Purdue Policy Research Institute symposium to focus on 'Floods, Tornadoes and Disaster Resilience'

"Floods, Tornadoes and Disaster Resilience" symposium on Nov. 6. (Image provided) Download image

Discovery Park's Purdue Policy Research Institute will bring together disaster resilience experts and Purdue professors and researchers to host a symposium on "Floods, Tornadoes and Disaster Resilience" on Nov. 6. These experts will share their perspectives on the social and policy aspects of disaster resilience from the lens of their fields.   

The symposium, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 5:30-8 p.m. in the West Faculty Lounge of the Purdue Memorial Union. A reception will follow the event in the East Faculty Lounge.

Daniel Aldrich, current professor of political science and director of the Security and Resilience Program at Northeastern University, will keynote the event. Before moving to Northeastern, Aldrich was a professor of political science at Purdue. He has published four books and more than 35 peer-reviewed articles, and has carried out more than five years of fieldwork in Japan, India and Africa. His research focuses on social capital in disaster resilience, and he will speak on “Why Social Capital Matters During Disasters.”

Panel discussions will also be held. The panelists will discuss disaster resilience and what society can do to mitigate risks and recover faster in the wake of unprecedented natural and man-made hazards. The participants are:

* Patrick Flannelly, Lafayette chief of police and first responder.

* David Johnson, assistant professor of industrial engineering and political science, Purdue. Johnson is a current principal investigator of the “Decision Support for Flood Risk Mitigation: Automated Data Collection and Visualization Tools” project, funded by the Mellon Foundation. This project is working to develop automated data collection and visualization tools to collect better data for increasing coastal flood risks and address the need for better risk communication.

* Roshanak Nateghi, assistant professor of industrial engineering and environmental and ecological engineering, Purdue. Her research focuses on infrastructure resilience for disasters, and involves leveraging advanced analytical tools to address the sustainability and resiliency challenges of our aging infrastructure.

* Megan Sapp Nelson, professor of library sciences, Purdue. Sapp Nelson was co-principal investigator for “Resilient Communities: Strengthening Post-Disaster Recovery by Understanding Interdependent Social and Physical Networks” project, which was funded by the Mellon Foundation from 2014 to 2017. This project’s goal was to develop policy recommendations to enable citizens and other key stakeholders to rebuild stronger post-disaster communities, enhance community resilience and reduce loss in disasters.    

* Chittayong Surakitbanharn, research scientist in electrical and computer engineering, Purdue. His work focuses on the use of social media for disaster response. 

Attendees may register here. For more information, contact the Purdue Policy Research Institute at ppri@purdue.edu.

Writer: Olivia Crouse, ocrouse@purdue.edu