Memphis Urban Area Team Members

Sarah K. Walen

Senior Mediator, Meridian Institute
Ms. Walen joined the Meridian Institute in December 1999 and for the past nine years she has served as a convenor, facilitator, and mediator of dialogues and negotiations aimed at resolving a wide variety of local, state, and national environmental and sustainable development issues. These projects have addressed food and agriculture, hazardous,and nuclear waste management and cleanup, energy, natural resources and ecosystem management, air quality management and regulation, watershed and other community issues. These projects have addressed food and agriculture, hazardous, and nuclear waste management and cleanup, energy, natural resources and ecosystem management, air quality management and regulation, watershed and other community issues. Participants in these efforts have included a diversity of citizens and local, regional, and national governmental and non-governmental organizations. Before joining Meridian, Ms. Walen worked as a Private Consultant for two years providing mediation and facilitation services in a variety of settings. Prior to working as a consultant, Ms. Walen also worked for three years as a facilitator and mediator at The Keystone Center. As an Associate, Ms. Walen provided neutral, third party mediation, facilitation, and general conflict management services to resolve regional and national disputes over natural resource, environmental, and sustainability issues. Her responsibilities also included convening assessments, process design, and process documentation. Before becoming a facilitator/mediator, Ms. Walen practiced for eleven years as a professional geologist and an environmental consultant. She served as the Technical Director of an environmental consulting firm and supervised environmental site investigations and contaminated site clean-ups. Ms. Walen holds a Master of Science in Geology from the University of Massachusetts.

	Address	PO Box 1829 Dillon, CO 80435
	Phone	970-513-8340
	Fax	970-513-8348
	Email	skwalen@merid.org

Dave Lannom

Program Manager, Homeland Security Programs
National Security Directorate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Dave Lannom is a member of the National Security Directorate, Homeland Security Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and is detailed to the Tennessee Office of Homeland Security, Nashville, Tennessee. He works a variety of programs for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Energy in the areas of homeland security, counterterrorism, threat reduction, and nuclear nonproliferation. In the Tennessee Office of Homeland Security, he serves as the Chief of Plans and Technology.

Dave retired from the U.S. Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1983. Over the span of his career he served tours of duty with the Strategic Air Command, U.S. Air Force Europe, the National Security Agency, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Department of Energy, always involved in the nuclear weapons career field. Dave holds degrees in Mathematics from The Citadel and a Masters in Public Administration from Central Michigan University. His military education includes the Air Force Squadron Officer School, the Air Command and Staff College.

	Address	Southeast Region Research Initiative Oak Ridge National Laboratory PO Box 2008 Oak Ridge, TN 37831
	Phone	615-741-8898
	Fax	615-253-5379
	Email	lannomwdjr@ornl.gov

Arleen Hill

Assistant Professor, Department of Earth Sciences
The University of Memphis
Arleen earned her doctoral degree in the Department of Geography at the University of South Carolina in 2002, and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Memphis. Her research and teaching activities focus on environmental hazards and specifically on the impacts of catastrophic events on our environment and society. Her research involves risk assessment and vulnerability science emphasizing decision-making and behavior in response to disasters. In a field where nature, society and technology interact, Dr. Hill works closely with colleagues from the natural and social sciences and with community partners to improve the integration of scientific methods across disciplinary boundaries and to promote holistic approaches to applied science. Currently Arleen collaborates with hazards researchers at centers across the country and with colleagues in Europe, Japan, Pakistan and Thailand as well. She is chiefly concerned with what makes places vulnerable to hazards, how that vulnerability can be effectively communicated to decision makers and the public at risk, and how community resilience can be established sustained. Arleen is a 2005-2006 University of Memphis Early Career Research Award recipient.

Arleen is currently engaged in two community projects; both leverage her experience with the emergency management and the research communities. Additionally, she is working with the West Tennessee Seismic Safety Commission on a two-year project designed to plan and prepare for mass sheltering and health related needs associated with a large-scale disruption such as a New Madrid Seismic Zone earthquake. Other active projects focus on disaster recovery and the application of advanced spatial techniques to the study and support of the disaster recovery process. All projects involve undergraduate and graduate students in a commitment to training our enthusiastic and capable youth. Arleen is an active member of the local business continuity and disaster recovery community and works with the membership of the Mid-South Association of Contingency Planners, InfraGard, and MemphisFirst as well as with first responders, volunteers and scientists throughout the region.