Featured Speakers & Presentation Papers

 All 50th Anniversary Workshop plenarist and working session facilitators are listed below.

Bill Anderson Pic

 William A. Anderson

 It is with great sadness that we share with you the passing of dear DRC friend and alum, Dr. William  Anderson, on 12/29/2013 while on vacation in Kauai. Bill was scheduled to speak at the Workshop and we  will miss his insights and the richness of his recollections.

 Bill was a galvanizing force in the early years of DRC and has been a leader in the wider disaster research  community for decades. His service to such agencies as NSF, the World Bank, the American Sociological  Association, the Research Committee on Disasters, and EERI has left its mark in so many transforming ways. He was an ever-kind and gracious mentor to many emerging scholars over the years. Most importantly, he was very good friend to many of us. His passing is a tremendous loss to the research community, and he will be truly and deeply missed.

Abramson_CUMC_1 David Abramson, Working Session Facilitator

 “Cutting Across Methods and Disciplines – Vulnerability”

 As Deputy Director and Director of  Research at Columbia University’s  National Center for Disaster Preparedness  at the Earth Institute, Dr. Abramson’s areas  of interest include disaster recovery and  resiliency, the social ecology of vulnerability, risk communication targeted at high-risk or elusive communities, and rapid research strategies in post-disaster settings. He is the principal investigator of the longitudinal Gulf Coast Child & Family Health Study, an examination of need and recovery among 1,000+ randomly sampled displaced and impacted families in Louisiana and Mississippi (2006-2010), and is Co-Investigator of an NIH study of the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on children’s health. Additionally, Dr. Abramson is leading a foundation-funded effort to identify pediatric need along the Gulf Coast coupled with a youth empowerment intervention project in five Gulf Coast high schools. Other current or recent disaster-related research activities include studies of how US cities recover from disasters, evolving trends in disaster philanthropy, the public health response to Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, and the facilitation of healthcare coalitions in New York City. Prior to entering the field of public health in 1990, Dr. Abramson worked for a decade as a national magazine journalist, having written for Rolling Stone, Esquire, Outside, and the San Francisco Examiner, among other publications. A former paramedic, Abramson holds a doctorate in sociomedical sciences with a specialization in political science, and a master of public health degree, both from Columbia University.

 Sudha Arlikatti, Working Session Facilitator

 “Up Close & In Context – Indian Ocean Tsunami”

Full paper available for download: Sudha Alikatti, Indian Ocean Tsunami

 Sudha Arlikatti joined the University of North Texas in 2006 as an Assistant Professor of Public  Administration and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011. She also serves as the coordinator of the  undergraduate program in Emergency Administration and Planning (EADP). She received a PhD in Urban  and Regional Science from Texas A&M University in 2006. Dr. Arlikatti has over a decade of experience  working as an architectural and planning consultant. Her current research focuses on disaster warnings and  risk communication, protective action decision-making, post-disaster sheltering and housing recovery, organizational and community resiliency  to disasters (floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, terrorism), and sustainable land use planning . Her teaching focuses on emergency management, disaster response and recovery, international disasters, special populations in disasters and environmental planning and hazards management, among others.Since joining UNT, Dr. Arlikatti has been awarded grants from the National Science Foundation, the Texas Department of State Health Services, Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity and the Hispanic and Global Studies Initiative Fund (UNT-HGSIF).

 Thomas Birkland, Plenarist

“Converting Disaster Research into Effective Public Policy”

 Thomas A. (Tom) Birkland is the William T. Kretzer Professor of Public Policy at North Carolina State  University, where he also the Associate Dean for Research and Engagement in the College of Humanities  and Social Sciences. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Washington, Seattle. At North  Carolina State, he teaches courses on disaster policy and on the policy process. Dr. Birkland’s research is in  theories of the policy process, agenda and policy change and learning, particularly as related to natural disasters and industrial accidents. He is the author of After Disaster and Lessons of Disaster.  His recent interests have focused on how people and institutions learn from disasters. From 1995-2007, Dr. Birkland was on the faculty at SUNY Albany, and in 2006 served as a program officer at the National Science Foundation.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Daniel Dodgen, Plenarist

 “Critical Ideas Generated and the Work Ahead” 

