Joseph Lavigne, AIA

Mr. Lavigne is a native New Orleanian and graduated with a masters degree from Tulane in Architecture. Early in his career he worked for notables, Charles Colbert , Albert Ledner and partnered with Eean McNaughton prior to his private practice here. Later in Washington DC, he served as Vice President of International A&E firms HDR and Cannon in charge of national and international Science and University Projects. Afterward his private practice served such clients as UVA, Johns Hopkins, Duke, UNC, George Mason, and the US Army War College to name a few. He continuously attended seminars at Harvard and UVA, gave talks on design nationally, served as guest critic and mentored students.

Upon returning to New Orleans in 2010, he had the opportunity to design the replacement hospital demolished by Katrina in Plaquemine Parish working with Mathes Brierre and later was in a continuous design collaboration with Wayne Troyer. Currently he has been serving various citizen groups doing research into the Corp of Engineers plans for the Industrial Canal Lock Expansion and the implications of their “Hurricane Storm Damage Risk Reduction System” (HSDRRS).

Alex Kolker, PhD

Dr. Kolker is an oceanographer, geologist, and climate scientist.He has worked across the world – in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Everglades ecosystem, along the Atlantic coast, across North Africa, and in Jordan. He is interested in how sea level changes locally and globally; how greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution overlap in industrial zones; the role of groundwater dynamics in large river deltas; the interactions between rivers, coasts, and estuaries; and in the natural processes that inform coastal restoration and protection.

Dr. Kolker received his PhD in Marine and Atmospheric Sciences from Stony Brook University. He has served on a panel run by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, the Science Advisory Group for Louisiana’s Climate Initiatives Task Force, and the Framework Development Team for the Louisiana 2017 Master Plan. Dr. Kolker has appeared in media outlets across the world, including the New York Times, Washington Post, the New Orleans Times-Picayune/Advocate, NPR, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, France24, and Al Ahram. He was featured in the award-winning documentary “Last Call for the Bayou,” and was the consulting producer on the documentary “Iron Sharpens Iron.” During the 2019-2020 academic year he served as a Fulbright Scholar in Morocco.