Dr. Isaac Ginis

 

Dr. Ginis, a professor of Oceanography at the University of Rhode

Island, has mastery level knowledge in the structure, variability and

dynamics of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system.

 

“You think about protecting people’s lives, and protecting

properties. Unfortunately, we still experience people dying in hurricanes

and I strongly believe that we have sufficient forecast skill to make

timely warnings to protect people’s lives. So why do people still die?”

 

The answer to Ginis’ question is unclear. He suggests that maybe the

United States as a cultural whole does not listen when warning are

given.

 

He emphasizes the United States because he says that other

countries have even more hurricanes than the US, and yet they suffer

less fatalities. This was evident during Hurricane Sandy. Sandy killed

117 people in the United States and less than half of that everywhere

else.

 

“We had an instance where a woman was driving an SUV, during the landfall, with her two children in the car. Now of course, they were swallowed by the water and they died. I think that one of the solutions to improve the situation is to educate people,” Dr. Isaac Ginis said, with a deeply concerned look peering through his glasses.

 

After wondering why people are still dying the next problem becomes figuring out how we prevent it in the future.

 

“So I think that one of the solutions to improve the situation is to educate people,” said Ginis. “The best way to reach out to the adults is through the children. Especially the school children. I’ve actually been spending a bit of time involved in education.”

 

One of the ways that Ginis has been playing a role in educating the younger generation is with the creation of the organization, Hurricanes: Science and Society.

 

Hurricanes: Science and Society was started in 2010. They, according to their website, “provide foundational science for understanding complex scientific content, inform visitors about current scientific and technological advances, and to help visitors make good decisions prior to and during a hurricane emergency.”

 

Their website contains interactive hurricane models and information, easy to understand text, and even classroom material including PowerPoint presentations for science teachers.

 

“Hurricanes is just such an exciting science. If you think about what kind of disciplines are involved, you have math, you have physics, and you have computer science. So maybe, through hurricane science we can inspire more young people, a younger generation, to be involved in science,” Ginis suggest. “This is another problem in this country we don’t have too many students who are willing to do science compared to other countries like in Asia. Science teachers clearly see this as an opportunity.”

 

Ginis suggests that the United States is not producing many scientists because the students don’t build an interest at a young age. Ginis himself is not from America. In 2012 the United States ranked 28th in Science in the Program for International Student Assessment according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

 

Hurricanes: Science and Society hosts yearly webinars for 5th grade classes. This is a great age to spark interest because it has been shown that even at that young of an age students in the US have fallen behind in Science over the years.

 

According to the National Science Foundation, fourth graders in the United States performed better than six of seven selected nations in 1995 on the TIMSS testing’s science section, but in 2007 the US only outperformed two of the seven countries.

 

Ginis said, “I hope that through hurricane research, explaining what we do, we can inspire the younger generation to be involved."