I’m always amazed at the number of intriguing, sometimes important, and often bizarre scientific meetings that take place here in Boulder, Colorado. With the University of Colorado, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and a slew of other big-name centers, it’s not at all strange that so much science happens here. But I’m still consistently blown away by how many big brains either live here or pass through. You never know who you might bump into at the Whole Foods.

This week Boulder is hosting an interesting National Science Foundation workshop called “Toward a National Agenda for Hurricane Science and Engineering,” featuring researchers from places like the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M University. Most of us go about our daily lives never knowing there is such a place – or that its heavyweights are out rubbing elbows with other natural hazard experts, trying to come up with ideas that will save us from hurricanes. Or that they all convene in a little utopian city on the edge of the Rocky Mountains, where hurricanes will never hit.

Boulder even has its own Natural Hazards Center, dedicated to sharing information about natural hazards and disaster preparedness. It even publishes a bimonthly magazine, Natural Hazards Observer, whose 2004 issue featured a series called “Disasters Waiting to Happen.” One of those stories was titled “What If Hurricane Ivan Had Not Missed New Orleans?” But Boulder isn’t the only place these disaster people convene: the 27th Annual International Disaster Management Conference starts later this week – in Florida, where hurricanes are a little closer to home.

Photo credit: University of Colorado