GRI Team
Mohamed Benmakhlouf
Mohamed Benmakhlouf
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Mohamed worked at the GRI during between May2021 -July 2022 and is now back this fall 2024 as a Research Assistant. Born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco, Mohamed is in his last year at Northeastern University pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Entrepreneurship & Innovation, as well as a declared minor in Film Production. Prior to joining the GRI team, Mohamed has had professional experience rebranding an International British School serving as a Graphic Designer and Marketing Manager. Since joining Northeastern, Mohamed joined the Arab Students Association as the Co-Marketing Director, conceptualizing and creating social media content.
Mel Bernstein
Mel Bernstein
Distinguished Senior Fellow
- Email: m.bernstein@northeastern.edu
Mel Bernstein, Ph.D. is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Global Resilience Institute. Previously, he was Senior Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Education at Northeastern University, Chairman of the Board at George J. Kostas Research Institute, LLC, and Professor of the Practice in Technology Policy and Materials Engineering at Northeastern University. He earned his doctorate in Metallurgy and Material Science from Columbia University.
Dr. Bernstein joined Northeastern University in July 2010 after serving as the Vice President for Research at the University of Maryland. While at Maryland, Dr. Bernstein led the effort to promote strong growth among the University’s research programs and developed partnerships with government agencies and corporations to foster the integration of cross-campus entrepreneurial efforts.
In 2003, Dr. Bernstein created The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of University Programs, where he served as its Director. In that role, he led the establishment of a growing and integrated network of merit-based national centers, bringing together the best academic talent from Engineering, Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences and the Humanities, to work in areas critical to Homeland Security. He then served as Acting Director of the Office of Research and Development at DHS.
Before joining the Department of Homeland Security, Dr. Bernstein was Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Brandeis University. Dr. Bernstein has also served at Tufts University as Vice President for Arts, Sciences and Engineering, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences and Engineering, and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Physics, and as Provost and Chancellor at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Dr. Bernstein has authored or co-authored more than 150 scientific and technical papers, co-edited four books and published numerous articles, during a research career at Carnegie Mellon University where he was Professor and Chair of the Department of Material Science and Engineering.
Peter Boynton
Peter Boynton
Distinguished Senior Fellow
- Email: p.boynton@northeastern.edu
Peter Boynton is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at GRI and a former CEO of the George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security at Northeastern University, LLC. The institute is home for co-located industry and academic research labs working together to accelerate innovation related to resilience and security.
Previously, Boynton was the Commissioner of Emergency Management and Homeland Security for the state of Connecticut, appointed by both democratic and republican Governors. He led statewide responses to three Presidential disaster declarations, integrating the government response with private sector task forces to speed recovery.
Boynton also served as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. As Captain of the Port for Connecticut and Long Island, he partnered with industry to implement post-9/11 maritime security measures, led a study with public and industry stakeholders evaluating security for a proposed liquefied natural gas facility, and led the rescue of an oil tanker aground on Long Island, preventing an environmental disaster. He was Commanding Officer of three Coast Guard cutters.
Boynton was a Director on the White House National Security Council staff, and served at the Department of State. He was Federal Security Director for Bradley International airport, where he led the airport from the lowest to the top 10 rated TSA operations in the eastern U.S.
Boynton has testified before the U.S. Congress on multiple occasions, has served on numerous non-profit boards and is currently on the national Board of Directors for the Military Officers Association of America. He holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Harvard and a Bachelor’s Degree in Ocean Engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. He also holds an unlimited Master’s License for ocean-going vessels of any tonnage.
Emma Hibbert
Emma Hibbert
Graduate Research Co-op
- Email: e.hibbert@northeastern.edu
Emma is currently completing her Master of Environmental Science & Policy at Northeastern University. This master’s program builds off her undergraduate studies in biodiversity conservation and development studies she completed at the Australian National University in 2022. Throughout these programs, she has developed an interest in environmental justice, sustainable development, and climate resiliency. Emma is also passionate about developing inclusive and equitable policies with community participation. During her co-op, Emma will be supporting the USAID and CIROH projects at GRI. In future she hopes to contribute to evidence-based climate policies and projects as well as ensure that science continues to justly serve our communities.
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.
Stella Lin
Stella Lin
Graduate Graphic Designer
- Email: s.lin@northeastern.edu
Stella is pursuing a Master’s in Interactive Design with a concentration in Human-Centered Design. She hold a bachelor’s degree in Advertising and have worked as a Creative Visual Designer at ByteDance. Stella is eager to contribute her skills to GRI, combining her design expertise with a commitment to environmental justice and sustainable development.
Jules Grelot
Jules Grelot
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Jules is a rising senior at Northeastern University studying Behavioural Neuroscience and International Business with a concentration in social innovation and entrepreneurship. He’s previously worked as an intern Investment Analyst at Glasswing Ventures. Jules has joined the Global Resilience Institute team every summer since his freshman year. He spends his free time with family, friends and loves to meet new people to acquire a new lens to see the world through. Jules is always open to a tennis game (although he’s not the best), and finding new buddies to watch live music and ski with.
