DRC Research

DRC has a well-established research tradition, built on a strong foundation in the social sciences; rich interdisciplinary research; a capacity for quick response field research; and a culture of collaboration between faculty, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students. Building on this rich history, DRC continuously enhances its research activities.

DRC Research

DRC has a well-established research tradition, built on a strong foundation in the social sciences; rich interdisciplinary research; a capacity for quick response field research; and a culture of collaboration between faculty, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students. Building on this rich history, DRC continuously enhances its research activities.

DRC Research

DRC has a well-established research tradition, built on a strong foundation in the social sciences; rich interdisciplinary research; a capacity for quick response field research; and a culture of collaboration between faculty, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students. Building on this rich history, DRC continuously enhances its research activities.

DRC Research

DRC has a well-established research tradition, built on a strong foundation in the social sciences; rich interdisciplinary research; a capacity for quick response field research; and a culture of collaboration between faculty, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students. Building on this rich history, DRC continuously enhances its research activities.

DRC Research 

DRC projects have been supported by diverse sources, including: National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Sea Grant Program, Social Science Research Council (SSRC), and Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI).

DRC Director Tricia Wachtendorf presenting "Improvising Disaster" at the Resilient Calgary Symposium at Mount Royal University, in Calgary, Canada. (05/18/2017)
Research Spotlight

image

Coastal Hazards, Equity, Economic Prosperity and Resilience (CHEER)

DURATION: September 1, 2022 –
RESEARCHERS: Rachel Davidson, Sarah DeYoung, Joseph Trainor, A.R. Siders[/if 449]

FUNDING: National Science Foundation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The UD-led hub — Coastal Hazards, Equity, Economic prosperity and Resilience (CHEER) — is one of five NSF-funded projects announced recently as part of the agency’s Coastlines and People program, which is concentrating its research efforts to protect the natural, social and economic resources of U.S. coasts, and to help create more resilient coastal communities.

This five-year project will be led by Rachel Davidson, a core DRC faculty member and UD professor of civil and environmental engineering. Co-principal investigators include Sarah DeYoung, core DRC faculty member and associate professor of sociology and criminal justice at UD; Linda Nozick, professor and director of civil and environmental engineering at Cornell University; Brian Colle, professor and division head of atmospheric sciences at Stony Brook University; and Meghan Millea, professor of economics at East Carolina University.

READ MORE

image

COVID-19: Community Impacts and Adaptation To Crisis: Delawareans Living With HIV/Aids

RESEARCHERS: Tricia Wachtendorf

FUNDING: Internally Funded, Delaware HIV Consortium

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The crisis surrounding COVID-19 impacted communities across the globe. Appreciating that disasters have differential impacts on those affected, this study examined the impact the crisis had on Delawareans living with HIV/AIDS. The study explored issues of preparedness, response, adaptation, and decision-making, among other social consequences, as well as challenges related to health, housing, finances, and support. Over 50 interviews were conducted with clients of the Delaware HIV Consortium to better understand their experiences and needs over the course of the pandemic.

READ MORE

Research Projects

image

Coastal Hazards, Equity, Economic Prosperity and Resilience (CHEER)

DURATION: September 1, 2022 –
RESEARCHERS: Rachel Davidson, Sarah DeYoung, Joseph Trainor, A.R. Siders

FUNDING: National Science Foundation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The UD-led hub — Coastal Hazards, Equity, Economic prosperity and Resilience (CHEER) — is one of five NSF-funded projects announced recently as part of the agency’s Coastlines and People program, which is concentrating its research efforts to protect the natural, social and economic resources of U.S. coasts, and to help create more resilient coastal communities.

This five-year project will be led by Rachel Davidson, a core DRC faculty member and UD professor of civil and environmental engineering. Co-principal investigators include Sarah DeYoung, core DRC faculty member and associate professor of sociology and criminal justice at UD; Linda Nozick, professor and director of civil and environmental engineering at Cornell University; Brian Colle, professor and division head of atmospheric sciences at Stony Brook University; and Meghan Millea, professor of economics at East Carolina University.

