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Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions (2006)

Chapter: Appendix C Committee Biographies

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2006. Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11671.
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Appendic C
Committee Biographies

GARY A. KREPS, Chair, is former vice provost and now professor emeritus at the College of William and Mary. Following completion of his Ph.D. in sociology at Ohio State University in 1971, he began and continued his career as a faculty member and administrator at William and Mary until retiring in July 2005. Dr. Kreps has long-standing research interests in organizational and role theories as both relate to structural analyses of community, regional, and societal responses to natural, technological, and willful hazards and disasters. He has served as a staff member, consultant, or member on five National Academies committees: the Committee on the Socioeconomic Effects of Earthquake Prediction (1976-1978), the Committee on U.S. Emergency Preparedness (1979-1981), the Committee on International Disaster Assistance (1978-1980), the Committee on Mass Media Reporting of Disasters (1978-1980), and the Committee on Disaster Research in the Social Sciences (2004-2006). Over the course of the past two decades, Dr. Kreps and his collaborators have developed taxonomies and theories of organizing and role enactment during the emergency periods of disasters. Major findings from his research program have been reported in two books and articles in Sociological Theory, Annual Review of Sociology, American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, and many other basic and applied publications. Dr. Kreps’ 2001 entry in the International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (“Disaster, Sociology of”) emphasizes the need to reconcile functionalist and constructivist conceptions of disasters as acute systemic events.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2006. Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11671.
×

PHILLIP R. BERKE is currently professor of land-use and environmental planning in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Dr. Berke is also senior research associate of the New Zealand International Global Change Institute, and a research fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. He previously served as associate director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M University. Dr. Berke’s research interests include land-use and environmental planning, state and local development management, sustainable development, and natural hazard mitigation in developed and developing communities. The central focus of his research is to develop a deeper understanding of the connections between human settlements and the natural environment. His research seeks to explore the causes of land-use decisions, how these decisions impact natural environmental systems, and the consequences of these impacts on human settlements. His ultimate goal is to seek solutions to complex urban development problems that help communities live within the limits of natural systems. His current research focuses on a comparative evaluation of the impacts of compact and low-density sprawl development patterns on watersheds in the Eastern United States. He is also studying the influence of New Zealand’s national planning mandate that requires local governments to prepare and implement environmental plans, achieve national environmental goals, and advance land-use patterns that support sustainable outcomes. A feature of this mandate that is being investigated involves how well local plans have redressed human rights violations of the indigenous people of New Zealand—the Maori. Dr. Berke received his Ph.D. in urban and regional science from Texas A&M University.



 

THOMAS A. BIRKLAND is an associate professor of public administration and policy, and political science at the University at Albany, State University of New York, where he also directs the Center for Policy Research. Dr. Birkland received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Washington. His research interests are concerned with the impact of disasters and crises on media and policy makers’ agendas, resulting in a reprioritizing of perceived important problems. Dr. Birkland was a 1993-1994 Earthquake Engineering Research Institute-Federal Emergency Management Agency (EERI-FEMA) fellow, as well as a faculty fellow in social science research applied to hazards and disasters (the first “Enabling Project”). He has written several articles about natural hazards policy and politics. Most recently, Dr. Birkland was a plenary speaker and moderator at the 9/11 Summit on emergency planning and management for the judiciary and is currently a member of the EERI Social Science/Learning from Earthquakes committee.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2006. Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11671.
×

STEPHANIE E. CHANG is an associate professor at the University of British Columbia and a joint faculty member with the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) and the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability (IRES). Dr. Chang also holds a Canada Research Chair position in disaster management and urban sustainability. She previously served as a research assistant professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Washington. Dr. Chang received her Ph.D. in regional science from Cornell University. Her work aims to bridge the gap between engineering, natural sciences, and social sciences in addressing the complex issues of natural disasters. Her research has focused on developing integrated regional models for estimating losses from future earthquakes. She has also developed methods for assessing disaster mitigation strategies and inquired into how disasters impact regional economies. Dr. Chang’s current research addresses community disaster resilience and sustainability, mitigation of infrastructure system risks (e.g., electric power, water, and transportation), and urban disaster recovery. Dr. Chang was awarded the 2001 Shah Family Innovation Prize by EERI and serves on the editorial board of Earthquake Spectra.


