Summary
Seven scholars from around the country will arrive at East Carolina University (ECU) in June to take part in one of the CHEER Hub’s most exciting activities, its summer scholars program.
Now in its third year, this six-week program is designed to prepare a new generation of researchers for careers in convergent disaster science and help students learn about the science behind and implications of natural hazards through hands-on activities.
This year’s application process was especially competitive, with more than 60 candidates vying for a spot in the program. In the end, seven students – four undergraduate and three graduate – representing six universities were selected.
“I’m excited to see this year’s summer scholars contribute to our research,” said Rachel Davidson, the CHEER’s principal investigator. “Every year is different with students coming from different universities and disciplinary areas, so it’s exciting to see the new questions and perspectives they bring.”
The cohort will live on ECU’s campus in Greenville, NC, which is located in one of the Hub’s three case study areas. According to Meghan Millea, CHEER’s education director and ECU economics professor, the student researchers play a critical role in linking the university-based researchers to the communities.
“This year, we will broadly focus on science communication, so how to communicate between CHEER mentors and the summer scholars and how to translate local knowledge and priorities into the research,” Millea said. “These skills are the crux of bridging the gap between science and society.”
The summer scholars program maintains the same core curriculum year to year. Like previous cohorts, students will participate in several hands-on research activities – including conducting fieldwork across several hurricane-impacted communities – learn about different topical issues related to climate change and community resilience, and meet with Hub partners and local government officials.
These various activities and professional networking opportunities are a core part of the Hub’s effort to develop and implement a robust, research-based mentoring program. They also continue to enrich and strengthen each year as the Hub builds its relationships with its partners.
The Hub’s relationship with representatives from Craven County, NC, one of CHEER’s practitioner partners, presents an exciting opportunity for this year’s cohort. This summer, the group will visit New Bern, one of the state’s growing coastal cities and the county seat, to learn about how both levels of government prioritize and fund long-term resilience projects, as well as how they finance community recovery costs.
However, one facet of the Hub’s summer scholars program will remain the same: student projects.
Students will collaborate with Dr. Millea to identify a specific topic within the Hub’s scope of research that matches their background and interests. The summer scholars mentorship program will complement this activity. Several ECU faculty members working in closely related fields will serve as on-site advisers throughout the program. At the same time, they will be mentored virtually by a member of the Hub. Each student will meet with at least one mentor on a weekly basis.
At the end of the six weeks, each summer scholar will present their key findings to their peers, community stakeholders, and Hub faculty and staff. These projects, which cover a wide range of topics, disciplines, and themes, highlight the varied academic and professional backgrounds of program participants. For example, two of this year’s projects build on students’ disciplinary interests:
What are the best practices and common barriers to communicating hurricane risks to various audiences (e.g., differences in storm experience, media habits/familiarity, geographic location, etc.)?
Michelle Ruiz, Ph.D. candidate from the University of Florida, who studies risk communication, will gather feedback from communities with heavy tourism, weather forecasters, and local governments about their challenges and strategies to keep people informed and safe.
House buyouts can be converted to parks, but that transition is complicated. What kind of insight and lessons learned can communities with this experience provide?
Layla Hood, a Park Management major from Kansas State, will spend her six weeks learning from communities with buyout-converted lands about their unexpected challenges and successes.
Their interviews, data, and cumulative projects will capture local knowledge and experience, which are critical for the CHEER project to model realistic, applicable models.
Read on to learn more about the Hub’s 2025 summer scholars.
Sara Berg (She/Her) | University of New Hampshire, Environmental Engineering
Sara is pursuing a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering at the University of New Hampshire’s (UNH) College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. She currently works at the Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC) in Durham, NH, where she assesses the precision and accuracy of a commercial-off-the-shelf acoustic sensor in detecting oil slick thickness for emergency response. As an undergraduate, Sara interned at UNH’s Sustainability Institute and conducted research on the embodied carbon of purchasing. She also served as co-president of the American Cancer Society on campus during her undergraduate years. From January 2024 to May 2025, Sara was a Student Leadership Award Fellow at the Arctic Domain Awareness Center and the Applied Environmental Research Center. This summer, Sara hopes to explore ways she can apply her knowledge of emergency response and engineering practices to inland and coastal areas affected by hurricanes and other natural hazards.
Learn more about Sara here.
Annie Blimmel (She/Her) | University of Delaware, Environmental Studies
Annie Blimmel is a rising Senior at the University of Delaware pursuing a BA in Environmental Studies. She is also double minoring in environmental humanities and sociology. She considers environmental studies a highly interdisciplinary field, saying her minors allow her to focus on the social and cultural aspects of environmental hazards and disasters. During the 2024-2025 school year, Annie took several disaster science classes, which inspired her to apply for the summer scholars program. She’s excited to be part of the Hub and looks forward to learning more about how environmental hazards contribute to and exacerbate social inequities. At the end of the program, Annie hopes to apply her experience and knowledge to make strides toward more inclusive protections for those who are disproportionately impacted by coastal hazards.
