and was a post-doctoral research fellow at Harvard. He is the director of the NASA Minority University Research and Education Program Institutional Research Opportunity (MIRO) Center for Applied Atmospheric Research and Education. His research focuses on aerosol and its impacts on air quality, weather and regional climate, urban heat islands, wildfire impacts on air quality, and public health linkages to air quality, weather and climate. He also specializes in hurricanes.