SUSAN L. CUTTER is the director of the Hazards Research Lab, a research and training center that integrates geographical information processing techniques with hazards analysis and management, as well as a Carolina Distinguished Professor of Geography at the University of South Carolina. She is the cofounding editor of an interdisciplinary journal, Environmental Hazards, published by Elsevier. She has worked in the risk and hazards fields for more than 25 years and is a nationally recognized scholar in this field. She has authored or edited eight books and more than 50 peer-reviewed articles. In 1999, Dr. Cutter was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a testimonial to her research accomplishments in the field. Her stature within the discipline of geography was recognized by her election as president of the Association of American Geographers in 1999-2000. Dr. Cutter received her Ph.D. in geography from the University of Chicago.


MICHAEL K. LINDELL is former director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M University. He received his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Colorado with a specialty in disaster research and has completed hazardous materials emergency responder training through the hazardous materials specialist level. Dr. Lindell has more than 25 years of experience in the field of emergency management, during which time he has conducted a program of research on the processes by which individuals and organizations respond to natural and technological hazards. In addition, he has had extensive experience in providing technical

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2006. Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11671.
×

assistance to government agencies, industry groups, and private corporations in development of emergency plans and procedures. Dr. Lindell has written extensively on emergency management and is the author of more than 60 technical reports, 60 journal articles and book chapters, and 5 books/monographs. His research has examined the processes by which affected populations respond to warnings of the imminent threat of a natural or technological hazard. His organizational research has examined the effects of disaster experience and the community planning process upon the development of adaptive strategies for promoting emergency preparedness. Dr. Lindell has served as an adjunct faculty for FEMA’s National Emergency Training Center, lecturing on disaster psychology and public response to warning. He also has been an instructor in other workshops federal agencies have sponsored for state and local emergency planners throughout the country, and appeared as a panelist in conferences on protective actions in hazardous materials emergencies. In addition, Dr. Lindell has been a consultant to five of the Department of Energy National Laboratories on a variety of topics in the area of emergency preparedness and response.


ROBERT A. OLSON is president of Robert Olson Associates, Inc., which consults in such areas as vulnerability analysis and loss estimation, hazard mitigation and prevention, and emergency planning and operations. Clients of the 22-year-old firm have included the Kajima Corporation and other private companies as well as numerous public safety organizations. Previously, from 1975-1982, Mr. Olson served as the first executive director of the California Seismic Safety Commission. He has chaired numerous committees, including the Advisory Committee of the National Information Service for Earthquake Engineering, the California Governor’s Task Force on Earthquake Preparedness, and the Advisory Group on Disaster Preparedness to the California Joint Legislative Committee on Seismic Safety. He received the 2001 Alfred E. Alquist Award for Achievement in Earthquake Safety from the Earthquake Safety Foundation, and in 2004 was awarded an honorary membership in the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. Mr. Olson received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California at Berkeley and his master’s degree from the University of Oregon.


JUAN M. ORTIZ is the emergency management coordinator for the City of Fort Worth Tarrant County Office of Emergency Management. Mr. Ortiz has 10 years experience in the field of emergency management, having also served as emergency management coordinator for the City of Corpus Christi, Texas. He is the former president of the Coastal Bend Emergency Management Association and former chairman of the International Association of Emergency Managers Texas Coastal Advisory Team. He currently

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2006. Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11671.
×

serves on the Board of Directors of the Emergency Management Association of Texas. Mr. Ortiz received his B.S. in emergency administration and planning from the University of North Texas.


KIMBERLY I. SHOAF is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Public Health and research director of the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters. Dr. Shoaf’s expertise is in the combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies for studying social and health impacts of disasters. In addition to the chapter on “Disaster Public Health” in the Encyclopedia of Public Health, she has also recently coauthored a chapter on “Human Impacts of Earthquakes” for the CRC Handbook of Earthquake Engineering. Her research interests include disaster impacts on physical injuries, agency utilization in disasters, international health, public health impact of disasters, program planning and evaluation, and health in the Latino community. She has also focused on the role of academia in preparing the U.S. population for bioterrorism; as well as standardizing definitions and procedural protocols to describe structural damage and injury, and refining casualty estimation models. Dr. Shoaf received her Ph.D. in community health sciences from UCLA.


