Submitted by James Douglas
The Climate Change Taskforce would like to introduce the consultants that are aiding us in drafting our Climate Change Adaptation Plan. These consultants bring with them a large base of knowledge that will be key to drafting our adaptation plan. Over the coming weeks they will be meeting with community members, Directors, Councilors and others to conduct interviews and gather data.
Chris S. Renschler, Ph.D.:
Chris S. Renschler is an extreme events researcher. He can talk to media about disaster planning, assessment and response, and how communities can be resilient, rebounding after extreme events. An expert in natural resources management, Renschler has studied or responded to a variety of natural disasters, including the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the 2011 tsunami in Japan and Hurricanes Irene, Sandy and Harvey.
At UB, Renschler directs the Landscape-based Environmental System Analysis and Modeling (LESAM) lab. This interdisciplinary research group uses geographic information science, remote sensing, environmental modeling and readily available reconnaissance data sets to support rapid, practical and effective decision-making in managing natural resources and extreme events. Flooding and soil erosion are an important area of focus.
Renschler has been working with stakeholders in the Cattaraugus Creek Watershed and Seneca Nation Emergency Management for more than a decade. He is an active member of Erie County’s Local Emergency Planning Committee; was part of New York State’s Respond Commission after Superstorm Sandy on 2012/13; was working with the United Nations on flood-risk mitigation and post-flood rehabilitation efforts in Asia in 2018, and is working with the Erie County on Climate Vulnerability Assessment since 2020. He has a Master’s Degree in Geoecology from the University of Braunschweig (1996) and a PhD degree from the University of Bonn (200). He is a 2015/16 Fulbright Scholar, with his Fulbright work devoted to developing sustainable watershed management policies in the face of climate and environmental change.
Jonathan Townsend:
Jonathan holds a BS in Environmental Science and an MS in Biology, both from SUNY Fredonia. He is currently working towards a doctorate degree in the Department of Geography. His research focuses on the potential impacts that plastic pollution has on bats and their insect prey from a biogeographical perspective.
In addition to being a PhD student, he also works as a Research Assistant with the University at Buffalo, he is the Manager of Conservation and Restoration at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History, Co-Owner of Royal Fern Nursery, and he also sits on the Board of Directors at Greystone Nature Preserve. He has worked in a number of environmental and biological fields, including environmental education, nonprofit land trusts, academic education and research, environmental consulting, and governmental regulatory agencies. Jonathan is passionate about bat biology, land conservation, and botany.
Michael Monzillo:
With a background in B2B sales and graduate level education in Econometrics and International Economics, Economic Geography, and Data Analysis for Social Science, Michael has devoted his career thus far to building up his intellectual toolset, deploying them to investigate social, economic, and business problems, and then applying everything he can to solve them.
As a B2B salesman, he consulted with his customers one-on-one to find their business pains and craft a custom solution fit for them. All the while, he lived the realities of customer discovery involving tough lessons from difficult rejections, and negotiation, where he learned about finding wins for everyone involved. Michael’s graduate education has allowed him to expand my scope and think about these same interactions across regional and international borders and examine them using modern tools in econometrics, geography, and data analytics. Having the chance to apply these skills in research and community-oriented positions, such as the Erie County Climate Vulnerability has only confirmed for Michael that he’s headed down the right path and accelerated all of my personal and professional curiosities and ambitions.
