Adam Whelchel, Ph.D.

The need for governments, corporations, and organizations to build community resilience to hazards is strikingly evident. Ongoing events continuously reinforce this urgency and compel leading communities to proactively plan and act. As a response to this ever increasing need and urgency, Community Resilience Building was created. After a decade of development, the Community Resilience Building Workshop has been tried, tested, and is trusted by thirty five communities. The Co

After working with over 35 municipalities on community resilience building, the Coastal Resilience Team developed “Adapting to the Rise: A Guide for Connecticut’s Coastal Communities”. This guidebook provides town planners, city managers, municipal staff, elected officials, and concerned citizens with 1) a basic understanding of several topics related to adapting to immediate and future flooding and sea level rise, 2) examples from communities that have advanced various adap

Over the last few years the Coastal Resilience Program team has finalizing Salt Marsh Advancement Zone Assessments for every one of the 24 municipals along Connecticut's coastline including for New Haven, Connecticut. This work stands out as the first parcel-scale assessment of future salt marsh locations for the entirety of a state's coastline in the United States. The assessments also provide locations where the built environment will be in daily conflict with tides given

Back in 2007 the Coastal Resilience program approached the Town of Guilford in hopes of establishing a model for municipal-driven community resilience. Fortunately, the Council of State Governments/Eastern Regional Conference embarked on developing a video case study that documents efforts by officials in Guilford, Connecticut, together with The Nature Conservancy, Yale University's Urban Ecology and Design Laboratory, and Milone and MacBroom, to develop a Community Coastal

Back in 2011, the Coastal Resilience Program completed a detailed vulnerability analysis of Connecticut's rail and interstate system to a 1938 Cat-3 Hurricane simulation with and without downscaled sea level rise projections out to the 2080s. The results of the analysis were presented and entered into record during the Govenor's Two Storm Panel proceedings back in 2011-12. This summer (2015), the CT Mirror picked up on the analysis and highlighted the findings within a two

Back in April of 2013, I was invited to give a presentation at Connecticut College's "The Quest for Global Environmental Equity in an Increasingly Inequitable World Conference". The talk, entittled "The Inextricable Link... Sustainability, Equitability, and Conservation in Africa", continues to resonate because it gave me a chance to summarize and find closure on a number of projects I have advanced while working in Africa with TNC. You can link to the video of my talk here

Over the last few years the Coastal Resilience Program team has been finalizing Salt Marsh Advancement Zone Assessments for every one of the 24 municipals along Connecticut's coastline. This work stands out as the first parcel-scale assessment of future salt marsh locations for the entirety of a state's coastline in the United States. The assessments also provide locations where the built environment will be in daily conflict with tides given continued sea level rise. To vie

Recently, I had the privilege of serving as a subject matter expert in support of a massive open online course (MOOC) entittled "Disasters and Ecosystems: Resilience in a Changing Climate". This course was developed in part through the Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR) which is a focal connection point for my resilient community building work on behalf of The Nature Conservancy. This is the very first MOOC to focus on ecosystems and their role i