Facing Hazards and Disasters Understanding Human Dimensions (2006) / Chapter Skim
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9 The Present and Future Hazards and Disaster Research Workforce
9 The Present and Future Hazards and Disaster Research Workforce
Pages 317-339
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From page 317... ...
9 The Present and Future Hazards and Disaster Research Workforce T his chapter provides an overview of the social science hazards and disaster research workforce in the United States and discusses how it should be shaped to meet future societal needs. The needs relate to the broad range of hazards and disasters facing the nation and world in the twenty-first century (see Chapters 1, 2, and 6)
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From page 318... ...
318 FACING HAZARDS AND DISASTERS talented social science investigators described below is a major challenge for the hazards and disaster research community. This challenge results, in part, from reliance on traditional recruitment strategies and the relatively modest funding that has been available for research and education in the social sciences (in comparison with the natural sciences and engineering)
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THE PRESENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH WORKFORCE 319 avow its commitment to increase the participation of underrepresented groups, a commitment that is now shared by DHS. These and other developments to be discussed in this chapter offer possible means to maintain and hopefully expand the talented research workforce that will be needed to address the research gaps and opportunities identified in previous chapters of this report.
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320 FACING HAZARDS AND DISASTERS inevitable (Quarantelli, 1994)
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THE PRESENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH WORKFORCE 321 had mainstream theoretical interests and published their findings in academic presses and mainstream journals, frankly because no specialty outlets existed. In any event, by the 1960s and 1970s small numbers of sociologists and geographers were clearly committed to this field, either as individual researchers or members of research centers.
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From page 322... ...
322 FACING HAZARDS AND DISASTERS some point during their careers. Similarly in geography, while such scholars as Gilbert White, Robert Kates, and Roger Kasperson have long been core hazards and disaster researchers, periodic researchers who have made significant contributions to the field include John Borchert, Walter Isard, M
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THE PRESENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH WORKFORCE 323 absence of good data. Mostly indirect measures will have to suffice in providing a general sense of this community's workforce profile.
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324 FACING HAZARDS AND DISASTERS researchers, perhaps not much more than one or two dozen total, have emerged from programs at the University of Georgia, the University of Denver, the University of California at Los Angeles, Colorado State University, the University of Massachusetts, and the University of Colorado. Turning to geography, Gilbert White built his highly distinguished hazards research career at the University of Chicago during the 1940s 1960s.
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. In 2005, 38 members were listed as falling into four professional categories that are of interest: social science, public policy, urban planning, and public health (EERI, 2005)
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Those listed as public policy specialists and urban planners arguably comprise a large portion of the researchers who make up the core of the workforce from those disciplines. Both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Cornell University have played major roles in training planners entering the hazards and disaster research workforce.
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THE PRESENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH WORKFORCE 327 committee's conclusion that this workforce has an aging core is particularly significant because of the small size of the community as a whole. Simply put, the core must be replenished as soon as possible.
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328 FACING HAZARDS AND DISASTERS through 4, there is much irony in this underrepresentation because minorities are among the most at-risk population groups in the United States. The benefits of an increasing number of women in hazards and disaster research apply equally to minorities.
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THE PRESENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH WORKFORCE 329 evant examples here are the Homeland Security Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events headquartered at the University of Southern California and the Homeland Security Center of Excellence for Behavioral and Social Research on Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism headquartered at the University of Maryland. Once again, the research activity carried out at these and other centers is combined with important educational experience for the emerging generation of social science hazards and disaster researchers.
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330 FACING HAZARDS AND DISASTERS force. The emergence of a more diverse society, with racial and ethnic minorities comprising an ever-increasing percentage of the population, is an important demographic shift that will require greater attention to hazard vulnerability and mitigation.
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THE PRESENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH WORKFORCE 331 Whether they are extrinsic or intrinsic in nature, rewards provide the basis for success in recruiting and educating new workforce members and obtaining long-term commitments from them. Various stakeholders -- in government, academia, professional organizations, or the private sector -- are part of any reward system that aims to achieve recruitment, education, and retention goals.
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332 FACING HAZARDS AND DISASTERS and earthquake science. For example, the vast majority of EERI's approximately 2,400 members come from these two disciplines.
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THE PRESENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH WORKFORCE 333 fies the collaboration needed across government, academia, pro fessional associations, and the private sector. Recommendation 9.3: In parallel fashion, DHS should make a conscious effort to increase significantly the number of awards its makes to social science students through its scholarship and fellow ship program.
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334 FACING HAZARDS AND DISASTERS until students reach the graduate level. Undergraduate students comprise an important talent pool that can help meet future human resource needs in the field.
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THE PRESENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH WORKFORCE 335 lished at the University of Southern California, has a major social science component. The most recently established center at the University of Maryland focuses almost exclusively on social science and criminal justice issues.
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336 FACING HAZARDS AND DISASTERS efforts are essential to make the workforce more diverse. A more diverse workforce would result in needed new research perspectives, increased linkages to the growing minority communities in the United States, a greater understanding of the vulnerabilities of these communities, and new opportunities to significantly reduce these vulnerabilites.
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THE PRESENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH WORKFORCE 337 in their research programs, outreach specialists should have the added responsibility of increasing the participation of minority social scientists. Such diversity program directors should also give attention to the continuing recruitment of women social scientists.
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338 FACING HAZARDS AND DISASTERS better, with three participating in the first Enabling Project and five in the second. The mentoring the fellows receive from core hazards and disaster researchers puts them rather quickly on the track to join the ranks of the social science hazards and disaster research workforce.
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While disasters remain nonroutine events in societies or their larger subsystems, the actual and potential impacts of these events equate with their increasing prominence as public policy issues. Addressing these issues will require the best efforts of social science researchers and also their willingness to collaborate with each other and their counterparts in the natural sciences and engineering.
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