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SIPA Faculty
Klaus H. Jacob
225 Seismology, Lamont-Doherty Earth Obs, Palisades NY 10964
Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs; Barnard College
Phone: 845-365-8440
Fax: 845-365-8150
jacob@ldeo.columbia.edu
Biography:
Klaus Jacob has been part of Columbia University for nearly forty years. He started as a research associate at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University (1968-73). From 1973 to August 2001 he was a senior research scientist at LDEO, a position from which he is now retired. Presently, Professor Jacob is a part-time special research scientist at LDEO, which he combines with his position as an adjunct professor formerly with the Humanitarian Affairs Program (2000-2005), and currently at the Environmental Policy Program (since 2006), of SIPA. He has also taught at the Department of Environmental Sciences, Barnard College (1999-2005), and at the Graduate School for Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (2001-2003).
Dr. Jacob has authored or coauthored more than 140 scientific and technical publications and book chapters. Some of his recent publications include "Vulnerability of the New York City Metropolitan Area to Coastal Hazards, Including Sea-Level Rise: Inferences for Urban Coastal Risk Management and Adaptation Policies" with Vivien Gornitz and Cynthia Rosenzweig (Elsevier, 2006); "Seismic Waves Generated by Aircraft Impacts and Building Collapses at World Trade Center, New York City," with W. Y. Kim, L. R. Sykes, J. H. Armitage, J. K. Xie, P. G. Richards, M. West, F. Waldhauser, J. Armbruster, L. Seeber, W.X. Du, and A. Lerner-Lam in EOS (November 2001); "Chapter 4: Infrastructure," with N. Edelblum and J. Arnold, in Climate Change and a Global City: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change - Metro East Coast, edited by C. Rosenzweig and W. Solecki (Columbia Earth Institute July 2001); "Caracas Venezuela, Planning a Disaster Resilient Metropolis," with S. Grava (Joint Columbia Urban Planning-LDEO Studio, Columbia University); and "Futuristic Hazard and Risk Assessment: How do We Learn to Look Ahead (Invited Commentary)," in Natural Hazard Observer (July 2000).
Dr. Jacob's research spans private and public sectors for risk management, regulatory policies and economic considerations. In 1986 Dr. Jacob cofounded the NSF-supported National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research. He contributed to the U.S. National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program's (NEHRP's) National Seismic Hazard Maps. He coauthored the U.S. national model and the New York City seismic building codes. He worked intensively with the Emergency Management Communities at the federal, state, and local levels on risk mitigation strategies, including during the recovery phase after the WTC disaster in NYC. His current focus is multihazard assessment, quantitative disaster loss estimation, and disaster mitigation research. Recent research efforts include how global climate change and related sea level rise affect the risks from coastal storm surges, flooding and inundation, primarily of infrastructure systems in global megacities.
Recent projects include "Urban Planning of a Disaster-Resilient Mega-City" with regional focus on Caracas, Venezuela (2001); Istanbul, Turkey (2002); and Accra, Ghana (2003); and a seismic hazard analysis for the Republic of Singapore. Dr. Jacob has testified before U.S. Congressional Committees and works regularly with professional organizations and the media. He is a member of the American Geophysical Union, Seismological Society of America, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, American Geological Institute, New York Academy of Sciences, and of the executive committee of Columbia's Center for Hazard and Risk Research.
Professor Jacob earned his BS from the Technical University, Darmstadt, Germany, in 1960. In 1963 he received an MS in geophysics from Guttenberg University, Mainz, Germany, and in 1968 a PhD from Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany. He was a research associate in geophysics at University of Frankfurt from 1964 to 1968. In 1964 he was a visiting scientist at the BP Research Center, Sunbury-on-Thames, U.K.