Professor and College Rector Brian G. McAdoo came to Yale-NUS College from Vassar College, where he served as Althea Ward Clark Professor of Environmental Science.  He received his B.S. in Geology from Duke University and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Science from the University of Otago (New Zealand) where he was a Fulbright Scholar.  During his PhD in Earth Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, McAdoo completed eight dives to the bottom of the ocean in the deep-sea research vessel Alvin while researching submarine landscape evolution.  This line of research eventually led to an interest in earthquakes and tsunami- following the 2004 Indian Ocean disaster, he participated and lead post-disaster reconnaissance teams in Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Aceh (Indonesia), the US Gulf of Mexico (Hurricane Katrina), the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Java, Japan and Haiti.  These disasters demonstrate the need for researchers to communicate effectively across academic disciplines, and between the academy and the public sector.   McAdoo is currently working with the Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations Environmental Programme and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature better understand the links between ecosystems, economy and culture as they relate to Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia and beyond.