VOICE: 817.272.2761
FAX: 817.272.2755
public.affairs@uta.edu
Davis Hall, Room 413
PO Box 19317
The following faculty experts are available to discuss the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Journalists desiring additional information or background material can call the Office of Public Affairs at (817) 272-2761.
Engineering and Structural Impact:
Max Spindler
Associate Professor Civil and Environmental Engineering
Water resources engineering/hydraulics and hydrology
Office: (817)272-3763
E-mail: spindler@ce.uta.edu
Dr. Spindler has been actively teaching since 1970. He has been involved in testing hydraulic models for storm protection, and has tested prototype protective valves in the water distribution field. He has been involved on a consulting basis in the design of flood mitigation systems and water supply protective systems, roof drainage, ground water drainage problems, and groundwater contamination problems.
Guillermo Ramirez
Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Design and evaluation of structures for extreme loadings
Office: (817) 272-2683
E-mail: willy@uta.edu
Ramirez is an expert in civil engineering, structure, nondestructive evaluation of structures and elements, design and construction of structures using fiber reinforced composites, field load testing of fullscale structures and earthquake resistant structures.
Available to interview in Spanish.
Architecture and Urban Design:
Donald Gatzke
Dean of Architecture
Planning, design, and architecture practices in New Orleans
Office: (817) 272-1498
E-mail: gatzke@uta.edu
Former dean of the Tulane University School of Architecture, Donald Frank Gatzke, was appointed dean in 2003. He is also a practicing architect, heading up a New Orleans based firm. His achievements while dean at Tulane included spearheading the establishment of a master's of preservation curriculum degree and development of the architecture school's strategic plan.
Madan Mehta
Architecture Professor
Concrete and Masonry Structures, Wind Loads on Low-Slope Roofs
Office: (817) 272-5087
E-mail: mmehta@uta.edu
Member of the UT-Arlington faculty since 1985. Licensed Professional Mehta is a licensed professional Engineer (State of Texas) and Fellow of the Indian Institute of Architects and The National Society of Professional Engineers (USA) and the Construction Specification Institute.
Economic & Environmental Impact:
Craig A. Depken II
Economics Professor
Industrial Organization, Applied Microeconomics
Office: (817)272-3290
E-mail: depken@uta.edu
From local to national economics, Depken has written several articles and papers on topics ranging from the Wright Amendment, software piracy to economics of sports programs and trade theory in Asia.
Christopher Morris
Environmental and Social History of Lower Mississippi Valley
Office: (817) 272-2906
Email: morris@uta.edu
Pulitzer-Prize nominee historian Christopher Morris is completing a book on the environmental and social history of the Lower Mississippi Valley, including New Orleans. Below is a link to an article about the aftermath of Katrina by Morris posted on the History News Network.
http://hnn.us/articles/15163.html
Psychological Impacts:
R. Jon Leffingwell
Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction
Human Behavior, Stress management
Office: (817) 272-2274
E-mail: Leffingwell@uta.edu
Leffingwell main expertise is in psychology, human behavior, stress management, classroom management, gifted and talented students.
Shari Julian
Criminal Justice and Criminology Assistant Professor
Forensics, Criminology and Criminal Justice
E-mail: sjulian@uta.edu
Office: (817) 272-3318
Dr. Julian has worked in the field of criminal behaviors for twenty years. For over four of those years she was the clinical director of two hospital units. During the past fifteen years, she has served on close to a thousand cases as a forensic expert and case strategist. She is nationally known as an expert on sexual crimes and on traumas and has been featured as a commentator on radio, television, and in the print media.
Dr. Jared B. Kenworthy
Community, Social Groups, Conflicts and Bias
E-mail: kenworth@uta.edu
Office: (817) 272-0746
Dr. Jared B. Kenworthy, Assistant Professor of Psychology, is an expert in the psychological effect of conflict and threat, intergroup bias,
intergroup contact, consensus estimation and social projection.
Additional experts can be found here.