GRI Team
Ciaran Hedderman
Ciaran Hedderman
Research Coordinator
- Email: c.hedderman@northeastern.edu
Ciaran Hedderman is the Research Coordinator at the Global Resilience Institute. He performs a range of functions within GRI, supporting stakeholder engagement, project management and organization, writing, and research.
Ciaran is a proud Northeastern alum, with a B.A. in Political Science and International Affairs, focusing on the social and geographic forces influencing the formation of political identities. He was previously a program coordinator at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Stephen Flynn
Stephen Flynn
Founding Director
- Email: s.flynn@northeastern.edu
- Phone: 617.470.7675
Dr. Stephen Flynn is the Founding Director of the Global Resilience Institute at Northeastern University where he leads a major university-wide research initiative to inform and advance societal resilience in the face of growing human-made and naturally-occurring turbulence. At Northeastern, he is also Professor of Political Science with faculty affiliations in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the School of Public Policy & Urban Affairs.
Dr. Flynn is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on critical infrastructure and supply chain security and resilience. He is co-author of the textbook, Critical Infrastructures Resilience: Policy and Engineering Principles (Routledge, 2018) and has led teams in conducting post-disaster infrastructure resilience assessments, initially with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and then from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In 2014, Flynn was appointed by the Secretary of Homeland Security to serve as a member of the Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Council (HSSTAC). He also serves as chair of the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) Security Advisory Committee. Additionally, he holds research affiliations with the Wharton School’s Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, and the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He previously served as Founding Co-Director of the George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security at Northeastern University. Dr. Flynn is also the principal for Stephen E. Flynn Associates LLC, where he provides independent advisory services on improving critical infrastructure security and resilience.
Before joining the faculty at Northeastern University in 2011, Dr. Flynn served as President of the Center for National Policy. Prior to that he spent a decade as a senior fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Prior to September 11, 2001, Dr. Flynn served as an expert advisor to U.S. Commission on National Security (Hart-Rudman Commission), and following the 9/11 attacks he was the executive director of a blue-ribbon Council on Foreign Relations homeland security task force, again co-led by former Senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman. He served as the principal advisor to the bipartisan Congressional Port Security Caucus, advised the Bush Administration on maritime and homeland security issues, and after the November 2008 election of President Barack Obama, served as the lead policy advisor on homeland security as a part of the presidential transition team. From 2003-2010 he served as a member of the National Research Council’s Marine Board.
Dr. Flynn has presented expert congressional testimony before the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives on 31 occasions. He has delivered keynote addresses at more than one hundred international and national conferences. Dr. Flynn is a frequent media commentator and has appeared on Meet the Press, 60 Minutes, The News Hour, The Today Show, the Charlie Rose Show, CNN and on National Public Radio. He has written two of the most widely-cited books on homeland security: The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation (Random House, 2007) and America the Vulnerable (HarperCollins 2004). Five of his articles have been published in the prestigious journal, Foreign Affairs. Excerpts of his books have been featured in Time, as the cover story for U.S. News & World Report, and as the subject of two CNN documentaries.
A 1982 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Dr. Flynn served in the Coast Guard on active duty for 20 years, including two tours as commanding officer at sea. As a Coast Guard officer, he served in the White House Military Office during the George H.W. Bush administration and as a director for Global Issues on the National Security Council staff during the Clinton administration. He was a Guest Scholar in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution from 1991-92, and in 1993-94 he was an Annenberg Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Pennsylvania. He received the M.A.L.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, in 1990 and 1991 and in 2009, he received an honorary doctorate of laws from Monmouth University.
Ila Jagannath
Ila Jagannath
Graphic Designer
- Email: i.jagannath@northeastern.edu
Ila Jagannath graduated from Northeastern University with a BFA in Interaction Design with a minor in Psychology. Raised in Westford, MA, Ila has a myriad of work experience in marketing, graphic design, illustration, and UX research. Ila has recently joined the Global Resilience Institute team as a Graphic Designer and is passionate about using visual storytelling techniques to assist efforts in sustainable development.
