HRRC Leadership, Fellows & Affiliates

Who we are

The HRRC is a network of faculty, researchers, students, and staff interested in hazard and disaster issues. HRRC connects faculty across Texas A&M University who conduct research related to hazards and disasters through our faculty fellow program, with core faculty fellows who dedicate the majority of the research to hazard topics. We also have HRRC faculty and research affiliates across many institutions who support the mission of the center and collaborate with us on various projects. Current Ph.D. and masters students who are working on research grants with HRRC faculty are listed below. Undergraduate research assistants are listed on research projects they worked on. Alumni of the center listed show the great work happening due in part to the centers’ educational programs.

See Media Information for HRRC members by topic area.

Join the HRRC Family

Faculty, staff, and students associated with the HRRC receive access to research and engagement opportunities to support their career development. If you are interested in joining the center, please contact Dr. Michelle Meyer at 979.845.7813 or mmeyer@arch.tamu.edu.

Staff

Alexander Abuabara, Postdoctoral Scholar
Research Interest: GIS, spatial modeling
David Bierling, Director of Transportation
Research Interest: Hazardous materials transportation analysis, port infrastructure, operations and environmental issues, emergency response equipment test and evaluation
Deidra Davis, Director of Access and Recruitment
Research Interest: Environmental justice, community engagement, public policy and land use
Seth Jordan, Program Coordinator
Jaimie Masterson, Director of Engagement
Research Interest: Community engagement, plan evaluation, government and public policy, research communication, environmental justice
Michelle Annette Meyer, Director, 2019 – Present
Research Interest: Disaster recovery, environmental justice and equity, volunteering/emergent groups, nonprofit response to disaster, inequality, social capital in disaster, survey research, qualitative research
Galen Newman, Liaison with Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning
Research Interest: Urban regeneration, land use science, spatial analytics, urban flood resilience
Walter Gillis Peacock, Senior Fellow, Previous Director
Research Interest: Sustainability & resiliency issues, hazard mitigation & adaptation, mitigation policy, building codes, housing recovery, long-term disaster recovery, survey research, quantitative methods
J. Carlee Purdum, Assistant Director
Research Interest: Emergency management, rural communities, social vulnerability, community disaster recovery, incarceration
George Rogers, Senior Fellow, Previous Director
Research Interest: Sustainability, risk analysis and planning, technology and society, quantitative methods
Nathanael Rosenheim, Director of Research
Research Interest: Spatial modeling, data science, community development, food system planning
Jeewasmi Thapa, Engagement Specialist
John Thomas Cooper Jr., Director of Outreach
Research Interest: Civic engagement, community development, disaster planning/policy
Shannon Van Zandt, Senior Fellow
Research Interest: Coastal resilience, social vulnerability to disasters, low-income housing, environmental equity, housing recovery planning
Doug Wunneburger, Mapping Lead
Research Interest: Social impacts due to interactions of demographics, spatially explicit policies & laws, GIS methods

Core Faculty

John T. Cooper, Jr., Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
Research Interest: Civic engagement, community development, disaster planning/policy
Mark Fossett, Sociology
Research Interest: Racial & ethnic relations, social inequality, social demography, urban sociology, statistical methods, quantitative techniques

Ivis Garcia, Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
Research Interest: community engagement, housing and housing justice, and community development

Nasir Gharaibeh, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Research Interest: Infrastructure condition assessment and deterioration modeling, participatory methods for infrastructure management, pavement design, preservation & management, infrastructure life-cycle analysis

Matthew Malecha, Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
Research Interest: Community resilience, mitigation planning, environmental planning

Jaimie Masterson, Texas Target Communities
Research Interest: Community engagement, plan evaluation, local government and public policy, research communication, environmental justice
Michelle Annette Meyer, Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
Research Interest: Disaster recovery, environmental justice and equity, volunteering/emergent groups, nonprofit response to disaster, research methods, social stratification and inequality, social capital in disaster, survey research, qualitative research
Galen Newman, Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
Research Interest: Urban regeneration, land use science, spatial analytics, urban flood resilience
Walter Gillis Peacock, Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
Research Interest: Sustainability & resiliency issues, natural hazards, hazards mitigation & adaptation, mitigation policy, building codes, housing recovery, long-term disaster recovery, survey research, quantitative methods
George Rogers, Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
Research Interest: Sustainability, risk analysis & planning, technology and society, quantitative methods
Nathanael Rosenheim, Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
Research Interest: Spatial modeling, data science, community development, food system planning
Shannon Van Zandt, Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
Research Interest: Coastal resilience, social vulnerability to disasters, low-income housing, environmental equity, housing recovery
Douglas Wunneburger, Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
Research Interest: Social impacts due to interactions of demographics, spatially explicit policies & laws
Xinyue Ye, Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
Research Interest: Geographic information system, big data, urban computing, data science
Siyu Yu, Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
Research Interest: Community resilience, plan integration, land use and environmental planning, social vulnerability, hazard mitigation

