NAAHDRI Committees

Justice, Equity, and Future Leadership Committee 

The Justice, Equity, and Future Leadership Committee is dedicated to understanding systemic inequalities while advancing social, racial, and gender justice efforts in hazards and disaster labs, centers, and institutes. This committee also works to develop new opportunities for early and mid-career scholars from historically underrepresented groups who are interested in future leadership positions. 

Co-Chairs: 

Selwyn Mahon, Caribbean Center for Disaster Medicine (viems1@gmail.com) 

Lori Peek, University of Colorado Boulder (lori.peek@colorado.edu) 

Jennifer Tobin, University of Colorado Boulder (jennifer.l.tobin@colorado.edu)

Members: 

Michelle Meyer, Texas A&M University (mmeyer@arch.tamu.edu)

Theresa Richards, University of California San Diego (trichard@eng.ucsd.edu) 

Fernando I. Rivera, University of Central Florida (fernando.rivera@ucf.edu) 

Dana Thomas, Public Health Action Support Team (PHAST) and Michigan Public Health Office of Student Engagement and Practice (danat@umich.edu) 

Sepi Yalda, Millersville University (sepi.yalda@millersville.edu)

Membership Relations Committee

The Membership Relations Committee is dedicated to advancing Category A, B, and C membership as outlined in the NAAHDRI charter and summarized on the NAAHDRI website (https://www.naahdri.org/membership/categories/). The Membership Relations Committee will track and monitor membership eligibility and relations issue invitations, and enhance retention through ensuring that the member experience meets expectations. The committee provides advice and counsel to the Board of Directors on all matters of membership standards, recruitment, and retention.

Chair: 

Melanie Gall, Arizona State University (melanie.gall@asu.edu)

Co-Chair: 

Heidi Huber-Stearns, University of Oregon (hhuber@uoregon.edu)

Members: 

Carol Friedland, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center (cfriedland@agcenter.lsu.edu)

Monica Teets Farris, University of New Orleans (mateets@uno.edu)

Victor Huerfano, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (victor@prsnmail.uprm.edu)

Alessandra Jerolleman, Jacksonville State University (ajerolleman@jsu.edu)

Policy Advocacy Committee

The Policy Advocacy Committee has three foci or lines of action. The first is to encourage, enable, and assist decision-makers in North American countries and territories to adopt and implement science-based policies to reduce risk broadly across societies and to equitably improve event response.The second action line is to advocate wherever possible on behalf of agencies, foundations, and/or organizations that directly or indirectly support hazards and disaster research in North America. The third action line is to advocate wherever possible for established programs or new initiatives that directly or indirectly support hazards and disaster research in North America.

Chair: 

Jason Von Meding, University of Florida (jason.vonmeding@ufl.edu)

Members: 

Ali Asgary, York University (asgary@yorku.ca)

Adenrele Awotona, University of Massachusetts Boston (adenrele.awotona@umb.edu)

Paul D. Biddinger, Mass General Brigham, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard University (pbiddinger@partners.org)

Brian Gerber, Arizona State University (brian.gerber@asu.edu)

Paul Kovacs, Western University (pkovacs@iclr.org)

Tricia Wachtendorf, University of Delaware (twachten@udel.edu)

Jianhong Wu, York University (wujh@mathstat.yorku.ca)

Guirong (Grace) Yan, Missouri University of Science and Technology (yang@mst.edu)

Research Committee 

The Research Committee is dedicated to assessing the status of and supporting the hazards and disaster research enterprise. It is charged with identifying new research needs and opportunities to improve resilience to disasters at the local, national, and international scale. The Research Committee will provide engagement opportunities for NAAHDRI members to collaborate on proposals and projects, identify funding gaps, and collaborate with the Policy Advocacy Committee to seek opportunities to expand and develop new research funding to advance science and reduce disaster risk.

We invite you to learn more about 2022 NAAHDRI Research Incubator Events now!

Co-Chairs: 

Jamie Kruse, East Carolina University (krusej@ecu.edu)

John W. van de Lindt, Colorado State University (John.van_de_Lindt@colostate.edu)

Members: 

Erouscilla Joseph, University of the West Indies (erouscilla.joseph@sta.uwi.edu) 

Robert Weiss, Virginia Tech (weiszr@vt.edu) 

Guirong (Grace) Yan, Missouri S&T (yang@mst.edu)  

Xinyue Ye, Texas A&M University/HRCC (xinyue.ye@gmail.com) 

Ioannis Zisis, Florida International University (izisis@fiu.edu)

Strategic Planning Committee 

The Strategic Planning Committee is dedicated to developing and updating the five-year Strategic Plan for NAAHDRI. The Strategic Planning Committee will translate the NAAHDRI vision and mission into a series of goals, objectives, and actions to be undertaken over the next five years. The Strategic Planning Committee will identify metrics to measure success. A broad array of NAAHDRI members shall be engaged in the development of the Strategic Plan through outreach activities such as surveys and visioning exercises.

Chair: 

Karl Kim, University of Hawaii at Manoa (karlk@hawaii.edu)