Larissa Marchiori Pacheco
Larissa Marchiori Pacheco
Assistant Professor
Dr. Larissa Pacheco, Assistant Professor at DMSB College, joined the Global Resilience Institute in July 2020. Larissa contributes to research initiatives at GRI by bringing a business management perspective to resilience projects, addressing the interdependencies of resilience building and the creation of a supportive business environment. She holds a PhD in Business Administration from Fundação Getulio Vargas – São Paulo School of Business Administration (EAESP) in Brazil. Her doctoral research explored the interactions between institutions and corporate strategy, focusing on the corporate social responsibility of multinational corporations and how this strategy shapes institutions in Latin America.
Elizabeth Moore
Elizabeth Moore
Director of Resilience Research and Network Collaborations
- Email: e.moore@northeastern.edu
Elizabeth Moore has had a variety of work experience. Aside from her position within the University she is also a research assistant within the D’Amore McKim school of International Business. Previously she has had a variety of research assistantships for professors at both Providence College and Brown University. Furthermore she has devoted significant time to substitute teaching Spanish, History and Mathematics at her local middle school.
Elizabeth obtained her PhD in Political Science from Northeastern University in 2017. She defended a Dissertation entitled: “Transnational Actors and New Venture Growth: Examining Formal and Informal Entrepreneurship from an Inter-Disciplinary Perspective”
Mark Patterson
Mark Patterson
Chief Technology Officer
- Email: m.patterson@northeastern.edu
Dr. Mark Patterson is Chief Technology Officer of the Global Resilience Institute, and Professor of Marine and Environmental Sciences, and Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Patterson is leading an interdisciplinary team focusing on communications and digital resilience. The team is developing techniques to make any urban area resilient to loss of cell phone infrastructure through rapid shift to a smart ad hoc mesh networks on cell phone WiFi. An amateur radio operator (WB2OIL), he has been a key participant in disaster response and remote communication operations in the US, Mali, South Sudan, Grenada, and Jamaica.
Patterson’s research also focuses on using advanced underwater robotics to reduce the cost of monitoring the ocean and improving national security in ports and harbors. He was awarded the Lockheed Martin Award for Ocean Science and Technology from the Marine Technology Society for outstanding contributions to ocean engineering of underwater robots, and an Outstanding Faculty Award from the Governor of Virginia during his previous appointment at the College of William & Mary.
With support from the Schmidt Family Foundation, his lab is developing sensing technology for the emerging issue of microplastics in the ocean, one that has global implications for food security. His lab collaborates with government and industry to develop decision support tools to improve environmental management of wetlands impacted by built infrastructure like tide gates. He also works on global change biology of coral reef ecosystems.
Patterson served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International and was awarded Member of the Year for his work promoting marine robotics competitions. He also holds an Antarctic Service Medal of the US for work using his robots to assess ecosystem health, and a Public Service Award from the American Radio Relay League for coordinating disaster response during a major hurricane.
He received his A.B. magna cum laude, A.M., and Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University.
Kristin Raub
Kristin Raub
CUAHSI Resilience Research Scientist & GRI Affiliated Resilience Research Scientist
- Email: k.raub@northeastern.edu
Kristin received her Ph.D. from the University of Vermont in Natural Resources where her doctoral research focused on connecting coastal resilience with the food-energy-water nexus in the context of planning and policy.
Shemilore Daniels
Shemilore Daniels
Research Assistant
- Email: s.daniels@northeastern.edu
Prior to joining the institute in August of 2022, Shemilore received her bachelor’s degree in nutritional science emphasizing research in food security, policy and hunger on a macro and micro level. Now, as a graduate research assistant, Shemilore has assisted the team on several proposal development projects to include NASA, USAID and NOAA which have been successfully funded. She is currently in her final year of graduate school studying public health hoping to emphasize policy and developmental work. Shemilore is passionate about working towards equitable legislation and global development across all sectors.
Jennie Stephens
Jennie Stephens
Director for Strategic Relationships, GRI; Director of SPPUA, Dean's Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy
- Email: j.stephens@northeastern.edu
- Phone: 617.373.8341
Jennie C. Stephens is the Director for Strategic Research Collaborations at the Global Resilience Institute, Director of Northeastern’s School of Public Policy & Urban Affairs and the Deanís Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy. Her research, teaching, and community engagement focus on social and political aspects of the renewable energy transition, reducing fossil fuel reliance, and strengthening societal resilience by integrating social justice with climate and energy policy. Her work explores institutional and cultural innovation in energy, including gender diversity and energy democracy, technological optimism, and enhancing the ìusabilityî of climate science in strengthening climate resilience.
