(May 7, 2012) - Christa von Hillebrandt-Andrade, manager of the NOAA National Weather Service Caribbean Tsunami Warning Program, has been named as the new chair of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami and Other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (CARIBE-EWS). She is the first United States representative elected to chair the group, which encompasses more than 40 nations and territories in the Caribbean and western Atlantic basins.

National Weather Service Regional Director Bill Proenza headed the U.S. delegation to the group's annual meeting during the first week in April.

"Christa von Hillebrandt-Andrade's selection for this important position is a testimony to her outstanding leadership in our continuing tsunami mitigation efforts in the region," said Proenza. "She is an internationally recognized expert on tsunamis and seismology and her new position serves to further solidify the collaborative partnership between NOAA and our Caribbean and South American neighbors.

"During the last seven years, she has distinguished herself as a member of U.S. delegations to the U.N. meetings on tsunamis and the oceans; and, in 2010 she was elected vice-chair of the coordination group," Proenza added.

The following year, she was elected president of the Seismological Society of America (SSA), becoming the first Commerce Department official and only the second woman elected to the prestigious post in the SSA's 105-year history.

Prior to her appointment as head of the Caribbean Tsunami Warning Program in 2010, she served as the director of the Puerto Rico Seismic Network and as a member of the University of Puerto Rico Geology Department in Mayagüez. Her experience in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and South America has afforded her a unique familiarity with a variety of natural hazards such as volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis.

"It is a great honor to be chairing this important intergovernmental group," said von Hildebrandt-Andrade The Caribbean member states fully recognize the high risk to life and livelihoods posed by tsunamis. They also recognize the importance of working in a regionally coordinated fashion to advance the readiness of their coastal communities and the critical role CARIBE-EWS plays in implementing the warning system.

The author and co-author of more than 50 journal papers and abstracts on earthquakes and tsunamis, von Hillebrandt-Andrade has also served on the Puerto Rico Earthquake Safety Commission and the Puerto Rico Tsunami Technical Review Committee.

In addition to her membership in the SSA, she is a member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, the American Geophysical Union, the Tsunami Society and the Geological Society of Puerto Rico. The SSA twice elected her as a director in 2007 and 2010 and as vice president in 2009.

After graduating as a geologist from the University of Delaware, von Hillebrandt-Andrade went to Quito, Ecuador, as a Fulbright Scholar and received a master's degree in Geology from the Escuela Politécnica Nacional. She played an important role in monitoring the active volcanoes of that Andean county and co-authored its first volcanic hazard maps as a Research Engineer with the Nacional's Geophysical Institute.

The National Weather Service is the primary source of weather data, forecasts and warnings for the United States and its territories. It operates the most advanced weather and flood warning and forecast system in the world, helping to protect lives and property and enhance the national economy. Visit us online at Weather.gov and on Facebook.

NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Visit us on Facebook.

---