 Daniel Dodgen, Ph.D., is the Director for At-Risk    Individuals, Behavioral Health, and Community  Resilience  in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and  Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human  Services (HHS). His office focuses on ensuring that at-risk  individuals, behavioral health, and community resilience  are integrated into federal public health and medical preparedness and response activities. Before joining HHS, Dr. Dodgen served as Special Assistant to the CEO and Senior Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer at the American Psychological Association (APA). Before joining APA, Dr. Dodgen was a Fellow with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education. He has served on multiple federal advisory groups and   authored numerous articles and book chapters on psychology and public policy. Dr. Dodgen is a trained American Red Cross disaster mental health worker, and was part of the response to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the 1994 Los Angeles earthquakes, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings, and the September 11 Pentagon attack in 2001. Following the Pentagon attack, Dr. Dodgen co-founded the Metropolitan Washington Mental Health Community Response Coalition and served as its chairman. 

Drabek Thomas Drabek, Plenarist

“History of Disaster Research”

Full paper available for download: Tom Drabek, Disaster Research

 Thomas E. Drabek completed his graduate education at The Ohio State University Department of Sociology and Anthropology in 1965. During his last two years at OSU he was a full-time staff member of the Disaster Research Center. He is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Criminology at the University of  Denver. He was a faculty member there from 1965 to 2004. He was department chair (1974-1979 and 1985-1987). Upon his retirement in 2004, he was awarded Emeritus status and continues his research on a part-time basis. In 1993, he was awarded a John Evans Professorship which continues to provide modest funding for his research. His research has examined group and organizational responses to large-scale disasters. Recently, CRC Press (Boca Raton, FL) published the second edition of The Human Side of Disaster (2013). He has authored or co-authored over 100 book chapters and journal articles and 28 other books including Strategies for Coordinating Disaster Responses (2003); Disaster-Induced Employee Evacuation (1999); Disaster Evacuation Behavior: Tourists and Other Transients (1996; Emergency Management: Principles and Practice for Local Government (1991, co-edited with Gerard J. Hoetmer); and Human System Responses to Disaster: An Inventory of Sociological Findings (1986). He served as the co-editor of the International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters (1986-1990) and was elected President of the International Sociological Association’s Research Committee on Disasters (1990-1994). In August, 2007 he was the third recipient of The E.L. Quarantelli Award For Contributions to Social Science Disaster Theory by the International Research Committee on Disasters. In June, 2008, he received the first Dr. B. Wayne Blanchard Award for Academic Excellence in Emergency Management Higher Education. He frequently lectures at academic and emergency management workshops and conventions throughout the U.S.A. and elsewhere.

Kim Fortun2 Kim Fortun, Working Session Facilitator

“Up Close and In Context – Bhopal: A Case of Late Industrialism”

 Kim Fortun is a cultural anthropologist and Professor of Science & Technology Studies at Rensselaer  Polytechnic Institute. Her research and teaching focus on environmental risk and disaster, and on  experimental ethnographic methods and research design.  Her research has examined how people in different  geographic and organizational contexts understand environmental problems, uneven distributions of  environmental health risks, developments in the environmental health sciences, and factors that contribute to  disaster vulnerability.  Fortun’s book Advocacy After Bhopal Environmentalism, Disaster, New World  Orders was awarded the 2003 Sharon Stephens Prize by the American Ethnological Society.  From 2005-2010, Fortun co-edited the Journal of Cultural Anthropology. Currently, Fortun is working on a book titled Late Industrialism: Making Environmental Sense, on The Asthma Files, a collaborative project to understand how air pollution and environmental public health are dealt with in different contexts, and on design of the Platform for Experimental and Collaborative Ethnography (PECE), an open source/access digital platform for anthropological and historical research.  Fortun also runs the EcoEd Research Group, which turns ethnographic findings about environmental problems into curriculum delivered to young students (kindergarten-grade 12), and is helping organize both the Disaster-STS Research Network, and the Research Data Alliance’s Digital Practices in History and Ethnography Interest Group.   Fortun is Acting Head of Rensselaer’s Department of Science and Technology Studies, and Director of Sustainability Studies.

 

greer1 Alex Greer, Working Session Facilitator

“Up Close and In Context – Deepwater Horizon”

Full paper available for download: Alex Greer, Deepwater Horizon

 Alex Greer is currently ABD in the Disaster Science and Management PhD Program at the University of  Delaware and a research assistant at the Disaster Research Center. He received his M.S. in Disaster Science  and Management from the University of Delaware in 2012. His thesis work examined how the framing of oil  spills affected the policy that followed. He received his B.S. in Sociology and Geology from East Tennessee  State University in 2010. Currently, Alex is working on a federally funded project investigating household decision-making regarding relocation and resettlement following disasters and the role infrastructure plays in this process. Alex’s research interests include disaster recovery, risk conceptualization and the regulation of offshore drilling, and public health response to disasters.