JOHN H. SORENSEN is a distinguished research staff member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Dr. Sorensen has been involved with research on emergency planning and disaster response for more than 25 years. He has been the principal investigator on over 40 major projects for federal agencies including FEMA, the Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Defense, the National Academies, and the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. Dr. Sorensen has participated in research including the Three Mile Island Public Health Fund Emergency Planning Project on Three Mile Island and the Second Assessment of Research on Natural Hazards where he served as the subgroup leader for prediction, forecast warning, and emergency planning. He has also authored more than 140 professional publications including Impacts of Hazardous Technology: The Psycho-Social Effects of Restarting TMI-1. He has published extensively on response to emergency warnings, risk communications, organizational effectiveness in disasters, emergency evacuation, and protective actions for chemical emergencies. Sorensen has led the development of emergency management information systems, simulation models, conventional and interactive training courses, and educational videos. He has served on many advisory committees including the Natural Hazard Research and Information Applications Center at the University of Colorado, the Atomic Industrial Forum’s National Environmental Studies Task Force on Emergency Evacuation, the International

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2006. Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11671.
×

City Management Association’s Emergency Management “Emergency Planning Greenbook” Project, and FEMA’s Emergency Management Technology Steering Group. He was a member of the National Research Council, Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Resources, Earth Sciences Board, Subcommittee on Earthquake Research. Dr. Sorensen received his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Colorado at Boulder and was an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii.


KATHLEEN J. TIERNEY is currently professor of sociology and director of the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Prior to moving to Boulder in 2003, Dr. Tierney was professor of Sociology and Director of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware. With more than 25 years of experience in the disaster field, she has been involved in research on the social aspects and impacts of major earthquakes in California and Japan, floods in the Midwest, Hurricanes Hugo and Andrew, and many other major natural and technological disaster events. Since September 11, 2001, she has been directing a study on the organizational and community response in New York following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Her other recent research projects include a study on public perceptions of the earthquake threat in the Northern California Bay Area. Dr. Tierney is the author of dozens of articles, book chapters, and technical reports on the social aspects of hazards, disasters, and risk. She is a member of the National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee, which is overseeing the official federal investigation of the World Trade Center disaster. Dr. Tierney earned a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Ohio.


WILLIAM A. WALLACE is a professor of decision sciences and engineering systems at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and holds joint appointments in cognitive sciences and civil and environmental engineering; he is the research director of Rensselaer’s Center for Infrastructure and Transportation Studies. Dr. Wallace has more than 20 years experience in developing, implementing, and evaluating decision support systems. His current research includes decision support for group improvisation, trust and knowledge management, and decision technologies for emergency response and restoration and incident management. He is cofounder and coeditor of Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory. Dr. Wallace has authored and edited 6 books and more than 70 articles and papers—out of a total of more than 200 archival publications. Dr. Wallace received his Ph.D. in management science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.


ANTHONY M. YEZER is professor of economics at George Washington University. Dr. Yezer also serves as special consultant to the National Eco-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2006. Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11671.
×

nomic Research Associates (N/E/R/A). He previously held positions as economic consultant to the Department on Housing and Urban Development and the World Bank. His primary areas of research are regional and urban economics, the effects of public policy on the location of economic activity, and applied microeconomic theory. Dr. Yezer received his Ph.D. in economics and urban studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2006. Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11671.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2006. Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11671.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2006. Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11671.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2006. Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11671.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2006. Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11671.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2006. Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11671.
×
Page 393
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Committee Biographies." National Research Council. 2006. Facing Hazards and Disasters: Understanding Human Dimensions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11671.
×
Page 394
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Social science research conducted since the late 1970's has contributed greatly to society's ability to mitigate and adapt to natural, technological, and willful disasters. However, as evidenced by Hurricane Katrina, the Indian Ocean tsunami, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, and other recent events, hazards and disaster research and its application could be improved greatly. In particular, more studies should be pursued that compare how the characteristics of different types of events—including predictability, forewarning, magnitude, and duration of impact—affect societal vulnerability and response. This book includes more than thirty recommendations for the hazards and disaster community.

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