FIU is home to the Cuban Research Institute, which is part of the Latin American and Caribbean Center, a hub for research that encompasses all aspects of the exile experience as well developments inside the island. Below follows a list of experts on a variety of Cuba-related topics.

URBAN ISSUES AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Nicolas Quintana
Nicolas.Quintana@fiu.edu
305-348-1885
786-263-0111 (Home)
Architecture Professor Nicolas Quintana, is the director of the project Havana and its Landscapes, currently underway at FIU's School of Architecture. The project's goal is to create a series of rural, urban, environmental and architectural guidelines that would protect the city’s character during the transition period, while still addressing critical issues such as the acute housing shortage the city suffers. Prof. Quintana, who specializes in urbanism, has collaborated closely with architects of the caliber Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, widely known as Le Corbusier, and Walter Adolph Gropius.

Eudel Eduardo Cepero
Ceperoe@fiu.edu
305-348-6652
Environmental scientist Eudel Eduardo Cepero, is a research analyst with the FIU Applied Research Center at Florida International University. Cepero has done work focusing on Cuba and its environment. From 2005 to 2006 he was an environmental consulting associate for the Havana and its Landscapes Project, which is researching Havana’s environmental issues and evaluating potential impact of projects. He has published two opinion pieces in el Nuevo Herald: “El Exxon Valdez de Castro” and “La isla del desierto.”

Grenville Draper
Draper@fiu.edu
305-348-3087
Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, Grenville Draper, has studied the geology tectonics of the Greater Antilles, including Cuba, for more then 30 years. His research focuses on how movements of that part of the Earth’s crust relates to the development of minerals resources and seismic activity. Draper made his first visit to Cuba in 1989 and helped organize the 13th Caribbean Geological conference that was held in Pinar del Rio in 1992. As the leader of the International Geological Correlation Project 364, he facilitated international field workshops, some of which were in Cuba, involving scientists from the Caribbean. Draper is the author of more than 80 articles and books.

Jennifer Gebelein
gebelein@fiu.edu
305-348-1859
Geographer, Jennifer Gebelein, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations. For several years she has focused on Cuba’s geography. Since 2002 the Cuban Research Institute has awarded her three grants to travel to Cuba to conduct her research. With the Geographic Information Systems spatial data she conducts analyses on how various factors like water quality, sediment transports, logging and mining activities might be adversely impacting the environment on the island. She received her M.A in marine affairs from the University of Miami and her Ph.D. in geography from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Gebelein is currently working on her first book “A Naturalist’s Perspective of Cuba.”

SOCIAL/POLITICAL ANALYSIS

Damian Fernandez
Damian.Fernandez@fiu.edu
305-348-1991
International Relations Professor Damian Fernandez is the director of the Cuban Research Institute at FIU's Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC). Prof. Fernandez's research interests include Cuban politics and international relations of Latin America. He studies the role of emotions in politics. His books include “Cuba and the Politics of Passion” and edited “Cuba Transnational” and co-edited anthology on Cuban national identity. In recent years he has conducted research in Cuba, Brazil, Peru, Honduras, Panama and several Caribbean countries.

Guillermo Grenier
Guillermo.Grenier@fiu.edu
305-348-3217
305-388-6469 (Home)
Sociology Professor Guillermo Grenier has been one of the lead investigators in charge of the Cuba Poll FIU has been conducting since 1991. The poll measures the attitudes and opinions of Cuban-Americans in South Florida in issues raging from their support for the embargo, to their party preference. In addition to the poll, Prof. Grenier is the author of books such as “Miami Now: Immigration, Ethnicity and Social Change;” “Legacy of Exile: Cubans in the United States;” and “This Land is Our Land: Newcomers and Established Residents in Miami,” in which he is a co-author. He has also written numerous articles on labor and ethnic issues in the United States.

Hugh Gladwin
Hugh.Gladwin@fiu.edu
305-919-4718
305-608-9961 (Mobile)
Hugh Gladwin, director of the Institute for Public Opinion Research at FIU's School of Journalism and Mass Communication, has conducted polls on the political opinions of Cuban-Americans dating back to 1991. The polls questions range from whether exiles would consider going back to Cuba, to their attitudes on the United States Embargo on the island. Gladwin is professor of sociology and anthropology and concentrates on statistical analysis of opinions and political trends. His work also includes analysis of sociological impacts of hurricanes and consumer preferences. The 2004 Cuba Poll is available at http://www.fiu.edu/orgs/ipor/cubapoll/index.html The next edition of the Poll is expected in the spring of 2007.

Lisandro Perez
Lisandro.Perez@fiu.edu
305 348-3344
Sociology Professor Lisandro Pérez, founded FIU's Cuban Research Institute in 1991 and served as its director until 2003. From 1991 to 1992 he directed a project funded by the U.S. Department of State on the Cuban transition. He has also served as the editor of the journal Cuban Studies and is the co-author of the book “The Legacy of Exile: Cubans in the United States.” During the 2004-2005 academic year Pérez was a fellow at the Center for Scholars and Writers of the New York Public Library, where he carried out research for his current writing project, a book on the Cuban community in New York City during the nineteenth century.

MIAMI POLITICS

Dario Moreno
Dario.moreno@fiu.edu
305-349-1251
305-444-2874 (Mobile)
Political Science Professor Dario Moreno is the director of FIU's Metropolitan Center. He conducts research on Cuban-American politics, Miami politics and Florida politics. He is a contributing editor to the Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy. He has also conducted extensive research in Central America, including the region's relationship with Fidel Castro's regime. He has been a Pew Scholar at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a Fulbright scholar in Costa Rica.

ACADEMIC EXCHANGE AND LITERATURE

Uva de Aragón
aragonu@fiu.edu
305-348-7274
305-553-8084 (Home)
786-877-9016 (Mobile)
Professor Uva de Aragón, is associate director of the Cuban Research Institute, has had an active role on academic relations with Cuba. In 2004, she took a group of students to Cuba as part of a class she teaches on the humanities in Cuba. Aragón, also a poet and fiction writer, served as assistant editor for Cuban Studies from 1998 to 2004 and has published extensively in newspapers, magazines and journals.

Reporters may contact sources directly or through the Office of Media Relations.

The FIU Office of Media Relations staff is available to assist journalists:

Maydel Santana-Bravo: 305-348-1555, 305-972-8276, santanam@fiu.edu
Jose Dante Parra: 305-348-2716, 305-297-8180, parraj@fiu.edu
Melissa Agudelo: 305-348-2234, 305-877-7669, agudelom@fiu.edu

Some of above information taken from: http://news.fiu.edu/releases/2006/08-08_fiuexperts.htm