Historic flood leads to career in climate adaptation consulting

Tropical Storm Lee devastated the Village of Owego, New York and Julie Nucci's historic Greek Revival home within it in September 2011.

Determined to protect her home from future floods, she actively participated in the planning and design of its elevation. In 2015, her home became the first New York state residence in the National Register of Historic Places elevated for flood mitigation. “Completing a Ph.D. teaches you to take on a long-term challenge with patience, diligence, planning, hard work and attention to detail,” said Nucci. “That background was critical to my success in recovering from the 2011 flood and elevating my house on FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funding in 2015 over a timeline not that different from a Ph.D.”

Nucci, who owns J. Nucci Consulting, LLC, holds a B.S. in materials engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an M.S. in applied physics from Harvard and M.S. ’93 and Ph.D. ‘96 degrees in materials science and engineering from Cornell. She is a flood resiliency consultant for the Village of Owego and chairs the Village's Climate Smart Communities Task Force. Her collaborative and inclusive approach for the Village of Owego includes casting the widest net possible since the challenge of adapting to safely live in a floodplain is too big to leave out anyone or any organization willing to help. 

Her professional background prepared her for navigating the complex process of elevating her home and representing the needs of vulnerable homeowners and communities. That includes positions as guest scientist, liaison officer to the European Union, and group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart, Germany.  At Cornell she focused on semiconductor metallization research, undergraduate education, K-12 education, and the professional and public communication of science.  

After realizing the challenges facing Owego are mirrored in communities across the country, she formed her consulting business in 2023 to leverage her extensive professional experience in academia, scientific research, and science communication towards forging change in the climate adaptation arena as a full-time endeavor. “An educator at heart, I recognize the immense need for community engagement to bring climate adaptation education and planning to flood prone communities,” Nucci said.

Another aspect of Nucci’s consulting firm is presentation coaching for scientists and engineers. “As an adjunct professor of MSE, I focused on developing my MSE senior lab students’ professional presentation and writing skills,” said Nucci. “I also co-created a public communication of science course for undergraduate and graduate science and engineering students with the Science Communication Director of WSKG. In my new role as founder of J. Nucci Consulting, LLC, I worked with Lara Estroff’s and Susan Daniel’s Ezra’s Bridge program scholars as a presentation coach during the spring 2024 semester. Strong presentation skills are an important and often underdeveloped skill for young scientists and engineers. It is a privilege to coach Cornell students on how to clearly and effectively share their ideas.”

In her time at Cornell, Nucci also led the CNS Institute for Physics Teachers and spearheaded the creation of the New Visions Engineering program for a select group of exceptional local high school students. “Through the New York state match to PARADIM, for which I was the original education and outreach director, those funds were secured, and the program was created,” said Nucci. “It was great to see high school students from TST BOCES school districts spend their senior year on the Cornell campus exploring engineering and conducting research in Cornell laboratories.”

Nucci, who spent about 20 years at Cornell as a doctoral student, post-doctoral associate, and academic, said the greatest joy in her time at Cornell was teaching, learning from, and getting to know the exceptional undergraduate and graduate students she had the honor of having in her classroom.