Learn more about Annie here.
Yvonne Dadson (She/Her) | University at Albany – State University of New York, Information Science with Concentrations in Data Analytics and Information for Risk in Emergency Management & Security (IRES)
Yvonne Appiah Dadson is a doctoral candidate in Information Sciences at the University at Albany, SUNY, focusing on disaster risk management and social equity research. As a graduate research assistant at the Extreme Events, Social Equity, and Technology (E2SET) Laboratory and a member of the Human Systems Dynamics Team of the Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH) project, Yvonne investigates Immigrant vulnerability and resilience in disaster contexts. Her research contributions have been widely recognized in the disaster science community. She has won several accolades for her work. In 2025, she won the Empowering Community Resilience and Global Sustainability Scholars’ (GSS) Sustainability, Research, and Innovation Travel Awards and received the Mid-Atlantic Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) Conference Scholarship. A 2024 Bill Anderson Fund Fellow, Yvonne actively contributes to her field as a journal reviewer and community volunteer. In the long run, she would like to be a policymaker and a leading scholar in her field, mentor the next generation of emergency management professionals, and continue her research on equitable disaster resilience.
Learn more about Yvonne here.
Ryan Gohi Bi (He/Him) | East Carolina University, Economics
This fall, Ryan will graduate from ECU with a BA in Economics with a concentration in Business Administration. He is very passionate about his area of study. In addition to serving as an economics tutor, he is also involved in ECU’s Economic Society. Ryan has been developing a personal finance education app designed to help young adults improve their financial literacy and decision-making in his spare time. He currently works as a student researcher for the Hub under Dr. Meghan Millea. As a part of CHEER’s economy thrust, Ryan focuses on the economic and social effects of hurricanes on coastal communities, specifically looking at housing markets and household resilience, in Eastern North Carolina.
Learn more about Ryan here.
Layla Hood (She/Her) | Kansas State University, Park Management and Conservation
Layla is a rising senior at Kansas State University (KSU) and a McNair Scholar. She is pursuing a BS in Park Management and Conservation, minor in anthropology, and certificate in non-profit leadership. At KSU, she is involved in the George Wright Society Tallgrass Chapter, an organization that promotes the conservation and stewardship of protected areas, and Students for Cultivating Change. Layla is passionate about getting people outside and in nature; she hopes to work for a non-profit that supports outdoor education, recreation, and conservation. This summer will be Layla’s first endeavor into disaster research, and she is particularly interested in how disasters affect tourism and outdoor recreation. As a summer scholar, she hopes to better understand how buyouts can support green spaces, parks, and recreation areas and how the community can benefit.
Learn more about Layla here.
Emma Reed (She/Her) | University of Delaware, Environmental Studies
Emma is a soon-to-be graduate of the University of Delaware, where she has been pursuing a BA in Environmental Studies. During her time at UD, she studied abroad in Madrid, Spain, and in Copenhagen, Denmark – experiences that were both academically enriching and personally transformative. Her research focuses on the influences that determine students’ disaster preparedness knowledge and engagement. In Fall 2024, Emma led an independent mixed-methods research project called “Ready or Not: Exploring Factors That Shape Disaster Preparedness Among College Students at UD.” As she enters the job market, she is looking for roles that would lead her to achieve her main goal – becoming a Disaster Management Specialist at FEMA. In the long term, she hopes to find a fulfilling career in public service that prioritizes community perspectives and voices during times of disaster. Emma is looking forward to sharpening her research skills and exploring the real-world impact of disaster policy this summer.
Learn more about Emma here.
Michelle Ruiz (She/Her) | University of Florida, Geography
Michelle is a third-year PhD student at the University of Florida (UF) studying geography with a focus on natural hazards. In May 2025, she will defend her dissertation proposal, which focuses on risk perception and risk communication for rapidly intensifying hurricanes within Spanish-speaking communities. Michelle is no stranger to academia; she has served as an academic advisor at various universities across the country and currently works as a teaching assistant for several undergraduate hazards and medical geography courses at UF. She is currently a Bill Anderson Fund Fellow. In the long run, Michelle plans to use her degree and experience to amplify the voices of vulnerable populations and meet the needs of the communities at risk of hurricane impacts through research and education. She is excited about the opportunity to develop her research skills and to learn firsthand from local communities about the real-world challenges they face during and after hurricanes.
Learn more about Michelle here.
