NIMSAT - Contact Us

	Ramesh Kolluru, Ph.D., Executive Director Phone: 337.482.0611 Email: kolluru@louisiana.edu Dr. Kolluru establishes the strategic vision, direction and purpose of the NIMSAT Institute. He ensures that the research and development agenda aligns with the needs and priorities of public sector homeland security and emergency management practitioners and the private sector organizations. He interfaces with the organization’s external and internal stakeholders to advance its mission. Based on the lessons of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Dr. Kolluru had identified the need for public-private partnerships and the application of technology to enhance the nation’s homeland security and disaster preparedness, leading to the establishment of the NIMSAT Institute. He led the Institute’s response to hurricanes Gustav and Ike, at the request of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, contributing immensely through public-private partnerships and technology support to the Office of the Governor. Dr. Kolluru, recipient of the 2007 Governor’s Technology Leader of the Year award, brings his academic preparation as a computer scientist to analyzing and solving problems through the use of technology. His experience and expertise spans the areas of information technology, supply chain management, and critical infrastructure interdependency analysis, in addition to economic and workforce development.
	Dean Mallory, Assistant Director Phone: 337.482.0633 Email: dmallory@louisiana.edu As Assistant Director, Mr. Mallory directs the activities of the NIMSAT staff to ensure the successful completion of various research and development efforts leading to improved technologies and capabilities for the emergency management community. Mr. Mallory brings over 22 years of experience with the United States Air Force to NIMSAT. He served as squadron commander, and was part of the Headquarters USAF staff and also the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His experiences as director of the Air Force Operations Center at the Pentagon and as director of communications technology for the Air Force Crisis Action Team during hurricanes Katrina and Rita, uniquely position him for this leadership position as Assistant Director. He holds degrees in computer science, and has experiences in programming, computer and network operations, mobile communications, telecommunications monitoring and analysis, and modeling and simulation.
	Mark Smith, Ph.D, Associate Director Phone: 337.482.0637 Email: mxs2356@louisiana.edu Dr. Smith brings his educational credentials, a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard University and a doctorate from University of Washington, and out-of-the-box thinking to address business, management, and strategy issues. He has over 26 years of teaching and professional experience and serves as the Management Department Head for the B.I. Moody III College of Business for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He contributes his advanced expertise in supply chain management and critical infrastructure analysis to advance the Institute’s agenda. He is active in the North American Case Research Association, Beta Gamma Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi. Dr. Smith received the 2001 Best Paper Award by the Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship. He is also a Mr. and Mrs. E. P. Nally Professor of Management award recipient. He has contributed to over 25 journal publications, multiple citations in the Social Sciences Citation Index and published several cases in textbooks. He has been involved with over 10 grants and contract activities ranging from economic development and disaster management to supply chains. He has reviewed for numerous textbooks and journals including McGraw Hill, North American Case Research Association, Journal of Management Studies and Southern Management Association, among many others. Throughout his career, he has presented and facilitated workshops while finding time to consult entrepreneurship strategies for local companies.
	Shannon Strother, Applied Research & Outreach Manager Phone: 337.482.0613 Email: sstrother@louisiana.edu Ms. Strother has spent the last twelve years working overseas for a variety of humanitarian organizations, the last nine years of which were as a Senior Emergency Officer for the United Nations’ agency UNICEF. Strother is a registered nurse with a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing and a Master’s of Public Health, in International Health and Development, with a specialty in the Management of Complex Emergencies. Ms. Strother has extensive experience in the management of disasters, both man-made and natural. She has lead multi-disciplinary emergency teams in response to a variety of emergencies throughout the world, such as the Indonesia Tsunami response, cyclones in Madagascar, landslides in Haiti, floods in Uganda, and conflict in the Congo, Angola, Liberia, Haiti, and Ivory Coast. She has also led the UNICEF response to numerous epidemic outbreaks for meningitis, measles, cholera, hepatitis, mumps, yellow fever and most recently, Ebola. Ms. Strother is a Trainer of Trainers in Business Continuity in Emergencies, Principled Approach to Humanitarian Response, Human Rights Based Approach to Emergency Programming, Emergency Preparedness and Response, Emergency Health Planning and Response, Emergency Epidemic Response, and Emergency Nutrition Response. She specializes in the coordination of private, public, and non-profit organizations in enhancing emergency management, including mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. She is responsible for identifying areas of research and development that will enhance the ability of Homeland Security and Emergency Management professionals to prepare, respond, and recover from all-hazard disasters. She is responsible for enhancing current public-private partnerships, including non-profits, to strengthen the relationships between all stakeholders at the city, parish, region and state level.
