DRC NEWS PLACEMENTS: 38
September 20, 2022
Coastal Community Resilience
UD’s Disaster Research Center awarded $16.5 million to study interplay between resilience, equity and economic prosperity
The Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware has been awarded $16.5 million from the National Science Foundation to lead a multi-institutional effort exploring the tension and tradeoffs between a community’s goals of managing hurricane risk while also achieving equity and economic prosperity.
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 infusing $51 million in research funding to protect the natural, social and economic resources of U.S. coasts, and to help create more resilient coastal communities.
The work will require intense input from public policy, sociology, meteorology, engineering and other disciplines.
“The Disaster Research Center at UD has a long and successful track record of interdisciplinary research, analysis and problem-solving focused on some of society’s most complex challenges, so it is fitting that they will lead this latest effort,” UD President Dennis Assanis said. “Through collaboration with institutions nationwide, the CHEER hub will help make coastal communities more resilient in the face of growing threats from climate change.”
The 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.
July 5, 2022
Sharing Essential Messages
In these days of disinformation, misinformation and twisted words, how does anyone get an essential message out to the public in times of danger and crisis?
The Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) turned to the University of Delaware’s Disaster Research Center for help with this question. The DRC has decades of experience in all areas of disaster research.
The partnership has produced the third in a growing collection of research-backed tools designed to help emergency management professionals and others make smart decisions as they address a variety of crises. This one focuses on risk communication during a public health crisis.
July 21, 2021
Helping our dogs
As workers move back into the office, dogs are left alone and anxious, but there are ways to ease the transition
When the coronavirus pandemic upended the United States, among other nations, a silver lining emerged: America’s dogs were really, really happy.
Seeking connection during an isolating time, people rescued so many homeless mutts, shelters began running out. With their guardians homebound, these pooches experienced regular snuggling, belly rubbing and behind-the-ear scratching.
June 11, 2021
UD Researcher Examines How Pets are Managed During Disasters
Sarah DeYoung, a UD professor, is co-author of a new book that examines how pets are managed during disasters and provides tips for keeping them safe.
August 28, 2020
Lessons from Katrina
New book details the recovery and provides lessons for current hurricane season
Jennifer Trivedi prepares for the release of her new book, Mississippi after Katrina: Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction on the Gulf Coast. The book, which centers on Biloxi, was years in the making — she spent six weeks there in 2006 and another 11 months there in 2010-2011, around the fifth anniversary, with extra trips sprinkled in.
June 10, 2020
Disaster Science Reaches Out
Students provide accessible research for emergency professionals
The first topic selected for the DRC It! hurricane project focused on how residents decide whether and when to evacuate from an approaching hurricane. It’s a topic that draws intense interest from emergency management professionals each Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1.
May 11, 2020
Vulnerable communities
You would be hard pressed to find a person on the planet who hasn’t been impacted in some way by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
But some communities have been hit harder than others, particularly those vulnerable segments of society and mothers who have infants they need to feed. Others have experienced other disasters — tornadoes, drought, floods — on top of the current health crisis that can overwhelm populations and their health care and emergency preparedness systems.
May 5, 2020
How is COVID-19 Impactning Delawareans?
he University of Delaware’s Disaster Research Center wants to interview as many people in and around Delaware as possible about the impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on their lives.
“What Delawareans are experiencing right now is important to contributing to a better response in future disasters,” said Tricia Wachtendorf, director of the Disaster Research Center. “Our focus is both on the University of Delaware community, but also very much on those residents, organizations, businesses and groups in and around Delaware who have been impacted.”
April 6, 2020
Clemson’s powerful football coach commits coronavirus fumble
DRC core faculty Jennifer Trivedi discusses messaging, disasters, and college football.
March 20, 2020
DRC Welcomes New Core Faculty Member
Dr. Shangjia Dong
DRC is thrilled to announce that Shangjia Dong will be joining us in fall, 2020 as part of UD’s disaster science cluster initiative.
DRC NEWS PLACEMENTS: 38
November 17, 2016
Diversity in Disaster Research
Anderson fellowships provide support network for young scholars
Graduate students from across the country who gathered at the University of Delaware for two days of professional development and shared scholarship were following in the footsteps of the late William A. Anderson, a prominent disaster researcher who was dedicated to increasing diversity in the field.
In the 1960s, Anderson, whose research focused on how disasters affected marginalized communities, was one of the first graduate students in the Disaster Research Center, which was then at Ohio State University and is now at UD.
July 8, 2016
Lessons from a Superstorm
Transportation planning research addresses pre- and post-Sandy climate change adaptations
In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on the East Coast of the United States, leaving in its wake flattened dunes, chewed-up boardwalks, washed-out roads, twisted carnival rides, tangled power lines, sodden furniture and toppled cabanas.
Scenes from Sandy were all the evidence needed to convince many metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) that it was time to integrate climate change into the long-range planning process.
June 20, 2016
On 9/11, America’s Dunkirk
Disaster researchers chronicle largest water evacuation in history
American Dunkirk: The Waterborne Evacuation of Manhattan on 9/11, a new book by James Kendra and Tricia Wachtendorf, associate professor of sociology and director of the DRC. The two social scientists arrived in New York on Sept. 13, 2001, and ended up staying two months as they conducted interviews and delved into various aspects of the response to the terrorist attacks. They returned about a year later for follow-up
January 13, 2016
Disaster research
Resource collection at UD receives important scholarly papers
Resource collection at UD receives important scholarly papers.
September 2, 2015
ELATE Fellow
Rachel Davidson participating in national leadership program for women in STEM
Rachel Davidson participating in national leadership program for women in STEM
May 29, 2015
Research in Nepal
University’s Disaster Research Center team travels to earthquake site
University’s Disaster Research Center team travels to earthquake site.
May 11, 2015
Engineering in context
McNeil elected distinguished member of American Society of Civil Engineers
McNeil elected distinguished member of American Society of Civil Engineers.
May 14, 2014
Center’s anniversary conference marks 50 years of pioneering work
The University of Delaware’s Disaster Research Center marked its 50 years of operation with a conference that included many pioneers in the field and celebrated groundbreaking work in which researchers have conducted some 700 field studies.
