Rod Emmer, Louisiana
Dr. Rod Emmer was a professor, researcher, and planner based in Louisiana. He was a great resource of knowledge and experience in the fields of floodplain management, hazard mitigation, coastal flood risk, geography, and culture, and the policy issues relative to each. He was a fellow geographer who followed Dr. Gilbert White’s work and held him in highest esteem. A longtime professor at Louisiana State University, he understood the overwhelming burdens that floods put on underserved people and communities, and worked tirelessly to effect equality. His many years with the LA Sea Grant program and active participation in Louisiana’s APA and AWRA made him very valuable to our Coastal Issues Committee. Rod generously lent his time and expertise to support ASFPM as well many of our state chapters with his amazing work ethic and high standards, especially during post Hurricane Katrina recovery.
An early chair of the Louisiana Floodplain Management Association and its executive director from 1994 until his death in 2008, Rod served ASFPM as national conference program chair for the 1997 conference in Little Rock and local host team coordinator for the 2004 conference in Biloxi, followed by several years as chair of the ASFPM Standing Conference Committee. He also was a frequent presenter at national, regional, and special issue conferences.
In addition to authoring numerous reports, articles, and other materials, Rod co-authored a graduate-level floodplain management course for FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute. He had a strong grasp of the broad and critical concepts of environmental quality, sustainability, coastal degradation, and public perception, and how the various disciplines with which he regularly worked could apply themselves to those issues, problems, and solutions.