THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1st, 2007

10:30 am - 1:15 pm
Session I - Definitions: What We Talk About When We Talk About Disasters

Scientific Perspectives on Disasters: Physical Sciences
Michael Oppenheimer, Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs; Director, Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University

Scientific Perspectives on Disasters: Biological Sciences
Eric K. Noji, Chief of Epidemiology, Surveillance, Emergency Response in Office of Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response, CDC; Senior Medical and Public Health advisor, White House Office, Homeland Security

Thinking Possibilistically in a Probabilistic World
Lee Clarke, Anschutz Distinguished Fellow, Princeton University; Author, Worst Cases

Pre-Conditions of Disasters
John Mutter, Deputy Director/Associate Vice Provost, The Earth Institute, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

Discussion Between Speakers, then Discussion with Audience

Session Moderator: Jonathan Veitch, Dean, Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts

1:15 pm - 2:15 pm BREAK

2:15 pm - 5:00 pm
Session II - Acquiring Vulnerabilities that Potentiate Disasters

Reducing Our Vulnerabilities to Natural, Industrial, and Terrorists Disasters
Charles Perrow, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Yale University

Differential Vulnerabilities: Environmental and Economic Inequality
Robert Bullard, Ware Professor of Sociology; Director, Environmental Justice Resource Center, Clark Atlanta University

Biological and Health Vulnerabilities
Irwin Redlener, Associate Dean, Public Health Advocacy and Preparedness; Director, National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; President, The Children's Health Fund

The Politics of Infrastructure
Joseph W. Westphal, System Professor, Professor of Political Science, University of Maine; Former Head, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Discussion Between Speakers, then Discussion with Audience

Session Moderator: Ronald Kassimir, Associate Provost, Associate Professor of Political Science, The New School for Social Research

5:00 pm - 6:00 pm      BREAK

6:00 pm - 7:15 pm
Session III - Keynote Address by Nicholas Scoppetta, New York City Fire Commissioner, followed by Q & A with Bob Kerrey, President of The New School.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd, 2007

10:00 am - 12:45 pm
Session IV - What "Really" Happens When Disasters Happen: Preparations and Responses

The Calculus of Risk vs. Preparedness
Erwann Michel-Kerjan, Managing Director, Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania

Overcoming Denial to Increase Rational Preparation and Response to Danger
Elliot Aronson, Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology, University of California at Santa Cruz; Author, The Social Animal and Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)

Conventional Beliefs and Counterintuitive Realities
Enrico L. Quarantelli, Founding Director, Disaster Research Center; Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of Delaware

The Role of Insurance Companies
Howard Kunreuther, Cecilia Yen Koo Professor; Professor of Decision Sciences and Business and Public Policy Co-Director, Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Discussion Between Speakers, then Discussion with Audience

Session Moderator: Joel Towers, Director, Sustainable Design and Urban Ecology, Parsons the New School for Design

12:45 pm - 1:45 pm      BREAK

1:45 pm - 4:30 pm
Session V - The Impact of Disasters on Human Development

Global Disaster Impacts: Implications and Policy Responses, Patterns and Trends, Role of Climate Change, and Means to Reduce Disaster Risks
Reid Basher, Coordinator, Policy, United Nations Strategy for Disaster Reduction

Disasters by Design: Blaming Nature for Political Failures
Michael A. Cohen, Director, Graduate Program in International Affairs, The New School for General Studies

Impact on the Formal and Informal Economies
Dean Yang, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Michigan

Impact on Infrastructure
William Morrish, Elwood R. Quesada Professor of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban and Environmental Planning, School of Architecture, University of Virginia

Impact on Health
Robert Ursano, Professor, Chair of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland

Discussion Between Speakers, then Discussion with Audience

Session Moderator: Lee Clarke, Anschutz Distinguished Fellow, Princeton University; Author, Worst Cases

5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Eugene Lang College Student Panel on Disasters
66 West 12th Street, Room A404

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2007

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is hosting a special, customized tour of artistic representations of disasters from the museum's collection. ORDER TICKETS