Published: June 27, 2007

The legacy of Gilbert F. White, renowned University of Colorado at Boulder geography professor who died last fall, will be examined during the CU-Boulder Natural Hazards Center's 32nd annual summer workshop.

°µÍø½ûÇø 400 invited participants from across the United States and several other nations will gather July 8 through the noon hour July 11 to address such topics as the role of the private sector in disasters, pandemic flu, disaster management in China and the effectiveness of the National Flood Insurance Program. An all-day field trip to the sites of the Big Thompson and Lawn Lake floods will be held July 8.

The Hazards Research and Applications Workshop will be held at the Millennium Harvest House at 1345 28th St. in Boulder. The event is not open to public.

The opening plenary session on White, who was known worldwide as the "father of floodplain management," will be held July 9 from 10:15 a.m. until noon. White's work in natural hazards changed the way people interact with the environment. He founded the Natural Hazards Center in 1974.

The annual workshop brings together emergency managers, insurers, planners, government officials, academic researchers and students who study or deal with extreme natural events such as great earthquakes, floods and wildfires.

The Natural Hazards Center, part of CU-Boulder's Institute of Behavioral Science, is funded by a consortium of agencies including the National Science Foundation and FEMA. For more information visit the center's Web site at .