Noah Goldstein - Ph.D. Student in Geography, University of California at Santa Barbara. I have been accused of being called bi-coastal, and I'm afraid that may be true. I grew up in New York City, received a BA in Biology at UC Santa Cruz and returned to NYC to get involved in botanical research at the New York Botanical Garden, specializing in plant collection and ethnobotany. I returned to California to live the bohemian lifestyle, while collecting plant specimens for NYBG until I heard graduate school whispering in my ear. This past fall I received a Masters degree from the Department of Geography at UCSB, focusing on biogeography and the predictive mapping of endangered plant species. I am now fortunate enough to continue my studies in a slightly different vein. My Ph.D. research will focus on the co-evolving relationship between spreading urban centers and natural disturbances, using wildfires and their influence on Santa Barbara and Los Alamos, NM and examples. I am focusing on predictive modeling as a way of exploring the co-evolution, but I will also focus on how human communication can change when faced with an impeding disaster. I will examine how, during a disaster, there is a "phase change" in communication needs and how communities organize to face natural disasters. I am truly looking forward to sharing ideas in Santa Fe this summer, and I hope to learn much that can be applied to my own work.

Home page: http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~noah