Melina Matos is an assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Florida Atlantic University. She holds a PhD in urban and regional Science from Texas A&M University and a master’s degree in public administration from Texas Tech University, concentrating on environmental policies and climate change. She has over ten years of experience as a planning practitioner with local and state governments. She has actively participated in the plan-making process, land use planning, floodplain management, disaster mitigation, climate adaptation, resilience planning, and community engagement.
Matos has been working on community engagement efforts within the Center of Excellence for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning. She worked on several resilience grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She is specialized in disaster recovery, climate adaptation, and community resilience. Her research interest focuses on developing and deploying strategies to create innovative, sustainable, and resilient communities.