READ MORE

image

COLLABORATIVE CDI-TYPE II: Cyber Enabled Discovery System for Advanced Multidisciplinary Study of Humanitarian Logistics for Disaster Response

RESEARCHERS: Tricia Wachtendorf

FUNDING: National Science Foundation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
This project seeks to better understand how donations are collected and distributed. Using observational work conducted during recent disasters and interviews with individuals from organizations and agencies involved in formal and informal relief efforts, this study examines the organizational aspects of material convergence and subjective motivations for contributing donations to disaster relief, with particular emphasis on unsolicited donations. Drawing on the mathematical and social sciences, and on transportation, industrial and computer engineering, it aims to develop new models of the flow of goods to the disaster site based on analysis of media data (e.g., news, websites, social networks), and on responses to previous disasters. The project qualitatively and quantitatively examines the relationship between media framing of needs and material convergence, improving understanding of what and how donations are collected and shared, and it suggests response strategies to better react to or influence media-driven material convergence.

image

Compounded Social Vulnerability: Parole Supervision and Disasters

RESEARCHERS: Tricia Wachtendorf, Felicia Henry

FUNDING: Unidel Award (Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice)

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Henry with Wachtendorf is using an exploratory case study method and documentary analysis to review parole policies in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. We find that parole policies in each state fail to address how parolees should respond during disasters and the implications for compliance failure. Conditions of parole and parole policies and procedures (or lack thereof) can make it extremely difficult for individuals on parole to successfully and simultaneously navigate disasters. Without proper guidance from the agencies responsible for parole in each state, individuals may be caught further on the web of correctional control. Our findings lead us to make several recommendations for justice agencies, as well as state and local governments.

image

COVID-19: Community Impacts and Adaptation To Crisis: Delawareans Living With HIV/Aids

RESEARCHERS: Tricia Wachtendorf

FUNDING: Internally Funded, Delaware HIV Consortium

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The crisis surrounding COVID-19 impacted communities across the globe. Appreciating that disasters have differential impacts on those affected, this study examined the impact the crisis had on Delawareans living with HIV/AIDS. The study explored issues of preparedness, response, adaptation, and decision-making, among other social consequences, as well as challenges related to health, housing, finances, and support. Over 50 interviews were conducted with clients of the Delaware HIV Consortium to better understand their experiences and needs over the course of the pandemic.

READ MORE

image

DRC COVID-19: Community Impacts and Adaptation to Crisis

RESEARCHERS: Tricia Wachtendorf, James Kendra

FUNDING: Internally Funded

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The crisis surrounding COVID-19 impacted communities across the globe. This effort examined the impact of the crisis on community in the early stages of the pandemic, exploring issues of preparedness, response, adaptation, and decision-making, among other social consequences. A concentric approach to data collection began with the impact of the crisis on an institution of higher education – the University of Delaware and its population. The examination spanned outward to include others who have relationships with the institution (e.g. community members, businesses, faith-based organizations, agencies, among others). We then circle back to those involved with the community around the core institution, to examine in greater depth core questions around impact, decision-making, and adaptation under crisis. Several hundred in-depth interviews were conducted with people impacted by the crisis, with the potential to follow up with participants at a later date.

image

HAZARDS SEES TYPE 2: Dynamic Integration of Natural, Human, and Infrastructure Systems for Hurricane Evacuation and Sheltering

RESEARCHERS: Rachel Davidson, Tricia Wachtendorf

FUNDING: National Science Foundation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
We are developing a new computational framework to support hurricane evacuation management. The framework, called the Integrated Scenario-based Evacuation (ISE), explicitly represents uncertainty in hurricane evolution and can be used to support robust, adaptive, and repeated decision-making. The hazard is represented with an ensemble of probabilistic hurricane scenarios, population behavior with a dynamic decision model, and traffic with a dynamic user equilibrium model. Components are integrated in a multi-stage stochastic program to provide a tree of evacuation order recommendations and an evaluation of the risk and travel time performance for that solution. The recommendations advance the state-of-the-art because: (1) they are based on an integrated hazard assessment that includes the effects of storm surge, wind waves, tides, river discharge, inland flooding, and wind; (2) explicitly balance competing objectives of minimizing risk and travel time; (3) offer a well-hedged solution robust under the range of hurricane evolutions; and (4) leverage the substantial value of decreasing uncertainty during an event. The first version has been developed and demonstrated in North Carolina. Additional PIs: R. Kolar, Oklahoma, B. Blanton, UNC Chapel Hill, L. Nozick, Cornell, and B.Colle Stony Brook

image

NSF EAGER: Risk Objects In Public Health Crisis: An Exploratory Investigation Of Stigma, Role-Triage, And Cautionary Measures

