Dr. Yuri Gorokhovich is a physical geologist who combines geologic and geographic methods, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), for the assessment, modeling, and mapping of current and historical natural hazards and disasters. He is author of 42 peer-reviewed articles and 50 conference abstracts and presentations and the former manager of the first Geographic Information Systems group at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Water Quality and Control (1992 – 2001). His past research included impact of earthquakes on Minoan Civilization and Peru (earthquake of 2007), flooding and landslides in Uganda, coastal vulnerability to sea-level rise study in north-western Alaska, deglaciation processes in Greenland (isotope geochronology) and Hudson Valley (thermo-luminescent method), and searching for the source of mercury in Copan (Maya complex, Honduras) using X-ray fluorometry.

Yuri’s current research is focused on developing innovative spatial temporal method of predicting landslides (debris flows) caused by hurricanes in Caribbean and Central America regions and verification of the Global Precipitation Measurement data using ground measurements (NASA sponsored). Dr. Gorokhovich teaches at Lehman College graduate and undergraduate courses in geology, hydrology, data integration and continues teaching the first established GIS course at Columbia University that he founded at the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering in 1999.