Dr. Ava Maxam joined the Mona GeoInformatics Institute (MGI) in November 2006 shortly before completing Ph.D. studies in Oceanography at the University of the West Indies, where she also obtained a Bachelor’s degree (Hons) in Zoology and Botany. She is currently Deputy Director of MGI, where she manages the Natural Hazards & Environment Division, the Human & Social Division, the Software Development Division, and MGIBlue. She has led consultancies in GIS application, coastal hydrodynamic modeling, as well as oceanographic, environmental, ecological and biophysical assessments. She has applied GIS and oceanographic analysis in projects on climate-change resilience; coastal characterization, and sea-level rise effects. She has also collaborated Regionally on projects ranging from reef valuation, shoreline and land cover change studies, to designing databases, applications, and map tools for Coastal Zone Management. Her academic research has led to publications on the effect of ocean circulation on Jamaica’s coral reefs and coastlines – highlighting the importance of coral reefs in ecological nurseries, creating unique circulation systems, and trapping particles.

Dr. Chris Daly began collaborating with MGI in January 2017. He obtained a BSc in Civil Engineering at UWI in July 2005 and MSc in Coastal and Marine Engineering at the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands in June 2009. After graduation, He worked as an engineer and most of his work involved project design, management, construction, contracting and data collection. He later returned to his academic studies and completed Ph.D. studies in Coastal Geomorphology at Universität Bremen in Germany in November 2013. Dr. Daly is currently researching beach dynamics, sediment transport, wave breaking schematization, surf zone hydrodynamics, swash zone processes, coastal landscape evolution, remote sensing, data collection, instrumentation, and acoustic measurement.

Ms. Ajani Bissick is a GIS Graduate Research Associate with the Mona Geoinformatics Institute. She obtained a certification in Advanced Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing from the Land Information Council of Jamaica (LICJ) and UWI in August 2018 and a BSc in Geology and Computer Science at UWI in September 2019. Following the completion of her bachelor’s degree, Ms. Bissick joined the Mona Geoinformatics Institute (MGI) team in February 2020 – where she functioned in the capacities of a GIS Technician and later GIS Projects Coordinator before returning to her academic studies. She is currently pursuing Ph.D. studies in Sedimentology at McGill University in Canada. Her research interests include the application and use of chemostratigraphy – particularly a mixture of elemental data and strontium isotope ratios, paleontology, Bayesian modeling, and sequence stratigraphy in the stratigraphic correlation and paleoenvironmental interpretation of sediments from the Officer Basin in Australia and potentially, the isle of Montreal.

Ms. Gabrielle C Abraham is a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Research Associate with the Mona Geoinformatics Institute (MGI). She obtained her MSc. degree in Geospatial Science in 2020 from the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) as a Commonwealth Scholar. Her master’s project focused on flood hazard mapping for her native country Dominica. Prior to this, she completed a BSc (special) degree in Geography in 2016 from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. Gabrielle gained additional GIS experience working with the Dominica Electricity Services Ltd (DOMLEC) as a part of their GPS island-wide meter audit project in 2016. With MGI, as a part of the Caribbean Cyclone Cartography (CCC) project, she will execute the hazard and resilience mapping of the project, mapping the survials, recoveries, and resilience of the nation since Hurricane Maria and other storms, supervised by Dr. Maxam.

Mr. Yu Kajiwara is a Research Fellow with the Mona Geoinformatics Institute (MGI), having been assigned to the institute by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). He obtained his MSc. degree in Mathematics in 2009 and a BSc degree in Mathematics in 2007 from Kyoto University, Japan. After graduation, He worked as a data analyst and most of his work involved time series analysis and anomaly detection. Mr. Kajiwara’s residency with MGI will analyze vehicle depreciation, estimate the spatial distribution of traffic volumes, elementize address strings and, analyze the coastal marine structure and ecosystems of the region with the aim of contributing to environmental policy.

Dr. Kioshi Mishiro is a former research fellow with the Mona Geoinformatics Institute (MGI), had been assigned to the institute by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). He obtained his Ph.D. degree in oceanography in 2013 and MSC. degree in oceanography in 2010, following completion of his bachelor’s degree in aerospace systems in 2008. His professional experience is in observing physical oceanic data, statistical analysis, simulations. His research interests include studies to reveal oceanic dynamics, modeling the physical system. He has currently been assigned to be as GIS officer in International Seabed Authority (an intergovernmental organization) where regulate and control all mineral-related activities in the international seabed area beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.