Start: 5 PM, April 18th Venue: African Grove Theater, Paulson Center Entrance on Houston and Green Streets Duration: approximately one hour • LiveStream
Georgina Dopico Interim Provost New York University
Georgina Dopico was named Interim Provost of NYU in May of 2022. She joined the NYU faculty in 2000. As NYU’s Vice Provost for Academic Affairs since 2018, Dr. Dopico worked closely with senior leadership on graduate and undergraduate curricula, research, and academic policies and priorities, both in New York and throughout the global network, as well as on cross-school and University-wide initiatives. She led the Undergraduate Program Committee, the Graduate Program Committee, and the Undergraduate Academic Affairs Committee and served as an ex-officio member of the Senate Academic Affairs Committee and the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees. She also led the University-Wide Ad-Hoc Committee on Course Evaluations and launched NYU Reads. She was also responsible for coordinating the arts and humanities across NYU, and administered the University Professorship and Silver Professorship programs, and the Faculty Fellows in Residence.
Dr. Dopico has served as FAS Dean for Humanities, as Director of Global Curriculum for CAS, as Chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, and as Director of Medieval and Renaissance Studies. She is Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures. As Dean, with oversight responsibility for nearly 30 departments and programs and some 400 full-time faculty, she launched a number of initiatives, including NYU’s Bennett-Polonsky Humanities Labs, the First Book Colloquium in the Humanities, the introduction of the Community College Transfer Opportunity Program to FAS, the development of Urban Humanities, FAS’s diversity hiring initiative, and faculty and chair mentoring structures.
Her scholarship centers on the literature, history and culture of early-modern Spain. She is the author of Perfect Wives, Other Women: Adultery and Inquisition in Early Modern Spain; Anatomías inestables: cuerpo y política cultural (forthcoming); co-editor of the first edition of a 16th century dictionary published with a comprehensive critical apparatus; and co-editor of two volumes on Cervantes; and author of a number of articles. She received a Ph.D. in Spanish and Portuguese from Yale University and an A.B. in History and Literature from Harvard University.
David Michael Holland is a Mathematics and Environmental Science Professor at New York University (NYU). His research uses mathematics to understand mechanisms by which significant sea-level change could arise from the great ice sheets, Greenland, and Antarctica, over the coming decades in an ever-warming world. He applies advanced applied mathematical techniques to data collected in remote environments.
A veteran of over a decade of Greenland and Antarctic field expeditions, Holland continues to spend summer seasons collecting vital information about the state of the oceans and glaciers in those regions. This data is used to improve computer modeling of the interaction of the great ice sheets with warming global ocean waters leading to more robust projections of global sea-level change.
Dr. Melissa C. Lott is the Director of Research of the SIPA Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. She is also a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. She co-leads the CGEP Power Sector and Renewables Research Initiative and serves as the Acting Director of the Carbontech Development Initiative and Energy Opportunity Lab. In 2022, she was selected to serve on the United Nations Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition (CEET), which will serve as an independent advisory council to the UN Secretary-General. She is also a member of the Energy Systems Integration Technical Review Panel at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Dr. Lott is also a current member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the Future of Economics of Equitable Transition.
Dr. Lott has worked as an engineer and advisor for nearly 20 years in the United States, Europe, and Asia. While her work has spanned the entire energy system, Dr. Lott is internationally recognized for her work in the electricity and transportation sectors. Dr. Lott has been featured as a Solar 100 Thought Leader, an IEEE Women in Power, and a Forbes 30 under 30 in Energy in recognition of her research and contributions to global energy sector dialogues. Dr. Lott specializes in technology and policy research, working to increase our understanding of the impacts of our energy systems on air pollution and public health. She directly applies this understanding to help decision-makers mobilize technology and policy solutions to support the transition to net-zero energy systems.
