Melina Matos

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 in public administration from Texas Tech University, with a concentration in environmental policy and climate change. Matos has over a decade of experience as a planning practitioner, having worked extensively with local and state governments on projects involving land use planning, floodplain management, disaster mitigation, climate adaptation, resilience planning, and community engagement.

Her academic and professional work is centered around resilience planning, hazard mitigation, and sustainable community development. Melina has contributed to numerous community engagement initiatives through the Interdependent Networked Community Resilience Modeling Environment and the Center of Excellence for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning. She has collaborated on resilience-focused grants funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Her research integrates advanced data analytics with practical decision-support tools to provide accessible and actionable solutions for policymakers and practitioners. Matos fosters interdisciplinary collaborations that effectively bridge urban planning, policy decision-making, and data science to enhance community resilience and sustainability.