2024 FIU Environment Forum - Climate Tech and Coastal Resilience

The annual FIU Environment Forum will be held over two days at the main campus of FIU in Miami, FL on February 22nd - 23rd 2024. All events are held at the FIU College of Law – Courtroom – Rafael Diaz Balart Hall 1000, unless otherwise indicated in this program. 

Thursday February 22 


8:30 AM to 9:15 AM: Registration and Breakfast  

Welcome Remarks: 

Prof. Mario Loyola, FIU Institute of Environment and College of Law

Dean Antony Page, FIU College of Law


9:15 AM to 10:35 AM: AI, Environmental Data, and Climate Tech

Prof. Mike Sukop, FIU Dept. of Earth and Environment
Prof. Jason Liu, FIU Dept. of Computer Science     
Prof. Mark Finlayson, FIU Dept. Computer Sciences
Ryan Smith, Oxa
Prof. Annie Brett, UF Law
   Moderator: Prof. Gregory Murad Reis, FIU College of Engineering & Computer Sciences


10:45 AM to 11:45 AM: Green Amendments: Rights Based Environmentalism

Maya van Rossum, Delaware Riverkeeper
Melissa Martin, Florida Right to Clean Water
Eric Grant, Hicks Thomas
Prof. Mark Nevitt, Emory Law
Prof. James Coleman, Southern Methodist University
   Moderator: Prof. Amber Polk. FIU College of Law

12:00 PM to 1:45 PM: Lunch Debate “The Promise and Pitfalls of Climate Policy”  Graham Center Ballroom

Susan Glickman, VP Policy and Partnerships, CLEO Institute 
Prof. Kerry Emanuel, Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Sciences, MIT
Kent Lassman, President, Competitive Enterprise Institute
   Moderator: Andrew Sollinger, Publisher, Foreign Policy

(Debate sponsored by the FIU Office of Public Policy Events in partnership with Foreign Policy magazine.)


2:00 PM to 3:10 PM: Coastal Resilience Strategies

Prof. Todd Crowl, Director, FIU Institute of Environment
Prof. James W. Fourqurean, FIU Institute of Environment
Pippa Brashear, SCAPE Landscape Architecture
Galen Treuer, Climate Tech and Economic Innovation Manager, Miami-Dade County                              
   Moderator: Michael Heithaus, Executive Dean, FIU CASE


3:20 PM to 4:50 PM: Science and Public Choice in Climate Policy

Prof. Tiffany Troxler, FIU Dept. of Earth & Environment
Prof. Jayantha Obeysekera, FIU Institute of Environment
Prof. Jessica Weinkle, UNC-Asheville
Kevin Dayaratna, Senior Statistician, Heritage Foundation
   Moderator: Prof. Mario Loyola, FIU


6:30 PM Reception and Dinner (By Invitation Only) FIU Int’l Center for Tropical Botany Kampong Coconut Grove  

     Dr. Wesley Brooks, Chief Resilience Officer, State of Florida


Friday February 23


8:30 AM to 9:15 AM: Welcome Remarks:

Prof. Mario Loyola, FIU Institute of Environment and College of Law

Executive Dean Michael Heithaus, FIU College of Arts, Sciences, and Education


9:15 AM to 10:25 AM: Assessing EPA's Vehicle and Power Plant Rules

Joanne Spalding, Sierra Club
Susan Glickman, VP Policy and Partnerships, CLEO Institute
Steven Bradbury, Heritage Foundation
Michael Buschbacher, Boyden Gray & Associates
   Moderator: Prof. Mario Loyola, FIU


10:35 AM to 11:45 AM: International Climate Finance

Richard Morrison, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Eugene Montoya, Waterfront Alliance
Silvio Pupo-Casco, VoLo Foundation Fellow, FIU
Henrique Schneider, Swiss Federation of Small- and Medium Sized Businesses, member of Swiss Delegation to the Climate COP
     Moderator: Flavio Carrillo, FIU College of Business


12:00 PM to 1:45 PM: Lunch, FIU Environment Forum Lecture and Conversation: “Science and Free Speech” - Tamiami Hall (Multipurpose Room, Ground Floor)

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Professor of Medicine, Stanford University.

Lecture will be followed by a conversation with FIU Prof. Mario Loyola, moderated by Andrew Sollinger, publisher, Foreign Policy magazine.


2:00 PM to 3:00 PM: Lecture: Climate Change and Hurricanes

Prof. Kerry Emanuel, Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Sciences, MIT


3:10 PM to 4:40 PM: Extreme Events, Homeowners Insurance and NFIP

Jeffrey Jackson FEMA Deputy Asst. Admin. For the National Flood Insurance Program
Prof. Shahid Hamid, FIU Dept. of Finance
Rakesh Mishra, President, Star Casualty Insurance
Michael Yaworsky, FL Insurance Commissioner
     Moderator: Arun Upadhyay, FIU College of Business


4:50 PM to 5:30 PM: Special Presentation: Coastal Resilience and the Urban Environment

Pippa Brashear, Resilience Principal, SCAPE Landscape Architecture


5:30 PM Closing Reception 

College of Law Courtyard

  

To register for the FIU Environment Forum, please fill out the webform.

