Pamela Rubinoff, M.S.
Coastal Management and Climate Extension Specialist
University of Rhode Island/GSO – Coastal Resources Center (CRC) and RI Sea Grant
Since joining the URI in 1996, Rubinoff has championed efforts to mainstream natural hazards and coastal community resilience into both US-based Rhode Island coastal management initiatives and international development programs through decision-support tools, policy creation, extension and training. This work builds interdisciplinary collaborations across science (physical, natural and social), coastal management, and community extension approaches; it supports URI partnerships of faculty and students with government, non-profit organizations, and private sector initiatives.
Preparedness and resilience planning for rising seas and flooding has been the mainstay of Pam’s career. Twenty years after serving the Peace Corps in Thailand, she led initiatives in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, resulting in international guidance documents related to “How Resilient is Your Coastal Community? A Guide for Evaluating Coastal Community Resilience to Tsunamis and Other Coastal Hazards” (2007) and “Adapting to Coastal Climate Change: A Guidebook for Development Planners” (2009). More recently, she has led Rhode Island research and planning resulting in state strategies and municipal-level guidance, including the “Green Infrastructure for the Coast: A Primer for Local Decision Making” (2018).
Rubinoff works with communities to enhance resilience using adaptation techniques through planning, capacity building, and outreach activities. Current efforts focus on building community constituencies – through business leadership in an urban environment, and neighborhood leadership in a suburban community – to gain momentum to support local actions on reducing flood risk. She regularly designs and deliver programs to build practitioner and professional capacity. This takes many forms: developing online modules to comply with state mandates for training of municipal boards in Preparing Resilience Education for Planning (PREP-RI); delivering a two-day interactive conference on Business Adaptation; or facilitating a two-year experiential learning program with engineers, landscape architects, coastal policy leads, and municipal officials to design Green Infrastructure approaches in coastal communities.
Rubinoff’s expertise linking science and management related to coastal hazards was formed by her formal education with a Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Delaware and a Masters in Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island. Her experience as a coastal practitioner builds upon prior work experience as a Regional Coordinator with Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management, an Engineer with the US Army Corps of Engineers, and a Water Resources Volunteer with Peace Corps, Thailand. At the local level, Rubinoff has served as a Planning Board member in South Kingstown since 2014.