Havidan Havidán Rodríguez, Plenarist
“History of Disaster Research”

 Havidán Rodríguez joined UT Pan American in January 2011 as provost and vice president for academic affairs and as a tenured professor in the  Department of Sociology. Prior to coming to UTPA, he served as deputy provost at the University of Delaware, where he also was a professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice and former director of the Disaster Research Center, the oldest and one of the leading social science disaster research centers in the world. Dr. Rodriguez, who obtained his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin, held a faculty position and several administrative positions at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez for over a decade and served from 1995 to 1998 as director of the Minority Affairs Program for the American Sociological Association. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Michigan’s Population Fellow’s Program (Summers, 2001-2003); was selected as the Frey Foundation Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (Spring, 2002); received a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) Outstanding Achievement Award (2004); and was recognized as one of the Hispanics of the Year in the State of Delaware, for which he received the Professional Achievement Award (2007). Dr. Rodríguez has served on a number of committees for the National Academies of Sciences and on review panels for the National Science Foundation and the Ford Foundation, and was the chair of the Latina/o Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association.

 

Kohta Juraku Kohta Juraku, Working Session Facilitator

“Cutting Across Methods and Disciplines – Nuclear Energy”

Full paper available for download: Kohta Juraku, Fukushima

 Kohta Juraku is an assistant professor at Tokyo Denki University (TDU), Japan. He has worked on  sociological studies of social decision-making processes centering on nuclear utilization and other energy  technologies. He received his PhD on nuclear utilization from the University of Tokyo in 2011. His current research  interests focus on social learning processes from nuclear accidents, as well as public deliberation processes on  nuclear waste disposal and nuclear policy in general. Before joining TDU, he worked at the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Management at the University of Tokyo from 2008 to 2012. Also, he spent over a year at the Department of Nuclear Engineering, UC Berkeley from 2010 to 2011 as a visiting scholar. As a sociologist of science and technology, he both collaborated with and observed nuclear engineers in those departments during the of period of the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Dauber_Michelle Michelle Landis Dauber, Plenarist

 “Converting Disaster Research into Effective Public Policy” 

 A law professor and a sociologist, Michele Landis Dauber has written highly original historical and  sociological studies about the relationship between welfare programs and disaster relief programs in the  formation of the modern American welfare state. She has focused her scholarship on aspects of the history  of the New Deal and the fate of the legal doctrines and policies it created. She has also written about such  varied topics as abortion clinic conflict,   social security privatization, affirmative action, and the early  history of  administrative law during the War of 1812. In addition to her scholarly work, Professor Dauber is an officer and director of Building a Better Legal Profession, which was founded by Stanford Law students in 2007. The organization uses innovative data advocacy and Web-based social entrepreneurship strategies to mobilize market pressure for workplace reforms in large law firms, including better working conditions, work-life policies, and increased racial and gender diversity. Currently Professor  Dauber teaches Law and Wikinomics, which studies this issue. Winner of the 2006 Walter J. Gores Award, Professor Dauber is only the  second law professor to receive the highest teaching honor at Stanford University. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 2001, she was a clerk to Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Fausto Fausto Marincioni, Working Session Facilitator

“Cutting Across Methods and Disciplines – Megacities and Megaregions”

Full paper available for download: Fausto Marincioni, Megacities and Megaregions

 Fausto Marincioni is a Senior Scientist at the Università Politecnica delle Marche at Ancona, Italy, where he  pursues research on the human-environment interaction, with specific focus on the management of natural  hazards, and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in environmental sustainability and disaster risk  Reduction. He holds a Ph.D. in Geosciences as well as a Master’s of Science Degree in Geography from the  University of Massachusetts. His professional experience with government and international agencies (United States Geological Survey, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations) involved the design and implementation of government projects aimed at optimizing the use of modern information technologies for scientific exchange, natural hazard control, and emergency management. Previous to the Università Politecnica delle Marche Dr. Marincioni has taught human and environmental geography at Long Island University (C.W. Post Campus), New York, USA. He has published as well as presented his work both nationally and internationally. 

