Melissa is a natural hazards geographer and an interdisciplinary scientist. She graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College with a B.A. in Geography and minor in Studio Art. Melissa completed a M.S. degree in Geography from the University of North Dakota. Her research interests include: risk communication, water resources, and societal impacts of natural hazards. She is a PhD student in the Department of Journalism and Technical Communication. Melissa hopes to continue researching floods and risk communication strategies while at Colorado State University. Recently she completed two independent studies between the University of North Dakota and the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The study focused on disseminating flood forecast and warning information. Melissa hopes to become a researchers focused on the societal impacts of natural hazards or a public information officer after completion of her PhD. Specifically she hopes to be a liaison between the scientific community and public decision makers communicating flood risk.