She has authored more than 350 scientific articles, columns, op-eds, journal publications, and reports. Dr. Lott was previously a founding author on Scientific American’s Plugged In. An active public speaker, she has been featured in interviews with international news organizations including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, PBS, the BBC World Service, The Guardian, Good Morning America, National Public Radio, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, ABC News PM in Australia, and Scientific American magazine’s French edition. Dr. Lott is the host of The Big Switch podcast, which brings together historical examples, current events, and incisive analysis to give listeners a deep understanding of the solutions to climate change. She is a regular co-host on The Energy Gang and has appeared on popular podcasts including This American Life, The Interchange, Columbia Energy Exchange, Carbon Copy, Yang Speaks, and My Climate Journey. Prior to joining the Center for Global Energy Policy, Dr. Lott served as the Assistant Vice President of the Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre (APERC), where she led the development of the flagship APEC Energy Demand and Supply Outlook. Dr. Lott has also held roles at the International Energy Agency, where she served as the primary author of the IEA’s technology roadmap on energy storage. In 2011, Dr. Lott was selected as a U.S. Presidential Management Fellow (PMF). She went on to work as the Lead of Energy Modeling and Simulation for the Program Analysis and Evaluation Office at the U.S. Department of Energy. Dr. Lott has also served as an advisory board member for Alstom and GE and contributed as an expert advisor for government organizations, including the London Sustainable Development Commission under Mayor Boris Johnson. Throughout her career, Dr. Lott has worked as a Principal Engineer at YarCom Inc., providing her clients with a practical engineering understanding of the relationships between our energy sources, our energy uses, and the impacts of our choices on the environment. Dr. Lott holds degrees from the University of California, Davis (Bachelor of Science – Engineering), the University of Texas at Austin (Master of Science – Engineering and Master of Public Affairs), and University College London (Ph.D. in Sustainable Energy Resources and Engineering). While in university, Dr. Lott completed internships at the White House Council on Environmental Quality under President Obama, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Miles O’Brien is a veteran, independent journalist who focuses on science, technology and aerospace. He owns and operates an 8-year-old production company specializing in award-winning documentary filmmaking.
Boston based Miles O’Brien Productions, LLC creates content for the PBS NewsHour, the PBS science documentary series NOVA and several corporate clients.
O’Brien is also a correspondent for the PBS documentary series FRONTLINE, the National Science Foundation Science Nation series, and also serves as an aviation analyst for CNN.
For nearly seventeen of his thirty-five years in the news business, he was a staff correspondent and anchor with CNN based in Atlanta and New York. He served as the science, environment and aerospace space correspondent and the anchor of various programs, including American Morning.
While at CNN, O’Brien secured a deal with NASA to become the first journalist to fly on the space shuttle. The project ended with the loss of Columbia and her crew in 2003 – a story he told to the world in a critically acclaimed sixteen-hour marathon of live coverage. He is currently an at-large member of the NASA Advisory Council, offering strategic advice to the NASA administrator.
Prior to joining CNN, he worked as a reporter at television stations in St. Joseph, MO, Albany, NY, Tampa and Boston. He began his television career as a desk assistant at WRC-TV in Washington, DC.
O’Brien is an accomplished pilot and is frequently called upon to explain the world of aviation to a mass audience.
He has won numerous awards over the years, including six Emmys, a Peabody and DuPont for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
In February of 2014, a heavy equipment case fell on his forearm while he was on assignment. He developed Acute Compartment Syndrome, which necessitated the emergency amputation of his left arm above the elbow. Despite the loss of his arm, he has completed two marathons, several ultra-distance bike rides, a triathlon, and is actively pursuing the training required to resume flying.
Born in Detroit and raised in Grosse Pointe Farms, MI, he is based in Boston. He was a history major at Georgetown University. Miles has a two grown children. His son is a US Navy 2nd Lt. based in San Diego and his daughter is a social worker at a homeless shelter in Brooklyn, NY.
AL ROKER Weather and Feature Anchor, TODAY and Co-Host of 3rd Hour, TODAY
Al Roker is the weather and feature anchor of NBC News’ TODAY as well as the co-host of third hour of TODAY. He joined in January 1996.
From July 2009 to September 2015, Roker served as co-host of the morning show “Wake Up with Al” on the Weather Channel. Until January 2000, he also served as the weekday weather forecaster for News Channel 4’s early evening newscast Live at 5 on WNBC-TV, NBC’s flagship owned and operated station in New York City.
Roker came to WNBC-TV as a weekend weathercaster in December 1983 from WKYC-TV, the NBC television station in Cleveland. Roker began his broadcasting career while still in college by landing a job as a weekend weatherman at WTVH-TV in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1974.
After graduation, he moved on to weather casting jobs in Washington, D.C. (1976-1978) and Cleveland (1978-1983).
