Panel Overview:
The panel will present the latest work on future climate projections and their implications for Bay stormwater managers. Experts will also review the potential vulnerabilities of stormwater BMPs and restoration practices to future extreme precipitation conditions and discuss how community engagement and environmental equity play a role in future climate resilience. The resulting conversation with panelists and audience members will inform what we need in a Bay-focused “response plan” to increase climate resiliency in our urban communities. Panelist bios included below.
The following papers and resources have been provided by our panelists to supplement their presentations:
Speaker Bios:
Dr. Franco Montalto (Drexel University):
Dr. Montalto is a licensed civil engineer interested in the development of ecologically, economically, and socially sensible solutions to urban environmental problems, with a focus on sustainable water resources engineering and climate change. His ~25 years of experience have included research and design of a variety of nature-based solutions involving ecological restoration of degraded landscapes, the use of constructed wetlands for wastewater and stormwater treatment, as well as work with “green infrastructure” and “low impact development” technologies as a means of managing urban runoff, while promoting urban sustainability and resilience. He is currently a Professor at Drexel University, where he directs the Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Lab. He is also the Founder and President of eDesign Dynamics LLC, an environmental consulting firm based in New York City, with an international portfolio of projects. He serves as the Director of the North American Hub of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) and in June of 2020 was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to serve as a Member of the 4th New York City Panel on Climate Change. His degrees are from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and Cornell University.
Dr. Fushcia Hoover (SESYNC):
Dr. Fushcia-Ann Hoover is a social-ecological urban hydrologist focused on exploring the intersections of urban stormwater hydrology, green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) and ecosystem services informed by environmental justice theory.
At SESYNC, she examines ways of incorporating equity into stormwater management planning and GSI for U.S. cities by framing her analysis within environmental justice and Black geography theories. Her current project analyzes the language and methods that city policies and plans use to place and evaluate GSI. Her mentor is Dr. Sara Meerow at Arizona State University.
She earned her master’s and PhD from the Interdisciplinary Ecological Sciences and Engineering program in the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department at Purdue University, and holds an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of St. Thomas, MN.
Dr. Michelle Miro (RAND):
Dr. Michelle Miro is a Water Resources Engineer at the RAND Corporation. She is a co-investigator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Mid-Atlantic Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (MARISA) program, where she leads climate adaptation and stormwater management research. In this capacity, she is partnering with the Chesapeake Bay Trust to develop future projected IDF curves and a climate resilience scorecard for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Dr. Miro’s portfolio of work also includes flood risk communication and management in the Gulf Coast, disaster resilience and recovery in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, water supply and groundwater management in drought-prone regions, and climate threats and resilience strategies in the Great Lakes.
Kimberly Grove (City of Baltimore)
Kim Grove is a professional civil engineer, with over 20 of years of experience. A graduate of the Florida Institute of Technology, Ms. Grove spent most of her career as a private engineering consultant working throughout the Southeast and mid-Atlantic region, until she joined Baltimore City Department of Public Works in December 2010. Ms. Grove currently serves as the Chief for the Office of Compliance and Research, which is committed to enhancing environmental regulatory compliance for the Department through collaboration, management program improvements, and regulatory enforcement. Ms. Grove serves as the manager for the City’s MS4 permit and was instrumental in the City implementing a stormwater fee in 2013. Ms. Grove currently serves on the advisory committee for the Stormwater Institute, under the Water Environment Federation. She also works with the Urban Waters Federal Partnership Actionable Science Committee, the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, and many of the region’s academic researchers to integrate scientific research with policy decisions for the Department.