Dr. Michael Savarese is a Distinguished Professor of Coastal Geology, Climate Resilience, and Preparation within the Department of Marine and Earth Sciences within Florida Gulf Coast University’s Water School. He has degrees in geoscience with a background in coastal geology, palaeontology, and sedimentology and stratigraphy. He has been a faculty member at FGCU since the University's opening in the fall of 1997. Mike’s teaching and research interests concern the history of environmental change in coastal settings, particularly in response to human development, climate change, and sea-level rise. Throughout his years at FGCU, he has served as a liaison between scientists and managers/decision-makers, serving in the past as the Chairperson of the Big Cypress and the Southwest Florida Restoration Coordination Teams. More recently, he has served as a community liaison to foster coastal resilience and climate-change preparedness efforts throughout Southwest Florida and beyond, working closely with natural, urban, and cultural resource managers and elected officials within local, state, and federal government.
Dr. H. Allen Curran is an invertebrate paleontologist and marine geologist who specializes in the study of trace fossils (ichnology) and the geology of Quaternary tropical, shallow-marine carbonate sediments and rocks. Although retired from active teaching, he is currently pursuing research with colleagues at Smith and beyond. Specific areas of present interest include the geology of the Bahama islands, a classic area of carbonates study; the geology of Pleistocene, Holocene and modern coral reefs, with emphasis on reefs as indicators of sea-level history; and marine environmental education for schoolchildren, specifically the Smith College Coral Reef Ed-Ventures Program in Belize.
