Professor and Director of the Center for Design & Health, School of Architecture, University of Virginia.

Lead for Task 6, Health and Wellbeing Co-benefits of Green Infrastructure

Jenny is an environmental psychologist and former head of Landscape Architecture for an international architectural practice. She writes, lectures, and consults for a wide range of academic and public audiences on human health-centered design for the built environment. She is an expert in restorative environments that support mental health and wellbeing including an important role for public parks and urban green space. She advocates for putting health and wellbeing at the forefront of urban planning decisions. She has won numerous awards and research grants exploring a rich variety of architectural and landscape settings and their psychological impact on people. Her scholarly outputs include over fifty-five peer review publications and two books on restorative environments for mental health and wellbeing. You can find out more about her research and publications here www.jennyjroe.com

Associate Professor of Social Work in the Ethelyn R Strong School of Social Work at Norfolk State University. Her major research focus is on risk and resilience among youth in public housing. She has an emphasis on the social determinants of health, well-being, and the identification of protective factors for youth of color. Her other research interest the impact of housing relocation of African American families

She is the Co-Pi and the lead for community engagement on the CoPe project.

He works at JWC Research in Washington DC. John serves as external evaluator for the project. He is an independent research and evaluation consultant, working primarily on issues of diversity in higher education, faculty employment, and careers and employment more broadly. John received his PhD in sociology from Johns Hopkins University in 1993.

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia

Bright Zhu is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Virginia. His current research focuses on hydrodynamic and sediment transport modeling in coastal and wetland environments. As part of the CoPe project, he will lead a hydrodynamic modeling effort to characterize flooding patterns associated with storm surge in the Norfolk Area.

Professor of Civil Engineering & Link Lab Director at the University of Virginia

Research Interests: Stormwater Management and modeling, urban hydrology, geographic information systems (GIS)

Virginia Organizing Manager of Mothers Out Front; President of Sudderth Strategies

Kim has worked civically and professionally as a strategic planner and social justice organizer since 2016 for national organizations such as Mothers Out Front and the Norfolk NAACP. She has successfully brought together people from diverse backgrounds to affect positive change in their businesses, organizations and personal lives. Her work has focused on equity, advocacy, and leadership development.

Kim holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology with a concentration in Diversity and Inequality from Saint Leo University and she earned a certificate of Leadership, Organizing and Action from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She has served on the Norfolk Planning Commission since June 2020, she is a certified Planning Commissioner from Virginia Commonwealth University, and was elected Vice-chair of the Norfolk Planning Commission in early 2022

Assistant Professor of African American and African Studies; Repair Lab Co-Director at the University of Virginia

Research Interests: Political construction and maintenance of race, inequality, environmental policy, state and local politics, political behavior, and government responsiveness

Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia

Research Interests: Coastal system science, ocean modeling, environmental fluid mechanics

Graduate Student Researcher at the University of Virginia - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

I joined the Hydroinformatics research group at the University of Virginia, engaging in innovative research that blends data science and Cyber-Physical Systems to develop advanced urban flood models. My involvement in the NSF Coastlines and People project reinforced my commitment to community-driven solutions, prompting me to actively listen to community needs and explore new research avenues that resonate with them, reinforcing the importance of bridging the gap between research and communities.

Graduate Student Researcher at the University of Virginia - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She studies methods for collaborative watershed management, the use of crowd-sourced data to identify and understand predictors for urban street flooding, and nature-based solutions for water quality improvements and flood mitigation.

Graduate Student Researcher at the University of Virginia - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He studies urban flood forecasting using combination of modeling and deep learning techniques.

Graduate Research Assistant; Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work at Norfolk State University

She is a second-year graduate student studying social work at Norfolk State University. Jasmonèt has an interest in mental health, social justice, and working with communities. She currently works part-time as a community-based mental health clinician. Some of her research interests include: Health disparities, Mental health, Education, and Disenfranchised groups. She will be assisting with community engagement on the CoPe project.

Undergraduate Student Researcher at the University of Virginia, Research Interests: Hydrodynamic modeling, determining innovative and equitable solutions that reduce flooding and environmental stress in urban settings.

Undergraduate Research Intern at Norfolk State University, senior Biology major and engaged in water, quality testing, shoreline restoration and community outreach.

Undergraduate Research Intern at Norfolk State University, junior Biology major and engaged in water, quality testing, shoreline restoration and community outreach.

Undergraduate Research Intern at Norfolk State University, senior Biology major and engaged in water, quality testing, shoreline restoration and community outreach.

Undergraduate Research Intern at Norfolk State University, junior Biology major and engaged in water, quality testing, shoreline restoration and community outreach.

Dr. Ashley Neal Haines, is a Professor of Biology at Norfolk State University and is Research Co-Director and Principal Investigator for NSU on the CoPe Urban C5 grant. She has extensive experience guiding undergraduate students in water quality testing, including providing all scientific, safety and data management training required. She has worked with homeowners to establish water quality testing sites at private residences in Hampton Roads and has three years of experience overseeing a citizen-based water quality testing program in the region. Her primary research interests are related to environmental restoration issues impacting the Chesapeake Bay watershed, pathogens of fishes, non-and vertebrate immune systems. Since 2010, Dr. Haines has been teaching Microbiology, Integrative Zoology and Immunology courses and mentoring undergraduates through research opportunities in her lab. She is dedicated to the training of minorities in STEM and to improving diversity in the field of Biology.

Professor of Architecture and Director of Global Studies program at the University of Virginia.

Her research interests include, sustainable architecture and urban design and theory, design for coastal resilience, indigenous ecologies, and public interest design.

Associate Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning

School of Architecture

University of Virginia

Research Interests: Land use planning, geospatial data analysis and mapping, climate adaptation and resilience, urban analytics, civic tech, planning methods.

Sergio Armando Barbosa is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Virginia, supported by the Climate Fellowship from the Environmental Institute. In his postdoctoral research at UVA, Sergio has advanced 2D hydrodynamic modeling and groundwater sustainability. A significant contribution to the CoPe project has been the development and validation of a 2D hydrodynamic model, which integrates 2D surface flow with 1D pipe network simulations. This model assesses the combined impacts of storm tide and rainfall on a selected neighborhoods in Norfolk, Virginia.

Genesis M. Rodgers is a Graduate Student Researcher in the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning at the University of Virginia. 

Her role is to support geospatial research for Task 6, Health and Wellbeing Co-benefits of Green Infrastructure. 

Research interests: urban ecology and nature connection, land use planning, recreation and tourism, sustainable development, participatory design and engagement, arts and architecture

Graduate Research Assistant; Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work at Norfolk State University 

 She is a second-year graduate student studying social work at Norfolk State University. Milan’s research interest includes environmental justice, international social work and maternal and child health. She will be assisting with community engagement on the CoPe project.