Welcome New Faculty Advisory Committee Members: Drs. Serafin, von Meding, Court, Smidt and Krimsky

We are pleased to announce new members of the Water Institute Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC): Drs. Katy Serafin, Jason von Meding, Christa Court, Sam Smidt, and Lisa Krimsky (from left to right as they appear in the picture). We are excited for the diverse expertise they bring to the Committee.

Katy Serafin, Assistant Professor, Geography, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. 
Katy Serafin researches extreme sea levels, compound floods in estuaries and coastal rivers, and coastal hazards to better understand how flood risk is changing and the resultant consequences for people and places. She has worked on many community-driven research projects with a diverse set of individuals, including researchers from a range of subjects, outreach specialists, and stakeholders from federal, state, tribal, and county agencies.

Jason von Meding, Associate Professor, M.E Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management, Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER).
Jason von Meding conducts research with people living with every day and catastrophic risk, investigating the systemic injustice and inequality that differentially creates disaster impacts, which often interacts with water-related community concerns, scientific investigations, and narratives. Some critical areas of interest are social/spatial/environmental justice related to where and how people live in relation to water resources, the quality of water-related infrastructure and services, water quality and access, coastal risk mitigation, and climate change. 

Christa Court, Assistant Professor, Food and Resource Economics, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
Christa Court’s research and extension program focus on regional economic modeling and integrated modeling of human and natural systems. She serves as Director of the Economic Impact Analysis Program, which conducts regional economic analyses for funded research projects, industry organizations, and government agencies, analyzing a wide range of activities and industries including agriculture, forestry, fisheries, education, and health care.

Sam Smidt, Assistant Professor, Soil and Water Sciences, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
Sam Smith’s research emphasis is on hydrologic processes and includes water management and hydrologic field and modeling studies of contaminant transport, transformation and fate processes. He studies water pollution control practices that improve the compatibility of agriculture and other human land uses with the surrounding natural ecosystem.

Lisa Krimsky, Water Resources Regional Specialized Agent, Extension Southeast District, FL Sea Grant. 
Lisa Krimsky is responsible for providing leadership and technical expertise in the development, implementation, and evaluation of water resources Extension programs. She focuses on the complex interdisciplinary water issues associated with anthropogenic inputs at the land-sea interface and watershed connectivity across natural and managed systems. Her extension and research interests combine natural and social sciences to develop and promote behavioral strategies to reduce non-point sources of pollutants, mitigate the impacts of harmful algal blooms in coastal and estuarine systems, and encourage science-based policy decisions.

We are thankful for the support provided by outgoing members Drs. Mary Jane Angelo, David Kaplan, Kati Migliaccio, Ramesh Reddy, and Tara Wade.

The FAC consists of 15 affiliate faculty who advise the Water Institute on the formulation and execution of its programs, plans and policies. Ten members of the FAC are elected by affiliate faculty, and five are appointed by the Water Institute Director in a process designed to promote diversity across discipline, college, campus location, career stage and demographics.

For more information about the FAC including continuing and past members, please click here.

For more information on affiliate faculty, or if you would like to become an affiliate Water Institute faculty member, please click here.

June 02, 2022