	Mickie Valente, Government-Industry Partnership Coordinator Email: mvalente@louisiana.edu Ms. Valente is a national consultant on business and economic disaster resiliency and post-disaster redevelopment planning. She spearheaded the design, development and implementation of Emergency Support Function 18 for Business & Industry at Florida’s State Emergency Operations Center. This national model integrates public agencies, private sector businesses and non-profit organizations with Florida’s disaster preparedness, response and recovery programs. In addition, she has facilitated the integration of the private sector in all phases of emergency management including developing new program tracks focused on business recovery and economic redevelopment for both the Florida Governor’s Hurricane Conference and the National Hurricane Conference. She participates as a task force member and adviser for the development and implementation of national economic and business recovery initiatives with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Business Civic Leadership Center and the International Economic Development Council. Ms. Valente is a frequent public speaker, discussion facilitator and consultant on economic development and disaster preparedness topics and currently serves on the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Community Resilience Working Group, Florida’s State Post-Disaster Redevelopment Planning Initiative Workgroup and the Economic Stabilization Team for the Florida Catastrophic Planning Initiative. During the devastating 2004-2005 hurricane season, Mickie served as the Director of Partner Relations for Enterprise Florida and coordinated Florida’s local business recovery initiatives and the deployment of federal, state and local agency staff to support economic damage assessment, business recovery programs and development of economic recovery strategies. She holds a Bachelor’s of arts in Journalism from the University of Georgia and a Master’s of business administration from Florida State University.
	Jason Rawls, Private Sector Development Coordinator Phone: 337.482.0626 Email: jrawls@louisiana.edu Mr. Rawls brings his experience in working with businesses with his previous work with the Louisiana State University Small Business Center where he counseled small business owners and entrepreneurs on how to start, improve, and develop their businesses. He has a Bachelor’s degree in political science and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Louisiana State University. He leads the efforts in creating partnerships between the public and private sectors. These partnerships will improve the state's ability to recover from a potential disaster more quickly than in previous years and will enhance the economy of Louisiana by keeping post disaster contracts within the state.
	Michael Plaia, Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources Analyst Phone: 337.482.0620 Email: mplaia@louisiana.edu Mr. Plaia specializes in threat and vulnerability assessments of critical infrastructure and assets. He has over ten years experience working in the U.S. military and as a civilian employee for the Department of Defense. He worked in operational security and Force Protection related matters, where he identified and mitigated threats to our military’s personnel and critical infrastructure. He is responsible for identifying and analyzing the interdependencies and vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR) in Louisiana and across the nation. Based on these analyses, he provides recommendations to government and private sectors partners on actions to mitigate the consequences of man-made and natural disasters to CIKR assets.
	Andrea Aloisio, External Affairs Manager Phone: 337.482.0627 Email: ama8888@louisiana.edu Ms. Aloisio brings her experience in public relations, marketing, event management and business development to her position. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Public Relations and Marketing from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Ms. Aloisio is responsible for all outgoing communications, marketing and public relations efforts, and website management. She manages contact database management and business development follow-ups.
	Raju Gottumukkala, Ph.D., Software Development Manager Phone: 337.482.0632 Email: raju@louisiana.edu Dr. Gottumukkala applies his broad knowledge of computer science, applied mathematics and advanced technologies to a wide range of real-world problems in disaster management such as site-selection problems, risk assessment, evacuation modeling and critical infrastructure interdependency analysis. He has done work for the Center for Business Information Technology and LONI (Louisiana Optic Network Initiative) as a Computational Scientist. He received his Master’s and doctorate from Louisiana Technical University. He has authored several publications in premier journals and conferences and currently leads various research and software development projects at the NIMSAT Institute that help improve disaster preparedness and response. Dr. Gottumukkala leads the Institute’s research and software development efforts to design and implement solutions that enhance disaster preparedness and response through advanced information technologies, cyber infrastructure and spatiotemporal data analysis. He also collaborates with the university faculty and guides students on various supercomputing research projects. His areas of expertise include distributed systems, parallel algorithms, probabilistic modeling, and spatiotemporal optimization problems.
	Christopher Mire, Software Architect Phone: 337.482.0630 Email: cmire@louisiana.edu Mr. Mire brings his extensive work in several fields such as graphical user interfaces, 3D visualization, algorithms development, software engineering and Linux systems management to his position. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He was involved in the nationally recognized CajunBot program at UL, as a student and a contractor after graduation. Mr. Mire plans and implements software algorithms and application that directly contribute to the NIMSAT Institute research and development efforts.