DURATION: October 1, 2015 – August 31, 2019
RESEARCHERS: James Kendra, Tricia Wachtendorf
ADDITIONAL INVESTIGATOR: Sarah Sisco, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
DRC, in partnership with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will conduct research on the management of the Ebola crisis in NYC. This study focuses on the generation of stigma in epidemic (or epidemic threatened) environments. In particular, we explore who is involved in the generation of stigma labels, why these labels emerge, the consequences they generate, and how various stakeholders promote, resist, or contend with stigma. The project seeks to learn how public officials, in an environment of scientific uncertainty and multijurisdictional conflict and contradiction, can counter stigmatization and mitigate the creation of risk.

image

NSF HDBE: Collaborative Research: Leveraging Massive Smartphone Location Data to Improve Understanding and Prediction of Behavior in Hurricanes

DURATION: September 1, 2020 – August 31, 2023
RESEARCHERS: Rachel Davidson, Tricia Wachtendorf, Sarah DeYoung

FUNDING: National Science Foundation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
In this project, newly available anonymous smartphone location data will be used to dramatically improve understanding of how people behave during hurricanes (e.g., how many people will evacuate, when, how, from where, and to where). In this project, we will promote the progress of science by capitalizing on the availability of a new type of data—anonymous location information from smartphones—to make a leap forward in understanding and predicting the behavior of the population during hurricane evacuations. The project will advance national welfare and benefit society by substantially improving the ability to manage future evacuations. During a hurricane, officials make many highly consequential decisions, including issuing official evacuation orders, messaging the public, opening shelters, staging materials, and staff, implementing special traffic plans, executing support for vehicle-less populations, and preparing to undertake rescues. All of these depend directly on how many people are expected to evacuate, when, how, from where, and to where. By providing a more accurate and nuanced prediction of population behavior during hurricanes, this project will enable officials to make those decisions in a more informed and effective way. Our practitioner partners from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Florida and North Carolina state emergency management agencies will also help us share findings with the larger emergency management community. Combining the power of the new data with domain expertise based on traditional survey and interview data will advance the science.

image

NSF SCC-CIVIC-PG TRACK B: An Integrated Scenario-Based Hurricane Evacuation Management Tool to Support Community Preparedness

DURATION: February 1, 2021 – May 31, 2021
RESEARCHERS: Rachel Davidson, Tricia Wachtendorf

FUNDING: National Science Foundation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
As a hurricane approaches, emergency managers must determine when and where to issue official evacuation orders. It requires integrating large amounts of uncertain, changing information to make consequential decisions in a short time frame under pressure, and the stakes are high. An opportunity exists to leverage recent research—in particular, the Integrated Scenario-based Evacuation (ISE) tool—to help meet that challenge. This team designed the ISE tool to be run for a particular hurricane as it approaches the U.S. When run at a point in time, it generates a set of contingency plans and defines the circumstances under which to implement each, depending on how the hurricane evolves. Each plan includes recommendations about whether or not to issue an evacuation order for each geographic evacuation zone, and if so, when. While the new technology has promise, moving from research to practice brings its own challenges. The objectives of Stage 1, therefore, are to: (1) Determine how the new tool and its output can support emergency managers’ natural decision-making process; (2) Conduct a needs assessment for the tool; and (3) Advance understanding of community innovation in disaster management. The Stage 2 objective is to implement an operational prototype of the ISE-based decision support tool for North Carolina. The emergency manager partners will ensure the tool is of practical use; the researchers will ensure it reflects the best science, and the industry partner will ensure its impact is sustainable by hosting it on their platform.