Scott MilesScott Miles, Working Session Facilitator

“Cutting Across Methods and Disciplines – Resilience”

Full paper available for download: Scott Miles, Resilience

 Scott Miles is an associate professor at Western Washington University (WWU) in Huxley College of the  Environment. He is the Director of WWU’s Resilience Institute—a disaster research and service center—and  was instrumental in establishing WWU’s disaster risk reduction undergraduate program. His research  program seeks to understand the dynamics of community resilience and disaster recovery, with an  emphasis on the metabolic relationships between well-being, infrastructure, and natural hazards. He employs a range of research methods, including computer simulation, GIS, and qualitative data analysis. He holds a Ph.D. in geography and a masters and bachelors in civil engineering, as well as a post-graduate diploma in GIS. Prior to joining WWU, Dr. Miles was a member of the U.S. Geological Survey Western Region Earthquake Hazards Team for six years.

Dave Neal Dave Neal, Working Session Facilitator

“Implementation Needs – Disaster Science and Emergency Management”

Full paper available for download: Dave Neal, Disaster Science and Emergency Management

 Between 1981-1985 Neal attended The Ohio State University and obtained his Ph.D. in Sociology. During  this time he served as a research assistant at the Disaster Research Center. His dissertation, chaired by  Henry Quarantelli,  compared US and Swedish emergence during and following disaster. He received his  bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Bowling Green State University. Since obtaining his Ph.D., he has held  positions at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of North Texas, Jacksonville State University,  and currently with Oklahoma State University.  During this time, he has received external funding from the National Science Foundation, Department of Homeland Security/FEMA, NASA, American National Red Cross, along with other sources.  His research has focused on disaster response and has also strongly promoted and assisted with developing emergency management degree programs.  Recently with DRC alums Brenda Phillips and Gary Webb, he published Introduction to Emergency Management with CRC Press.

 

 Dewald van Niekerk, Working Session Facilitator

“Cutting Across Methods and Disciplines – Environment and Disaster”

Full paper available for download: Dewald van Niekerk, Environment and Disaster

 Dewald van Niekerk is Professor in Disaster Risk Reduction and the founder and director of the African Centre  for Disaster Studies at North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus. He obtained his PhD in 2005 and was  promoted to full professor in 2012. He has authored and co-authored close to 100 publications which includes  peer reviewed articles, books and chapters in books and international and national research reports. Dewald  has been project leader for local, national as well as international disaster risk reduction projects, and has  undertaken disaster risk reduction research and consultancy in countries such as Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, United Arab Emirates, Sweden, UK, and India. He has been successful in obtaining multi-year research and project grants from national as well as international donors. Dewald is the programme manager for the Postgraduate Diploma in Disaster Studies, as well as the M.A. and Ph.D degree in Development and Management (Disaster Studies). He is the leader of the research program in Disaster Risk Studies in the research entity: Social Transformation at the North-West University. Dewald is the founder and Editor in Chief of Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies. His interests include community-based disaster risk management, disaster risk assessment, disaster risk governance, building institutional capacities for disaster risk reduction, and transdisciplinary disaster risk reduction.

 Terri Norton, Working Session Facilitator

“Cutting Across Methods and Disciplines – Recovery”

Full paper available for download: Terri Norton, Disaster Debris Management

 Terri R. Norton is an Associate Professor and the Construction Engineering Program Coordinator within the  University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction. She  earned a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the Florida A&M University- Florida State University College of  Engineering. Before joining UNL she was a Member of the Technical Staff in the Structural Dynamics Department at The Aerospace Corporation. Dr. Norton’s research interests involve evaluating the effects of dynamic loads or hazards on civil structures and sustainable building construction. Her present research is in the area of disaster recovery and reconstruction through disaster debris management. Dr. Norton currently serves as the principal investigator on a US Geological Survey (USGS) grant to assess disaster debris management for a tsunami scenario along the California coast. She was an Enabling the Next Generation of Hazards and Disasters Researchers Fellow, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). She also served on the EERI LFE Social Dimensions Reconnaissance team following the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami. Moreover, Dr. Norton has been an invited lecturer at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, where her seminar focused on multi-hazard identification and risk assessment.

