National Hurricane Center director to keynote ECU conference

Bill Read (Photo courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Center, will keynote the third annual North Carolina Hurricane Workshop at East Carolina University May 23.

The conference will run from 8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. in the Murphy Center on campus.

The event will focus on communication and emergency management, featuring explorations of the topic through interactive sessions with expert panels in social media and emergency communications, communications with maps and graphics, news media interactions with the emergency management community and lessons learned from Hurricane Irene.

Featured also will be displays of research project results by East Carolina University researchers in natural and coastal hazards and sustainable tourism.

The workshop is hosted by North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, East Carolina University’s Center for Natural Hazards Research and the Renaissance Computing Institute’s Engagement Center at ECU. It is co-sponsored by North Carolina Sea Grant.

Registration is open through May 18. The workshop is free, but registration is requested because lunch is provided. For registration and more information, visit http://www.ecu.edu/renci/HurricaneWorkshop .

For additional information, contact Donna Kain at 252-328-6023, kaind@ecu.edu, or Michelle Covi at 252-737-1772, covim@ecu.edu.