DRC RESEARCH PROJECTS: 36

FILTER BY RESEARCH AREA:
4 Climate Change | 5 Humanitarian Assistance | 6 Infrastructure Risk Management | 12 Protective Actions | 14 Public Health | 15 Response | 3 Social Vulnerability | 4 Warning and Risk Perception | CLEAR ALL

FILTER BY CLASSIFICATION:
11 Active Research | 19 Past Research | 5 Student Research | CLEAR ALL

image

Addressing the Holy Grail of Emergency Management: A Study Of Faith-Based Organizational Coordination Following Hurricane Florence

ADDITIONAL INVESTIGATOR: Lauren Clay, MPH at D’Youville College
FUNDING: Self-Funded, The National Academies of Sciences, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, & Medicine Gulf Research Program, Early-Career Research Fellowship

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
This research explores the interorganizational coordination of faith-based organizations responding to disaster-impacted communities. During disasters, faith-based organizations play an integral role by providing extensive human, physical, and monetary resources to address the needs of the impacted community. This research buildings on the existing literature by studying how resources, norms, and environment enable or constrain the coordination of faith-based organizations. This study is a qualitative inquiry exploring the interorganizational coordination of faith-based organizations which responded to 2018 Hurricane Florence in the community of New Bern, North Carolina. Findings from this study will address gaps in the existing literature and inform emergency management practitioners on better coordination practices for faith-based and other community-based organizations in disasters.

image

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Modeling Multiple Stakeholder Decision Making to Reduce Regional Natural Disaster Risk

RESEARCHERS: Rachel Davidson, Joseph Trainor

FUNDING: Department of Homeland Security, National Science Foundation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The project will result in a new framework of interacting mathematical models that can be used to better understand, design, and evaluate government natural disaster risk management policies, such as providing funds to help homeowners strengthen their homes or requiring homeowners to buy natural disaster insurance. By supporting improved design and evaluation of public policies, the project will help the country better manage its risk. By considering the individual, sometimes competing stakeholder points-of-view up front, as an integral part of the analysis, the new framework will make it easier to identify those win-win system-wide solutions that are most likely to be put into action and to be effective. Engaging representatives of the relevant government agencies, and insurance and home building industries as partners at the beginning of the project will help ensure that the research offers usable results that can be put into practice as quickly and effectively as possible.

Co-Principal Investigators: Jamie Kruse, East Carolina University; Linda Nozick, Cornell University

image

Approaches to Coastal Adaptation in the United States

RESEARCHERS: A.R. Sider, Tess Doeffinger

FUNDING: National Science Foundation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Sustainable development along the United States’ coast is challenging for several reasons, including continual weathering and climatic shocks. These risks are expected to be exacerbated due to climate change. There are currently a wide range of coastal adaptation responses being employed across the United States. The purpose of this research is to develop a fundamental understanding of the variation in adaptation responses that directly impact households, how these responses were chosen, and also to determine whether the most vulnerable members of communities are benefiting from these responses. The knowledge gained from this research offers the ability to identify gaps in adaptation, track progress, and aid in future decision making.

image

Business Continuity as Entrepreneurship

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Now into its second year, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt community life by forcing small organizations like businesses, non-profits, and neighborhood committees to adapt in ways that they never could have imagined. This study seeks to engage with the owners, managers, and employees of small organizations across two sets of interviews to understand how they’ve been updating their processes, products, and services to preserve their value and spur recovery.

image

Coastal Hazards, Equity, Economic Prosperity and Resilience (CHEER)

DURATION: September 1, 2022 –
RESEARCHERS: Rachel Davidson, Sarah DeYoung, Joseph Trainor, A.R. Siders[/if 449]

FUNDING: National Science Foundation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The UD-led hub — Coastal Hazards, Equity, Economic prosperity and Resilience (CHEER) — is one of five NSF-funded projects announced recently as part of the agency’s Coastlines and People program, which is concentrating its research efforts to protect the natural, social and economic resources of U.S. coasts, and to help create more resilient coastal communities.

This five-year project will be led by Rachel Davidson, a core DRC faculty member and UD professor of civil and environmental engineering. Co-principal investigators include Sarah DeYoung, core DRC faculty member and associate professor of sociology and criminal justice at UD; Linda Nozick, professor and director of civil and environmental engineering at Cornell University; Brian Colle, professor and division head of atmospheric sciences at Stony Brook University; and Meghan Millea, professor of economics at East Carolina University.

