NEWS RELEASE

Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax: 713.743.8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 22, 2006

Contact: Lisa Merkl
713.743.8192 (office)
713.605.1757 (pager)
lkmerkl@uh.edu

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES: HURRICANE TIP SHEET FROM UH

Last year’s high profile hurricane season left the nation scrambling. As you consider stories for your coverage of this year’s hurricanes and tropical storms, be prepared with these resources from the University of Houston representing experts across various fields. For more information, or if you are unable to reach a professor, give us a call at 713-743-8192.

WORTH HIS SALT: STORM CHASER TACKLES HURRICANES
James Lawrence, UH associate professor of geosciences, developed an innovative salt-detection device to measure the salt content of rain in tropical cyclones while driving through tropical storms and minimal hurricanes. Lawrence’s research is aimed at understanding how tropical storms form and intensify into hurricanes. This novel research tool is ultimately intended to fly through storms aboard research planes. For more information, Lawrence can be reached at 713-743-3410 or jlawrence@uh.edu.

A MODEL PLAN FOR EVACUATION
Industrial engineers at UH are working on evacuation models for Houston. Professors Tiravat Assavapokee and Maher Lahmar are developing a predictive evacuation model that uses road capacity, traffic conditions and results from flooding models to identify zip-code-based evacuation routes and schedules for the public. Professor Ali Kamrani is developing a traffic-optimization model that takes real-time traffic data to provide recommendations to officers directing an evacuation. Assavapokee can be reached at 713-743-4127 or tassavapokee@uh.edu, Lahmar can be reached at 713-743-4193 or mlahmar@uh.edu and Kamrani can be reached at 713-743-4192 or akamrani@uh.edu.

RECOUPING YOUR LOSSES
“It’s important to protect property from further damage, but those affected must also preserve the damages,” says Dan Jones, who has extensive experience in insurance and expertise in risk management. Jones is an executive professor in the Bauer College of Business, and he teaches classes in international risk and insurance, risk management, insurance operations and regulations, and energy insurance and risk management. Jones can be reached at djones@uh.edu.

A SISYPHEAN CHALLENGE: REPLENISHING GALVESTON’S BEACHES
Donald Van Nieuwenhuise, director of petroleum geoscience programs at UH, says that while beach replenishment is touted to bring in tourist dollars, it is a very short-term solution to protect Galveston from hurricanes. With Galveston only 18 to 20 feet above sea level at its highest points, a Category Five hurricane would likely exceed that elevation and remove all recent beach replenishment sands. Van Nieuwenhuise can be reached at 713-743-3423 or dvnieuwe@mail.uh.edu.

THE ECONOMICS OF DISASTER RELIEF
Tom DeGregori, professor of economics, has written the article “The Do’s and Don’ts of Disaster Relief,” which can be found at http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.630/news_detail.asp. He is an economic development expert, and has written about and been an advisor on disaster relief. DeGregori can be reached at 713-743-3838 or trdegreg@uh.edu.

HEALTH LAW AND ORDER
The liabilities of volunteer physicians and nurses and quarantines in emergency shelters are among some of the many legal issues in health care that Richard Saver can discuss. He is an assistant professor of law and affiliated with the Health, Law and Policy Institute. Saver can be reached at 713-743-2263 or rsaver@central.uh.edu.

TO EAT OR NOT TO EAT
Food safety when the power goes out is a very real problem during hurricanes and tropical storms. Svetlana Rodgers, an assistant professor at the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, is a leading researcher in food safety and beneficial bacteria and can answer questions about how long food can go before spoiling without refrigeration and what steps can be taken to protect food in your freezer in the event of an extended power outage. Rodgers can be reached at 713-743-2652 or srodgers@central.uh.edu. Johnette Rosenbalm, the food and beverage manager for the Hilton University of Houston Hotel and Conference Center, also has expertise on this topic and can be reached at 713-743-3752 or jrosenbalm@central.uh.edu.

GIVE ME SHELTER
A hurricane is coming, and you’ve decided to leave town. Where do you go, and what is the role of a hotel during this time of crisis? John Bowen, dean of the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, is an expert in hotel marketing and available to explain how the hotel community works together to help evacuees. During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, he collaborated with the president of the Houston Hotel and Lodging Association of Greater Houston to provide resources for people in need of lodging. Bowen can answer questions ranging from reservations to price gouging and can be reached at 713-743-0209 or jbowen@uh.edu.

HURRICANE ENGINES REVVING UP WITH MORE HEAT
In trying to predict quantity and intensity of hurricanes this year, Donald Van Nieuwenhuise, director of petroleum geoscience programs at UH, says the heat engine that drives hurricanes is heating up from global warming, and as the Atlantic and Gulf warm up the hurricane engine will have more power. What the atmosphere does with that extra power, he says, requires complex atmospheric models to predict the number and intensity of hurricanes that will occur in the Atlantic and Gulf regions this year or any given year. Van Nieuwenhuise can be reached at 713-743-3423 or dvnieuwe@mail.uh.edu.

VOLUNTEERING IS HEALTHY
Having worked as a volunteer health care worker at the Astrodome following Hurricane Katrina, Joe Kotarba, professor of sociology, conducted interview-based research on the great impact volunteers had in making the health care services a great success at the Dome. He can be contacted at 713-743-3954 or jkotarba@uh.edu.

WHAT LIES BENEATH?
Flood waters often carry an assortment of unpleasant surprises – from toxins to creepy crawlers. Knowledgeable about many of the murky secrets hidden in flood water, UH’s team of civil and environmental engineers can shed light on what may lay deep within and how to deal with it. Flooding experts can discuss the environmental effects, dealing with contaminated water and cleaning the drinking water, as well as address possible toxins in the water and the natural recovery of the environment from contamination. For more information, contact Lisa Merkl at 713-743-8192 or lkmerkl@uh.edu to be connected with the appropriate expert.

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