Professor Stephens received a 2017 Arab-American Frontiers Fellowship from the National Academy of Sciences, she is a 2015-2016 Leopold Leadership fellow, and her book ìSmart Grid (R)Evolution: Electric Power Strugglesî (Cambridge University Press, 2015) explores social and cultural debates about energy system change (co-authored with Wilson & Peterson).
Before joining Northeastern University in 2016, Professor Stephens held the Blittersdorf Professorship at the University of Vermont (2014-2016) and was on the faculty at Clark University (2005-2014).She earned her PhD (2002) and MS (1998) at Caltech in Environmental Science & Engineering and her BA (1997) at Harvard in Environmental Science & Public Policy.
Trissha Sivalingam
Trissha Sivalingam
Co op Research Assistant
Trissha Sivalingam is a fourth-year student at Northeastern University pursuing a B.A. in Political Science with a minor in International Affairs. Raised in Memphis, TN, she has previously conducted research on global safety perceptions, climate risks, and terrorism, and has joined the Global Resilience Institute team as a Research Assistant Co-op. Trissha is passionate about working towards combatting ecological threats around the world and is excited to continue to explore her passion for research at the GRI.
Angie Valencia
Angie Valencia
Associate Director of Operations
- Email: a.valencia@northeastern.edu
- Phone: 305.409.7629
Angie Valencia is the Associate Director of Operations at the Global Resilience Institute. In this role, she manages the external outreach and strategies that support international engagement, collaboration and communications of GRI resilience research projects and programs. Angie provides oversight of the GRI marketing program, supports international research projects, and oversees a group of talented next generation resilience leaders (Graduate and Undergraduate students) that she mentors to help support those efforts.
Angie has previously worked at C-space, a global customer research collaboration agency where she helped client services teams in project management, supported work with international brands, such as Kimberly Clark, to drive consumer insights in Spanish and English via online communities and also helped to support in person consumer projects. Prior to this, Angie worked for a luxury distributor in Miami, Florida that helps to build the presence of luxury brands in Latin America and the Caribbean through innovative marketing and retailer support. A native Spanish speaker from Isla de San Andres, Colombia, Valencia graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and a minor in Latin American and Caribbean studies from Connecticut College in New London, CT.
Robin White
Robin White
Distinguished Senior Fellow
- Email: r.white@northeastern.edu
- Phone: 857.272.0180
Dr. Robin White is a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Global Resilience Institute at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. She previously served as Executive Director for Research at GRI and Executive Director at the Community and Regional Resilience Institute and as Senior Mediator and Program Director at Meridian Institute. She joined Meridian after a 20-year management career in the nation’s national laboratory science and engineering complex.
During Dr. White’s years in the national security world, she was a leader in science and technology fields related to risk assessment and environmental impacts, nuclear nonproliferation, and national and homeland security. She brings from these assignments extensive skill and experience in strategic and operational planning, public/private partnerships, program/organizational management, and collaborative strategies related to government affairs and public policy.
As a senior executive, Dr. White worked with and within large multi-organizational teams in complex collaborative structures, where vision and persuasion were essential in achieving outstanding group performance. Dr. White’s work at Meridian focused on resilience, disaster response and recovery, homeland security, and issues related to national and global stability and security. She has led multi-organizational and multidisciplinary teams in exploring collaborative solutions to improved disaster recovery; has been extensively involved with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s work in disaster recovery and response and in the public/private partnerships necessary for critical infrastructure protection; and has worked closely with local communities seeking to improve their resilience to disasters and crises.
Dr. White has been an integral member of the Community and Regional Resilience Institute (CARRI) projects to increase the resilience of local cities, towns, and neighborhoods, create a national community of interest, and work with national policy makers and influential stakeholders on policies and practices to nurture resilient communities. A frequent speaker and presenter, Dr. White has made more than 100 presentations to government and nongovernment groups on issues relating to national security, homeland security, nonproliferation, and the risk assessment of environmental impacts. She has numerous publications in various books and journals on assessing human health risks and environmental impacts.
Dr. White holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Tennessee.