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A Message from the Directors
DRC Alumni & Friends,
Greetings as we near the end of a difficult year. 2020 has certainly brought many challenges, and the DRC Family has not gone untouched. We hope that you all will find respite and healing now and through the new year.
In this time, DRC has continued its work. Several of our students have persevered to complete their degrees, and we welcomed an engaged cohort of new students to the Center. We prioritized our support of students and their research, and we established a working group of students, staff, and faculty to enhance diversity, inclusion, and climate activities. Our research on community adaptation to COVID continues, thanks to the generous willingness of several hundred people to share their stories with us. We’ve also persisted in advancing the body of knowledge in such areas as climate adaptation, evacuation decision-making, and post-disaster well-being. Our faculty and students have engaged in service to the university and the community, not only by sharing their expertise but also by playing active roles during the COVID-19 response. In particular, the E.L. Quarantelli Resource Collection has been instrumental in supporting the international research community throughout the pandemic.
We also would like to note our considerable appreciation of Gail Kracyla, who has been one of the anchors of DRC’s spirit and culture and a linchpin of DRC’s work. She retired this fall after 23 years at UD, and 11 years at DRC. Her devotion to the students, staff, and faculty at DRC, as well as the many visitors who have passed through our halls, has helped make DRC the place we want to be.
Throughout this issue of the DRC Dispatch, you’ll find other examples of our work and updates on student, faculty, and staff activities.
We wish you and your families health and peace in 2021, and all good wishes for a much-improved New Year.
Sincerely,
Jim Kendra and Tricia Wachtendorf
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New Horizons in Disaster Research
Faculty Spotlight: "Mississippi after Katrina: Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction on the Gulf Coast" by Jennifer Trivedi
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Faculty Promotions & Appointments
Congratulations are in order for three DRC core faculty members on their recent promotions and appointments.
- Dr. Rachel Davidson was appointed Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Chief Diversity Advocate in the College of Engineering.
- Dr. Sarah DeYoung received a joint appointment in the Biden School for Public Policy & Administration after a successful research talk and faculty vote.
- Dr. Earl (Rusty) Lee was promoted to associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Dr. Joseph Trainor was promoted to full professor and appointed Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the Biden School for Public Policy & Administration
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 This semester, we're excited to welcome Cornelia Posch to the E.L. Quarantelli Resource Collection staff team as a Graduate Research Assistant! Cornelia is pursuing her Ph.D. in Disaster Science and Management and holds a Master of Arts degree in Romance Studies/Italian Language and Literature from the University of Vienna, Austria, and a Master of Arts degree in Library and Information Science from Humboldt-University of Berlin, Germany. In over five years as a librarian at the Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max-Planck-Institute for Art History, a research library in Rome, Italy, Cornelia developed an interest in Emergency Preparedness in libraries, and in the field of Conservation and Preservation. As part of the ELQ team, she contributes to the Collection through both her background and her research interests. We are excited to have her on board!
Just a reminder that during the pandemic, while the reading room remains closed, you can access our catalog and request materials online! Just visit our website at https://www.drc.udel.edu/elq-collection/research-tools/search-our-catalog, and don't hesitate to email us at elq-resource@udel.edu! |
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Publications & Presentations
Feature: "COVID-19 is a disaster. So is mass Black Death." by Felicia A. Henry
 In her essay COVID-19 is a disaster. So is mass Black Death, DRC affiliated graduate student Felicia A. Henry links systemic oppression with outcomes in disasters, uncovering how mass Black Death and racism is correlated to inequalities in outcomes of COVID-19. Henry is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware and a Bill Anderson Fund Fellow. She is the recipient of the Unidel Award in Sociology & Criminal Justice and the University Unidel Distinguished Graduate Scholar Award. Henry's research interests include race and ethnicity, gender, criminal justice/mass incarceration, social vulnerability and resilience in disasters, and communities. |
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Welcome Back!
 Dr. Hiroaki Daimon re-joins the Center for a three-year visiting scholar appointment beginning January 2021. Daimon is a visiting scholar from the Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Japan. His dissertation concentrated on disaster volunteering and proposed that there is “a circuit of affirming debt." Daimon's current research focuses on the effectiveness of support from volunteers, especially in long-term recovery, through a comparative analysis of U.S. and Japanese cases and by conducting “action-research” in collaboration with survivors in the village of Noda, Iwate, Japan which was seriously damaged by the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami. Daimon is also re-theorizing the concept of “collective trauma” originally proposed by Kai Erikson through the use of fieldwork and text mining and by discussing the meaning of the “things” and surroundings that were lost in the natural hazards. Daimon's final area of focus delves into the risk perception paradox in disaster science.