 Jamie Padgett, Working Session Facilitator

“Implementation Needs – Infrastructure”

Full paper available for download: Jamie Padgett, Infrastructure

 Jamie E. Padgett is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice  University in Houston, TX. Padgett’s research focuses on the application of probabilistic methods for risk  assessment of structures, including the quantification of infrastructure sustainability. Her work addresses the  protection of structures and infrastructure such as bridges exposed to multiple hazards, including  earthquakes, hurricanes, or aging and deterioration. Dr. Padgett is Chair of the ASCE technical committee on  Multiple Hazard Mitigation, and serves on the executive committee for the Technical Council on Lifeline  Earthquake Engineering (TCLEE). She currently serves on editorial boards for the ASCE Journal of Bridge Engineering, Earthquakes and Structures, and Natural Hazards Review. Dr. Padgett has received several awards and recognitions including the 2011 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award and ASCE’s 2009 New Face of Civil Engineering for her work in the field of infrastructure risk assessment and protection. Her research has been supported by such agencies as the National Science Foundation, Transportation Research Board, and Houston Endowment.

Walter Peacock Walter Peacock, Working  Session Facilitator

“Cutting Across Methods and Disciplines – Recovery”

 Walter Peacock is Director of the Hazards Reduction and Recovery Center and Professor in Landscape  Architecture and Urban Planning and in the Sustainable Coastal Margins Program. He holds a Ph.D. in  Sociology from the University of Georgia where he studied under Frederick L. Bates. His research focuses on  social vulnerability and resiliency, evacuation, and the socio-political ecology of long-term recovery and  mitigation. He is currently working on projects related to issues of long-term housing recovery, community  resiliency, and population dislocation. He has conducted research in the United States, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Italy, India, Turkey, the former Yugoslavia, and the US Virgin Islands. He has authored or co-authored two books and over ninety chapters, articles, papers, and technical reports. He was the 2009 recipient of the Enrico L. Quarantelli Award for Social Science Disaster Theory. His published articles have appeared in a variety of journals including American Sociological Review, Journal of the American Planning Association, Natural Hazards Review, Disasters, the International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, Landscape and Urban Planning and Ekistics.

 Lori Peek, Plenarist

“Critical Ideas Generated and the Work Ahead”

 Lori Peek is Associate Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of the Center for Disaster and Risk Analysis at  Colorado State University. She is currently involved in several research projects, including a participatory  project on children’s recovery after the Joplin tornado and the Slave Lake wildfires; a five-year project on the  potential mental and physical health effects of the BP Oil Spill on children; a study of risk perception and  evacuation behavior in hurricane-prone communities along the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic Coasts; a global examination of earthquake risk reduction activities; and a state-wide survey of disaster preparedness among childcare providers in Colorado. She has published widely on the sociology of disasters and is author of Behind the Backlash: Muslim Americans after 9/11, co-author of Children of Katrina, and co-editor of Displaced: Life in the Katrina Diaspora. Dr. Peek received the Distinguished Book Award from the Midwest Sociological Society in 2012 and the Best Book Award from the American Sociological Association Section on Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity in 2013. In 2009, the American Sociological Association Section on Children and Youth honored her with its Early Career Award for Outstanding Scholarship.

Rotanz (suit) Rich Rotanz, Plenarist

“Converting Disaster Research into Effective Public Policy”

Full paper available for download: Rich Rotanz

 Richard (Richie) Rotanz, Executive Director of the Applied Science Center (a 90,000 sq. ft. facility  housing and affiliating with numerous engineering firms, academic institutions, and response  organizations), was the first commissioner for the Office of Emergency Management of Nassau  County, New York who created this County’s agency in 2002, as well as their first emergency  operation center, emergency response planning processes as well as major exercises and CERT teams. Prior to his tenure in Nassau County he was assigned as Deputy Director of New York City’s Office of Emergency Management under Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani where he was responsible research & planning, and for re-instituting the destroyed emergency operation center at Pier 92, and managed the multi-organization response during the 911 tragedy. He has more than forty years of experience in emergency management, fire suppression (25 years in the New York City Fire Department), specialized rescue, hazardous materials incidents, surgical nursing, and planning for all natural, civil, and technological hazards including acts of terrorism. In 2004, he developed Adelphi University s’ graduate degree in emergency management studies to meet the distinct needs of the region and still serves as advising professor. His graduate degrees are in protection management and educational theory, and, doctoral studies in public policy administration in disaster response. Richie is married to Patricia, both proud parents to their 14 kids, live on Long Island, NY.

