Lauren Alexander Augustine is the Executive Director for the Gulf Research Program. She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of management and use of the criminal settlement funds from the Deepwater Horizon disaster that were entrusted with the National Academies by the federal government. Since her tenure at the National Academies began in 2002, Lauren has gained experience working in a variety of roles on a broad range of topics pertaining to water, natural disasters, and resilience. Prior to joining the Gulf Research Program in 2018, she served as Director of the Resilient America Program, which supports communities’ efforts to build resilience to extreme events. In addition, she formerly served as Country Director for the African Science Academy Development Initiative (ASADI), a decadal program that built scientific capacity in national academies across Africa; as Director of the Disasters Roundtable; and as a study director for the Water Science and Technology Board. Outside of her work at the National Academies, Lauren is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, has served on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Risk and Resilience, and was a member of the Advisory Board for the American Geophysical Union’s Thriving Earth Exchange program. Lauren earned her B.S. in applied mathematics and systems engineering and her M.S. in environmental planning and policy from the University of Virginia, and her Ph.D. in an interdisciplinary program that combined physical hydrology, geomorphology, and ecology from Harvard University.  

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