Please Note: The University of Delaware Office for International Students and Scholars (OISS) continues to monitor events surrounding the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. At this time, the U.S. State Department requires that all new F-1/J-1 students maintain a “physical presence" at their program site in order to enter and remain in the U.S. Therefore, UD OISS is deferring all new requests until the campus re-opens to in-person visitors.
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IAEM@UD Student Chapter
 From IAEM@UD President Mike Michaud: 2020 brought new challenges for our IAEM@UD student group, but we are resilient! We have continued our usual activities virtually and have even added more ways for our members to participate from a distance. In October, we hosted Responding to COVID-19: A Cross-Jurisdictional Look - a panel of emergency managers from FEMA Region III, DEMA, and the cities of Newark and Wilmington, DE. Our November speaker, Jonna Papaefthimiou from the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management, shared her experiences working to develop community partners for disaster preparedness. It was great to connect with people from across the country who are doing incredible work in the field. We also hosted a monthly social activity to decompress. In addition to our weekly podcast and informational emails, members now have an opportunity to stay connected on our own Discord channel. We would like to open this up to alumni who may be interested in connecting with our current students. If you are interested in joining, please reach out and let us know! Feel free to email us at iaemud@gmail.com. You can also check out our website to see upcoming public (virtual) events and speakers. Now is the perfect time to connect with our students, share your own experiences, and help build the future of our field. We are looking for virtual speakers for Spring 2021 so please let us know! |
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Successful Dissertation & Thesis Defenses
The following DRC students successfully defended their dissertations or theses. Congratulations!
- Dr. Melissa Brown de Gerena, Disaster Science & Management
Dissertation: "Complexities of Mass Fatality Incidents in the United States: Predicting Telecommunications Failure."
- Dr. Carolina Velásquez Calderón, Disaster Science & Management
Dissertation: "Surrounded by water, but nothing to drink: Water crisis in San Andres, a Colombian Caribbean Island."
- Dr. Connor Dacey, Disaster Science & Management
Dissertation: "The Perceptions of Storm Spotters as Part of a Natural Hazards Integrated Warning System.”
- Roni Fraser, Sociology & Criminal Justice
Thesis “Mission First, Greyshirts Always: An Exploration Into the Reintegration Experiences of Short-Term Volunteers Following Disaster Response Operations”
- Dr. George "Bud" May, Disaster Science & Management
Dissertation: "An Exploratory Case Study of Civil-Military Coordination in Federal Emergency Management: The Department of Defense Response to Hurricanes Irma and Maria."
- Dr. Awele Maduka-Ezeh, Disaster Science & Management
Dissertation: "The Role of Social Capital in Immigrants' Pandemic Preparedness and Response."
- Emily Mongold, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Honor's Thesis "Coastal vs Inland Hurricane Evacuation Analysis."
- Dr. Diego Fernandez Otegui, Disaster Science & Management
Dissertation: "International Humanitarian Deployments Under the Siege of Symbols."
- Dr. Daryl Yoder-Bontrager, Disaster Science & Management
Dissertation: "Non-Governmental Organizations Working in Disasters: Conductance and Resistance Factors in Relationships, Structures, and Power."
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Abdulhadi Al Ruwaithi
Ph.D. Candidate, Disaster Science & Management
M.S., Emergency Health Services,
University of Maryland-Baltimore County
B.S.N., University of Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Research Interests: Public Health Emergencies, Collective Behavior, and Mass Gathering Medicine
Bio, CV & Contact |
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Nancy Contreras
Ph.D. Candidate, Sociology & Criminal Justice
M.C.J. Criminal Justice, University of Colorado
B.S. Criminal Justice, California Lutheran University
B.A. Sociology, California Lutheran University
Research Interests: Immigration/Migration, Intersectional Criminology, Social Disasters, Race/Ethnicity, and Qualitative Methods
Bio, CV & Contact |
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Melissa Jurist
M.S. Student, Disaster Science & Management
B.A., Psychology (emphasis on Developmental Psychology), New York University
Research Interests: Preparedness for Families and Children, Children Living with Disability, and Disaster Risk Reduction
Bio & Contact |
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