Roker has been named Best Weatherman twice by New York Magazine. He is a recipient of the American Meteorological Society’s prestigious Seal of Approval and has been a pioneer in the use of computer graphics for weather casting. Roker has won three Daytime Emmy Awards as part of TODAY’s recognition as the best morning newscast (2007, 2009, 2010).
Roker also co-hosts Sirius XM’s “Off the Rails” with Dylan Dreyer and Sheinelle Jones and hosts “Cold Cuts with Al Roker” on Today.com and YouTube. He made his Broadway stage debut in “Waitress” in October 2018 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York City, playing the part of Old Joe.
In November 2014, Roker made history on TODAY for “Rokerthon,” in which he broke the Guinness World Record for the Longest Uninterrupted Live Weather Report Broadcast by providing 34 hours of continuous weather coverage. The following year in October 2015, “Rokerthon 2” broke the Guinness World Record for the Fastest Time to Report a Weather Forecast from All 50 US States and the District of Colombia, which he completed in one week. In March 2017 for “Rokerthon 3,” Roker visited five colleges across the country in five days and helped college students break additional Guinness World Records. In August 2020 for “Rokerthon 4,” Roker enlisted the help of nearly 70 renowned chefs, including Bobby Flay, Priya Krishna, Sandra Lee, Marcus Samuelsson and Andrew Zimmern, to set a new Guinness World Records record for the most people in an online sandwich-making relay.
Throughout the years, Roker has reported live for TODAY from some of history’s worst storms and natural disasters, including Hurricane Wilma, Hurricane Isaac, Superstorm Sandy, and the earthquake in Haiti.
Among many highlights of his career as an interviewer, Roker conducted an exclusive interview with Peanuts creator Charles Shultz shortly before his death from colon cancer. Additional interview highlights include Willie Nelson, Burt Reynolds, James Earl Jones and B. Smith.
Since 1985, Roker has co-hosted the annual Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting. He also co-hosts the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Rose Bowl Parade. For ten years, from 2001 to 2010, and in 2017, Roker’s “Lend a Hand Today” initiative took him across the country and raised millions to help small charities work towards improving conditions in their communities.
In 1994, Roker founded Al Roker Entertainment, Inc. (ARE), a thriving multimedia company involved in developing and producing network, cable, home video, and public television projects. ARE produces programming for a diverse clientele including NBC News, Lifetime Television, A&E, The History Channel, E!, Discovery Networks, PBS, TV ONE, Oxygen, The Cartoon Network and NBC Television Stations Group.
Roker is a bestselling author with 13 acclaimed books to his credit: “The Morning Show Murders”, “The Midnight Show Murders”, “The Talk Show Murders”, “Al Roker’s Big Bad Book of Barbecue”, “Don’t Make Me Stop This Car: Adventures in Fatherhood”, “Al Roker’s Hassle Free Holiday Cookbook”, “Never Goin’ Back : Winning the Weight Loss Battle for Good”, “Big Shoes: In Celebration of Dads and Fatherhood”, “Been There Done That: Family Wisdom For Modern Times”, “The Storm of the Century”, “Al Roker’s Extreme Weather,” “Ruthless Tide,” and “You Look So Much Better in Person.”
Roker is a member of several professional organizations, including the Friars Club, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Screen Actors Guild, and the American Meteorological Society.
Raised in Queens, New York, Roker received his B.A. in Communications from the State University at Oswego in 1976, and he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the school in 1998. He resides in Manhattan with his wife, ABC News correspondent Deborah Roberts. Roker has two daughters and one son.
Peter Terezakis is an Associate Arts Professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Beginning in 2014, Peter taught “Green World,” an introductory course on environmental issues, Cell Phone Cinema, and Recurring Principles in Art and Technology.
In 2019, Terezakis accompanied an expedition to Greenland’s Helheim Glacier with David and Denise Holland. As a result of this experience, Terezakis developed a course called Abrupt Climate Change. The course’s goals are to assist students in understanding the science, scope, and potential consequences inherent in an abruptly changing climate. In addition, the course requires that students share their knowledge with the public through video projects.
In 1974 he began creating jewelry-sized electronic works of art. His ideas then grew to gallery-sized works, to an interactive building, and eventually to monumental scale temporary installations of a kinetic light sculpture in deserts, forests, and national parks. In 2007 he developed Sacred Sky Sacred Earth, a theatrical event combining art, dance, education, and music to focus on precious – and vanishing – open spaces.
Terezakis’ works have been exhibited in the United States and abroad, including Canada, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
