Russell Blessing

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT RUSSELL BLESSING

Dr. Russell Blessing is an associate research scientist at the Institute for a Disaster Resilient Texas at Texas A&M University at Galveston where he conducts research on urban flooding. Dr. Blessing’s multi-disciplinary research framework has covered a range of topics – the influence of landscape patterns and configurations on flooding, predicting future development scenarios through the use of cellular automata, understanding the motivating factors that underlie homeowner decision making, and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of hydrologic and hydraulic models in capturing flood risk. He is currently a lead researcher on a study that uses machine learning methods to spatially predict flood hazard and is working with local communities to determine how to communicate the information so that they can better understand their risk. He has taught and guest lectured undergraduate and graduate courses on sustainable communities, environmental planning, and resilient coastal development. Dr. Blessing holds a BA in environmental studies from Austin College, and a Master of Urban Planning and a PhD in Urban and Regional Science from Texas A&M University.