Andrea Tapia and her SRA 397A class will host the inaugural Crisis Informatics Speaker Series at 6:30 in 202 IST Building. During October, the Series will present four speakers who will talk about mitigating disasters, natural and manmade.

Tonight – Gisli Olafsson. Olafsson is the Emergency Response Director for NetHope, an organization that develops better modes of communication in response to emergencies. He founded Microsoft’s Disaster Response Group and has advised the United Nations, the World Bank, NATO and the International Red Cross. He also led Microsoft’s Haiti Response team.

10/10 – Andrew Alspach. Alspach works for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which is in the United Nations. He develops information management strategies so that new technologies can assist humanitarian decision-making.

10/17 – Edward Happ. Happ is the Global Chief Information Officer of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. He also serves as the Chairman of NetHope. He was also an executive for Save the Children.

10/24 – Patrick Meier. Meier is the Director of Crisis Mapping at Ushahidi, a non-profit technology company. MIT’s Technology Review named Ushahidi as one of the 50 most innovative companies worldwide. He is one of the founders of International Network of Crisis Mappers, the International Conference on Crisis Mapping and the Standby Volunteer Task Force for Live Mapping. He also created and led Harvard’s Program on Crisis Mapping and Early Warning.