About

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About: Charter, Goals, Ethics & Team handbook (pdf)

Background

Providing safe water for drinking and cooking is a keystone challenge in every major disaster response effort and the primary mission of the Roddenberry Disaster Team (DRT). Local water sources are often fouled with dead animals, spilled fuels, churned sediment and sometimes the mangled bodies of people—all of which may be within sight of the grieving survivors we are trying to serve. 

The DRT brings deep collective experience to work that requires everything from medical and engineering expertise to an understanding of local cultural norms. The members of the team have been carefully chosen for their ability to adapt to almost any circumstance and work collaboratively. They bring to the table knowledge of everything from wilderness survival, camp management, field logistics, transportation and medicine, to telecommunications, cross cultural collaboration, gender empowerment, policy development, small-business incubation and diplomacy. The DRT includes three experts in technology incubators and two affiliated with the US National Academy of Sciences. Four nationalities are represented among the six core members, with a combined fluency in six languages and experience working in more than 40 countries. We are passionate about what we do, knowing that our efforts can make a real difference in the recovery process. 

Meet the team!

—Eric Rasmussen, MD, MDM, FACP

Team

• Eric Rasmussen

• Alex Hatoum 

• Julie Rider

• John Crowley

• Steve Birnbaum

• Willow Brugh

• Eric Wendt



TECHNICAL ADVISORS

• Colin Hildebrandt: Water Applications Engineer

• Gisli Olafsson: Emergency Response Director, NetHope

• Brian Steckler: Lecturer; Director,  Hastily Formed Networks (HFN) Research Group Associate Chair for Special Programs, US Naval Postgraduate School

• Catherine Nelson, Security Researcher / Program Manager, Intel

• Harmony Mabrey, Senior Operations Manager for Microsoft Disaster Response

• J.A. Ginsburg, writer, editor, producer

• Jessica Block - Qualcomm Institute, University of California, San Diego

• Lin Wells, Former Director, Center for Technology & National Security Policy at National Defense University, former US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Infrastructure.