 Jasmin Ruback, Plenarist

“Converting Disaster Research into Effective Public Policy”

 Jasmin Ruback is the President of Ruback Associates, Inc., an independent consulting firm specializing in the  areas of disaster management, planning, and evaluation. For the past 13 years, Dr. Ruback has consulted with  FEMA on program and training evaluations, response and recovery operations, community preparedness, and  mitigation. She has been deployed four times for FEMA. She served in the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General,  Vice-Admiral Carmona, as Technical Assistance Director for the Medical Reserve Corps, where she provided  assistance to over 60 communities. She is currently working on federal policy development; an evaluation of  the National Disaster Recovery Framework, research for a CONOPS for the new Mitigation Advisor position, and the development of competencies and capacities to help reach the National Preparedness Goal. Dr. Ruback was the first Post-Doctoral Research Fellow of the Disaster Research Center. Her Ph.D. work in Social and Community Psychology focused on post-disaster trauma, evacuation, and relocation.

 Jeannette Sutton, Working Session Facilitator

“Implementation Needs – Warning”

Full paper available for download: Jeannette Sutton, Warning

 Jeannette Sutton is a Senior Research Scientist in the Trauma Health and Hazards Center at the University of  Colorado Colorado Springs where she specializes in disaster sociology with a primary focus on online  informal communications in disaster, public alerts and warnings, and community resiliency. Much of her  research investigates the evolving role of Information and Community Technology, including social media  and mobile devices, for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Jeannette is the Principal Investigator  on two NSF-funded projects, one on the use of Twitter for disaster communications and a second on the role of  information access in relation to perceptions of collective efficacy. Sutton is also a co-investigator on the DHS-sponsored project Comprehensive Testing of Imminent Threat Public Messages for Mobile Devices. Jeannette holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Colorado at Boulder and completed her postdoctoral training at the Natural Hazards Center.

Tatsuki_PhotoShigeo Tatsuki, Working Session Facilitator

“Up Close and in Context – Tohoku Earthquake”

Full paper available for download: Shigeo Tatsuki, Tohoku Earthquake

Shigeo Tatsuki, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at Doshisha University in Japan. Previously, Tatsuki lectured as a Professor in the School of Sociology at Kwansei Gakuin University,  Japan, was a visiting professor at the Disaster Prevention Institute at Kyoto University, and a senior a Senior Research Scientist at the Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institute in Hyogo, Japan. Tatsuki’s research interests include: long-term life (individual) recovery from disasters; post-disaster volunteer management, Interlinking government and NPO activities; disaster recovery assistance, stress care management and other preventative measures against Post-traumatic Stress Disorders; and   planning and coordinating community-based formal and informal serviced for the elderly and people with disabilities during disasters. Tatsuki was the organizer of the Kwansei Gakuin University Relief Volunteer Center after the 1995 Kobe earthquake and a member of Hyogo Forum for Advocating Individual Recovery (Hyogo FAIR) from 1997 to 2005. Tatsuki also received the Governor’s Award for distinguished service (1995 Kobe Earthquake Disaster Recovery) in May, 2005 and is President-Elect, Institute for Social Safety Science, Japan.

 José Torero, Working Session Facilitator

“Up Close and in Context – September 11th”

Full paper available for download: Jose Torero, September 11th

 José L. Torero is the Head of the School of Civil Engineering at The University of Queensland. He is a leader in  the field of Fire Safety Engineering where he specializes in the behavior of fire in complex environments such  as forests, tall buildings, novel architectures, tunnels, aircraft and spacecraft. He holds a BSc for the Pontificia  Universidad Católica del Perú (1989), and an MSc (1991) and PhD (1992) from the University of California,  Berkeley. Jose is a Chartered Engineer (UK), a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) and the Royal  Society of Edinburgh. Jose joined The University of Queensland in 2012 following appointments as the Landolt  & Cia Chair in Innovation for a Sustainable Future at Ecole Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne, BRE Trust/RAEng Professor of Fire Safety Engineering at The University of Edinburgh, Associate Professor at the University of Maryland and Charge de Recherche at the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

 Susann Ullberg, Working Session Facilitator

“Cutting Across Methods and Disciplines – Disaster Memory”

Full paper available for download: Susann Ullberg, Disaster Memory

 Susann Ullberg works as a researcher at the Center for Crisis Management and Training (CRISMART) in  Stockholm and teaches classes on risk, vulnerability and the politics of disaster as well as ethnographic  methodology at the Swedish National Defence College. Her recent research has focused on the nexus between  disaster and social memory, resulting in her doctoral thesis Watermarks: Urban Flooding and Memoryscape  in Argentina by which she obtained a PhD in social anthropology from Stockholm University. Susann has been  actively engaged in the establishment of the interdisciplinary Centre for Natural Disaster Science in Sweden. She is an affiliated researcher at the Center for Disaster and Risk Analysis at Colorado State University, the Institute of Latin American Studies at Stockholm University and the Centro de Antropología Social at IDES in Buenos Aires. She also serves as a board member of the Research Committee on Sociology of Disasters of the International Sociological Association and of the Disaster, Conflict and Social Crisis Research Network of the European Sociological Association.