Watch the Recordings 

The FIU Environment Forum is an annual event. In 2023, the event included eleven sessions. 2022's Forum, the Climate Finance Forum, included six sessions. These video recordings of the events cover a range of topics related to environmental science, policy, finance, and more. 

  • 2023 FIU Environment Forum

    The Environmental Finance and Risk Management Program (EFRM) of Florida International University’s world-renowned Institute of Environment hosted a two-day forum at the main campus of FIU in Miami, FL on March 9-10th 2023 at the FIU College of Law – Courtroom – Rafael Diaz Balart Hall 1000. The theme of the forum was Science and Public Choice. 

    Session 1: Welcome Remarks 

    Prof. Mario Loyola, FIU Institute of Environment, FIU College of Law
    Dean Antony Page, FIU College of Law


    Session 2: Financial Engineering and Environmental Data Analytics

    Prof. Mike Sukop, FIU Dept. of Earth and Environment
    Dan Krekelberg, Policy Director, The Climate Registry      
    Prof. Enrique Villamor, FIU Dept. of Mathematics
    Moderator: Prof. Pablo Olivares, Toronto Metropolitan Univ. Dept. of Mathematics


    Session 3: Climate at the United Nations: Science, Policy, and Diplomacy

    Prof. Tiffany Troxler, FIU Dept. of Earth & Environment
    Prof. Hugh Willoughby, FIU Dept. of Earth & Environment
    Dr. Henri Schneider, CEO, Swiss Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises
    Prof. Matthew Burgess, University of Colorado Boulder Dept. of Environmental Studies
    Moderator: Prof. Mario Loyola, FIU Institute of Environment, FIU College of Law 


    Session 4: A Conversation with Melissa Roberts, Executive Director, American Flood Coalition


    Session 5: Endangered Species Act at 50

    Prof. Jonathan Adler, Case-Western University Law School
    Prof. Alex Erwin, FIU College of Law


    Session 6: Biodiversity Protection, Property Rights, and ESA Reform

    Prof. Mike Ross, FIU Dept. of Earth & Environment
    Dr. Steve Davis, Everglades Foundation
    Prof. Dominic Parker, University of Wisconsin-Madison Dept. of Economics
    Prof. Nancy McLaughlin, University of Utah College of Law
    Moderator: Prof. Mario Loyola, FIU Institute of Environment, FIU College of Law


    Session 7: Sustainable Energy: Obstacles and Opportunities

    Prof. James Coleman, Southern Methodist University School of Law
    Prof. David Adelman, University of Texas School of Law
    Michael Buschbacher, Boyden Gray and Associates
    Karen Hanley, Permitting Institute
    Moderator: Prof. Mario Loyola, FIU Institute of Environment, FIU College of Law


    Session 8: Special Presentation: Silvio Pupo-Casco, Logos Capital, “The Promise of High-Tech Innovation”


    Session 9: Environmental Justice, CBA, and the OIRA Regulatory Process

    Michael Fitzpatrick, Brunswick Group, Former Deputy Head of OIRA
    Prof. Abigail Flemming, University of Miami Environmental Justice Clinic
    Prof. Max Sarinsky, New York University School of Law
    Joanne Spalding, Chief Climate Counsel, Sierra Club
    Dr. Richard Belzer, Consultant, Former Chief Economist, OIRA
    Moderator: Paul Ray, Heritage Foundation


    Session 10: ESG Investing: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

    Richard Morrison, Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute      
    Prof. Flavio Carrillo, FIU Dept. of Finance
    Prof. Max Schanzenbach, Northwestern University Law School
    Alex Moreira, Aska Impact
    Moderator: Prof. Luis Seco, University of Toronto Dept. of Mathematics


    Inaugural VoLo Foundation Lecture

    A Conversation with Bret Stephens, Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times Columnist: “Science, Free Speech, and Public Choice”

  • 2022 Climate Finance Forum

    In 2022, the Environmental Finance and Risk Management Program hosted a full-day forum, the Climate Finance Forum, at FIU's main campus on May 13, 2022. The theme of the forum, Financial Innovation in Climate Policy, is the main focus of the EFRM program, which was launched in 2020 to explore the intersection of mathematical finance and climate risk.  The forum also introduced FIU’s new graduate certificate in Quantitative Environmental Finance.

    Welcome Remarks and Session 1: The Threat to South Florida's Urban Environment


    Session 2: Panel on The Future of Property Insurance


    Session 3: A Conversation with Prof. Philip K. Stoddard


    Session 4: Financial Innovation and Climate Policy and Session 5: Florida Wildlife Corridor


    Session 6: How AI and Big Data Can Improve ESG