Kristin Raub
Kristin Raub
Sr. Research Scientist
- Email: k.raub@northeastern.edu
CV: Click to Open
Dr. Kristin Raub is the Sr. Research Scientist at the Global Resilience Institute where she leads several ongoing research studies funded by NOAA and NASA and the development of new projects. Dr. Raub is an interdisciplinary scientist who specializes in social science methodologies. Her background includes degrees in Marine Science (B.A.), Chemical Oceanography (M.S.), Environmental Economics (M.S.), and Natural Resources (PhD) from Boston University, the University of Connecticut, and the University of Vermont, respectively. Additionally, she holds a Graduate Certificate of Complex Systems from the University of Vermont and was a 2016 Knauss Marine Policy Fellow. This unique background has shaped her present research, which is motivated by the fact that climate change is caused by and is impacting human communities, therefore, it is important to engage with the frontline communities who are key to “doing something” about it. Presently, she works to connect complex science, data, and information with those who need it, often in the context of resilience and planning, by leveraging social science and community engaged methodologies. Examples of her current work at GRI include investigating NOAA’s National Water Model’s applicability to community resilience planning and investigating NASA’s Earth Observation data’s potential to address environmental justice in a community in Puerto Rico. Dr. Raub is based out of Vergennes, Vermont and outside of work enjoys venturing to the ocean as often as possible and traveling to visit friends across the country.
Larissa Marchiori Pacheco
Larissa Marchiori Pacheco
Assistant Professor (DMSB) & GRI Sr. Research Scientist
CV: Click to Open
Larissa Marchiori Pacheco is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, specializing in International Business and Strategy. With a PhD in Strategy and International Business from Fundação Getulio Vargas – EAESP, her research delves into non-market strategies and institutional interdependencies in Latin America, focusing on how these influence firm and country outcomes. An active member of the Academy of Management and the Academy of International Business, Larissa also contributes as an Associate Editor for the Innovation & Management Review. Recognized for her scholarly work with multiple academic awards, she continues to impact the fields of strategic management, sustainability, and resilience. At GRI, Pacheco works as a Sr. Research Associate to a plethora of projects, bridging her business expertise to works on climate-related resilience, water hazards and others.
Elizabeth Moore
Elizabeth Moore
Assistant Professor (DMSB) & GRI Sr. Research Scientist
- 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
Professor of Marine and Environmental Sciences and GRI 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.
Len Polizzotto
Len Polizzotto
Distinguished Senior Fellow
Dr. Len Polizzotto recently retired as Draper Laboratory’s Vice President responsible for new programs, leading efforts to leverage Draper’s capabilities to solve new important national needs. He was responsible for establishing Draper’s Bioengineering Center on the USF campus in Tampa, a Multichip Module Facility in St. Petersburg, establishing Draper’s energy business and leading two medical consortia. One, IMEDS, was focused on developing systems to provide real time decision support to clinicians at the bedside in the ICU. The other was aimed at developing quantitative bio markers for PTSD.
Prior to joining Draper in 2007, Dr. Polizzotto served for six years as Corporate Vice President for Business Development for SRI International, a world leader in contract R&D services where he established centers for proteomic drug development in Virginia and Port Security in Florida, as well as helped develop and teach a course on innovation to company executives throughout the world. A 25-year tenure at the Polaroid Corporation preceded this, concluding with him as Corporate Vice President for New Business Development.
Between corporate experiences, Dr. Polizzotto directed the Center for the Globalization of Technology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, as well as taught courses in electrical engineering and design. In the past, he founded one and led another high tech start-up, both in the biomedical area. Dr. Polizzotto received his Ph.D. in visual sciences, combining electrical engineering, perceptual psychology, and ophthalmology, from Tufts University. He earned M.S. and B.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, with Distinction, and completed The Executive Program at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi and was an NCAA Post Graduate Scholar. He holds twelve patents and is a Charter Fellow in the National Academy of Inventors. He is the author of numerous articles on human color perception, digital imaging, microphotography, and innovation, as well as two books on drum set instruction.
Currently, Dr. Polizzotto is an Executive in Residence at Northeastern University for Innovation. He is also an Executive in Residence at WPI for Value Creation, as well as a partner in The Practice of Innovation, LLC, teaching innovation fundamentals to industry and academia globally.
Daniela Rincon Reyes
Daniela Rincon Reyes
Sr. Research Associate
Daniela Rincón Reyes is a Sr. Research Associate at the GRI, where she conducts and manages data collection and curation, leads the writing of research papers, and develops communication materials. Daniela rejoined our team after previously serving as the Global Development Coordinator at GRI (Jan 2021 – May 2022), where she led content creation and contributed to research proposals. Most recently, she worked in international development research, managing studies for the U.S. Department of Labor on child labor and migration across Latin America. She previously held roles in immigration law, communications, and research, bringing interdisciplinary experience to her role. She holds an MS in Media Advocacy from Northeastern University and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she double-majored in Journalism and International Affairs. Outside of work, Daniela enjoys traveling, exploring new cuisines, practicing yoga, and spending quality time with her family in Colombia.
Shemilore Daniels
Shemilore Daniels
Research Associate
- 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. Over the last couple years Shemie worked at GRI as a graduate research assistant where she 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. Shemie has joined GRI since August 2024 as a Research Associate.
Shivangi Basu
Shivangi Basu
Graduate Research Assistant
- Email: sh.basu@northeastern.edu
Shivangi is pursuing her master’s program in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations at the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Northeastern University. Her interests lie at the intersection of policy, resilience, community impact and political phenomena at global and local scales. She has completed her baccalaureate education with a Bachelor’s in Political Science from the University of Delhi in India in 2022. She has also been affiliated with the Black Reparations Project in a research role due to her interest in restorative justice advocacy.
As a Research Assistant at GRI, she is supporting USAID and CIROH projects as well providing overall research support to the team. She plans to work on advancing resilience advocacy in the policy process and in community development in the future.
Angie Z. Valencia
Angie Z. 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. Additionally, Angie collaborates with Provost Office and NU RES division to manage financial plan/grants for GRI while ensuring compliance.
Angie has previously worked roles at Marriott, Bank of America and 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. Angie also worked for a luxury distributor in Miami, Florida that helped 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.
In her down time, Angie enjoys spending time with her husband and family. Since her diagnosis, Angie has become an advocate for raising awareness of endometriosis.
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.