Unsworth (2) Kristene Unsworth, Working Session Facilitator 

“Implementation Needs – Warning”

Full paper available for download: Kristene Unsworth, Warning

 Kristene Unsworth is an assistant professor in the College of Information Science & Technology at Drexel  University. Her areas of interest are in information policy, government information, and ethics. Kristene  completed her PhD at the University of Washington in July 2010 and her dissertation, Identifying the  enemy: Social categorization and national security policy, was a critical discourse analysis of the way  threat is constructed in government-sponsored media campaigns.

 Gary Webb, Working Session Facilitator

“Cutting Across Methods and Disciplines – Improvisation”

Full paper available for download: Gary Webb, Improvisation

 Gary Webb is an associate professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Public Administration at  the University of North Texas, which houses the nation’s first bachelor’s degree program in emergency  management. Previously, he was a faculty member in the sociology department at Oklahoma State  University, where he received the 2011 Regents Distinguished Teaching Award. He has also held research positions at the University of Delaware’s Disaster Research Center. He has conducted extensive research on organizational preparedness for and response to numerous disasters in the United States and abroad. His research has been supported by various agencies, including the U.S. National Science Foundation, and it has appeared in a variety of professional journals, including the International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, International Journal of Emergency Management, Environmental Hazards, Natural Hazards Review, and Rural Sociology. Most recently, he co-authored Introduction to Emergency Management (2012, CRC Press).

Wenger Dennis Wenger, Plenarist

“History of Disaster Research”

 Dennis Wenger is the Program Director for program element 1638, Infrastructure Systems Management  and Extreme Events, at the National Science Foundation (NSF). He is also the Acting Program Director for  the Civil Infrastructure Systems program. He had previously been at At Texas A&M, Dr. Wenger was a  Professor of Urban and Regional Science and an Adjunct Professor of Sociology. He was also the Founding  Director and Senior Scholar of the Hazard Reduction & Recovery Center. Prior to his arrival at Texas A&M  in 1989, Dr. Wenger was on the faculty of the University of Delaware where he served as Co-Director of the  Disaster Research Center from 1984-1989 Dr. Wenger has been engaged in research on hazards and disasters for over 40 years. His research has focused upon the social and multidisciplinary aspects of natural, technological, and human-induced disasters. Specifically, he has studied such topics as local emergency management capabilities and response, police and fire planning and response to disasters, search and rescue and the delivery of emergency medical services, mass media coverage of disasters, warning systems and public response, factors related to local community recovery success, and disaster beliefs and emergency planning. He undertook the only empirical study of the evacuation of the World Trade Center towers after the first terrorist attack in 1993 and served as the principal investigator for the first project to Enable the Future Generation of Hazard Researchers. He is the author of numerous books, research monographs,articles and papers. Dr. Wenger currently serves as the Chair of the United Nations Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (STAG) to the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR). . At NSF, Dr. Wenger serves as the foundation’s representative to the Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction (SDR) which is associated with the Office of Science and Technology Policy of the White House. Dr. Wenger serves as the Co-Chair of the SDR.

 Clayton Wukich, Plenarist

“Critical Ideas Generated and the Work Ahead”

Full paper available for download: Clayton Wukich, Critical Ideas Generated and the Work Ahead

 Clayton Wukich is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Sam Houston State  University in Huntsville, Texas. Focusing on elements of network management and decision making under  conditions of uncertainty, his recent work examines interagency coordination and performance during  large-scale wildfires. He also researches social media use by organizations and the resulting multi-actor  information networks. Dr. Wukich received his Ph.D. in public and international affairs from the University of  Pittsburgh in 2011 where he studied under Professor Louise K. Comfort. He has published in several journals includingRisk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy and the International Review of Public Administration. Dr. Wukich serves as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve and has taught at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut and the University of Pittsburgh.