Faculty Fellows

Ann Bowman, The Bush School of Government & Public Service

Heng Cai, Department of Geography

Shankar Chellam, Civil & Environmental Engineering

So-Min Cheong, The Bush School of Government & Public Service

Benika Dixon, Texas A&M Health Science Center

Rebekka Dudensing, Department of Agricultural Economics

Dan Goldberg, Department of Geography

Cecilia Giusti, School of Architecture

Youngjib Ham, Department of Construction Science

Troy Harden, Department of Sociology, Director of Race and Ethnic Studies Institute

Maria Koliou, Civil & Environmental Engineering

Dongying Li, Department of Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning

Zenon Medina-Cetina, Civil & Environmental Engineering

Jason Moats, The Bush School of Government & Public Service, TEEX

Ali Mostafavi, Civil & Environmental Engineering

Forster Ndubisi, Department of Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning

Xiaofeng Nie, Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution

Garett Sansom, TAMU Public Health

Douglass Shaw, TAMU Agricultural Economics

Kenneth Taylor, The Bush School of Government & Public Service

Qingsheng Wang, Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering

Christine Wen, Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning

Zhe Zhang, Department of Geography

Lei Zou, Department of Geography

Directors Emeritus

Michael Lindell, Director Emeritus
Dennis Wenger, Director Emeritus

Faculty & Research Affiliates

Kayode Atoba, TAMU at Galveston, The Center for Texas Beaches & Shores
Phil Berke, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of City and Regional Planning
Samuel Brody, TAMU at Galveston, The Center for Texas Beaches & Shores
Noel M. Estwick, Prairie View A&M University, College of Agriculture & Humane Sciences
Himanshu Grover, University of Washington, Department of Urban Design & Planning
Sara Hamideh, Stony Brook University, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
Bryce Hannibal , RDC Administrator, Wasatch Front Research Data Center, U.S. Census Bureau
Marccus Hendricks, University of Maryland, College Park, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Wesley E. Highfield, TAMU at Galveston, Department of Marine Science
Jen Horney, University of Delaware, Disaster Research Center
Shih-Kai (Sky) Huang, Jacksonville State University, Department of Emergency Management
Fayola Jacobs, University of Minnesota, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
Navid Jafari, Louisiana State University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Laurie Johnson, Consulting & Research

Dawn Jourdan, University of Maryland-College Park

Brant Mitchell, Louisiana State University, Stephenson Disaster Management Institute
Louis Ngamassi, Prairie View A&M University, MIS
Andrew Rumbach, Urban Institute’s Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center
Jody Rosenblatt Naderi, Ball State University, Department of Landscape Architecture
Lori Peek, University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Sociology
Ronald W. Perry, Arizona State University, School of Public Affairs
Steven Quring, The Ohio State University, Department of Geography
Ashley Ross, TAMU-Galveston, Department of Marine Science
Jesse Saginor, Florida Atlantic University, School of Urban & Regional Planning
Keri Stephens, University of Texas-Austin, Department of Communications Studies
Laura Stough, professor emeritus, Texas A&M, Center on Disability and Development
Elaina Sutley, University of Kansas, Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering
Courtney Thompson, Gulf Research Program, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Jennifer Tobin, University of Colorado Boulder, Natural Hazards Center
Hung Lung Wei, John Jay School of Criminal Justice (NY)
Tristan Wu, University of North Texas, Emergency Administration and Planning
Sierra Woodruff, Office of Glocal Change, U.S. State Department
Yu Xiao, Portland State University, Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning
Yue Ge, University of Central Florida, Department of Public Administration
Yang Zhang, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Urban Affairs and Planning

Students

Doctoral Students

Masters Students

Farzana Ahmed, Master of Urban Planning
Jenna Beyer, Master of Urban Planning program
John Hoang, Master of Urban Planning program
Haley Yelle, Master of Landscape Architecture

Undergraduate Research Fellows

HRRC Undergraduate Research Fellows are students who learn research skills while working with graduate students and faculty on funded research projects. These students then present their research through university and academic conferences.

Tyler Eustler, Urban and Regional Planning
Ashley Shanelle Trujillo, Wildlife and Fishery Sciences

TX General Land Office Interns

The HRRC is supporting the TX General Land Office to recruit TAMU students for paid internships working on hazard management projects. We recruit students each semester. Find out more by contacting Seth Jordan.