READ MORE

image

COLLABORATIVE CDI-TYPE II: Cyber Enabled Discovery System for Advanced Multidisciplinary Study of Humanitarian Logistics for Disaster Response

RESEARCHERS: Tricia Wachtendorf

FUNDING: National Science Foundation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
This project seeks to better understand how donations are collected and distributed. Using observational work conducted during recent disasters and interviews with individuals from organizations and agencies involved in formal and informal relief efforts, this study examines the organizational aspects of material convergence and subjective motivations for contributing donations to disaster relief, with particular emphasis on unsolicited donations. Drawing on the mathematical and social sciences, and on transportation, industrial and computer engineering, it aims to develop new models of the flow of goods to the disaster site based on analysis of media data (e.g., news, websites, social networks), and on responses to previous disasters. The project qualitatively and quantitatively examines the relationship between media framing of needs and material convergence, improving understanding of what and how donations are collected and shared, and it suggests response strategies to better react to or influence media-driven material convergence.

image

Compounded Social Vulnerability: Parole Supervision and Disasters

RESEARCHERS: Tricia Wachtendorf, Felicia Henry

FUNDING: Unidel Award (Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice)

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Henry with Wachtendorf is using an exploratory case study method and documentary analysis to review parole policies in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. We find that parole policies in each state fail to address how parolees should respond during disasters and the implications for compliance failure. Conditions of parole and parole policies and procedures (or lack thereof) can make it extremely difficult for individuals on parole to successfully and simultaneously navigate disasters. Without proper guidance from the agencies responsible for parole in each state, individuals may be caught further on the web of correctional control. Our findings lead us to make several recommendations for justice agencies, as well as state and local governments.

image

COVID-19: Community Impacts and Adaptation To Crisis: Delawareans Living With HIV/Aids

RESEARCHERS: Tricia Wachtendorf

FUNDING: Internally Funded, Delaware HIV Consortium

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The crisis surrounding COVID-19 impacted communities across the globe. Appreciating that disasters have differential impacts on those affected, this study examined the impact the crisis had on Delawareans living with HIV/AIDS. The study explored issues of preparedness, response, adaptation, and decision-making, among other social consequences, as well as challenges related to health, housing, finances, and support. Over 50 interviews were conducted with clients of the Delaware HIV Consortium to better understand their experiences and needs over the course of the pandemic.

READ MORE

image

DRC COVID-19: Community Impacts and Adaptation to Crisis

RESEARCHERS: Tricia Wachtendorf, James Kendra

FUNDING: Internally Funded

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The crisis surrounding COVID-19 impacted communities across the globe. This effort examined the impact of the crisis on community in the early stages of the pandemic, exploring issues of preparedness, response, adaptation, and decision-making, among other social consequences. A concentric approach to data collection began with the impact of the crisis on an institution of higher education – the University of Delaware and its population. The examination spanned outward to include others who have relationships with the institution (e.g. community members, businesses, faith-based organizations, agencies, among others). We then circle back to those involved with the community around the core institution, to examine in greater depth core questions around impact, decision-making, and adaptation under crisis. Several hundred in-depth interviews were conducted with people impacted by the crisis, with the potential to follow up with participants at a later date.

image

Floodplain Management in the United States: Where, why, and how policies have shaped floodplain development

DURATION: September 1, 2021 –
RESEARCHERS: AR Siders, Logan Gerber-Chavez, Salvesila Tamima, Miyuki Hino[/if 449]
ADDITIONAL INVESTIGATOR: Katharine Mach, University of Miami
FUNDING: National Science Foundation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Managing infrastructure and housing development in hazardous areas is fundamental to limiting damages from extreme weather events.
But construction in hazardous places continues. This project, a collaboration between the University of Delaware, University of Miami, and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, investigates how and why some communities are able to grow without developing housing and infrastructure in floodplains. We are generating lessons for broader climate risk management efforts. The project will (a) measure floodplain development by creating a systematic, national measurement of municipal floodplain development, (b) analyze patterns of contextual factors and floodplain development outcomes, and (c) use comparative case studies, interviews, and legal analysis to explore how local regulations have shaped floodplain outcomes. Our floodplain development measurements will be open access, so researchers, local officials, and citizen advocates can use and adapt the data for their own needs and provide feedback to refine the indices. Ongoing work with practitioners is supporting a peer-to-peer learning network to improve floodplain development management.

READ MORE