The Role of Data in Strengthening Community Disaster Resilience – Miguel O Román (Geo4Dev 2018)

Dr. Miguel O. Román is a Research Physical Scientist in the Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. At the international level, Román is currently assigned as an agency representative to the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). His contributions to inter-agency and inter-governmental initiatives and the wealth of satellite measurements available from his work are providing stakeholders with the strengthened capacity required to better understand and mitigate disaster risks, promote sustainable and resilient urban infrastructure while addressing the immediate energy needs of at-risk populations. In 2017, President Barack Obama selected Dr. Román as a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (or PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.

Dr. Miguel O. Román’s talk is titled: Puerto Rico from Space: The Role of @NASAEarthData in Strengthening Community Disaster Resilience After Hurricane Maria. Join @NASAEarthData scientist, Dr. Miguel Román, as he takes the stage to present real-life use cases that illustrate how NASA satellites are being used by agencies worldwide to advance universal energy access, sustainable livelihoods, and resilient cities during major disasters.

The 2nd Annual Symposium on Geospatial Analysis for International Development (Geo4Dev) focused on geospatial research that addresses climate- and conflict-driven migration and humanitarian response. This includes observation and modeling of migration and human settlement patterns (in response to climate or conflict stressors), as well as the design and evaluation of interventions for humanitarian crises, mass migration, and community resilience.

Geo4Dev is a yearly event focused on the use of novel geospatial data and analytic techniques to address issues of poverty, sustainable development, urbanization, climate change, and economic growth in developing countries and beyond. This includes a particular emphasis on the use of emerging geo-tagged big data, including satellite, social media, and CDR datasets.