DISASTER RESEARCH 395

Decision Technologies for Managing Critical Infrastructure Interdependencies. Funding: National Science Foundation, $399,742, 36 months. Principal Investigators: William A. Wallace and John E. Mitchell, 5117 Low Center for Industrial Innovation, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180; (518) 276-6854; e-mail: wallaw@rpi.edu.

Toward Improved Understanding of Warnings for Short-Fuse Weather Events. Funding: National Science Foundation, $422,951, 36 months. Principal Investigators: Eve Gruntfest and Charles Benight, Department of Geography, University of Colorado, P.O. Box 7150, Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO 80933-7150; (719) 262-4058; e-mail: ecg@uccs.edu.

Preliminary Damage Assessment of Bingol Earthquake. Funding: National Science Foundation, $28,202, six months. Principal Investigators: Julio A. Ramirez and Mete A. Sozen, Purdue University, 610 Purdue Mall, West Lafayette, IN 47907; (765) 494-2716; ramirez@ecn.purdue.edu.

10) Call for Papers

The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy (IJSSP) has extended its deadline for submission of papers for a special issue on disasters. The editors are looking for a diverse set of papers focusing on issues ranging from natural or technological hazards, gender and disasters, race/ethnicity and disasters, public health and disasters, vulnerability, mitigation, preparedness, response, emergency management, social policy, and more. Papers with an interdisciplinary or international focus are encouraged.

Submissions are due by December 15, 2003. Send a printed copy of your submission to Havidan Rodriquez, Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware, 77 East Main Street, Newark, DE 19713; or e-mail to havidan@udel.edu.

11) OCIPEP Request for Proposals

The Canadian Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness announces a request for proposals for a research report that documents and analyzes the existing emergency/disaster management post-secondary education programs in Canada, and proposes what directions, changes and/or reinforcements are needed to ensure Canada has the capability and capacity to generate a viable, professional and self-sustaining cadre of emergency management professionals and researchers.

The successful bidder will conduct a thorough review of current and planned post-secondary educational services in Canada that provide emergency management education; plan, organize and conduct a one day strategic planning session (for approximately 10 participants) which serves to solicit feedback, commentary and direction on the current and future needs of emergency (disaster) management post-secondary education in Canada; and evaluate the current supply of formally educated emergency managers by assessing the number of graduates from the various identified programs and courses, among other requirements.

Proposals are due October 10, 2003. Complete information is available at http://www.merx.com (keyword search "OCIPEP"). OCIPEP may be contacted at 122 Bank Street, 2nd Floor, Ottawa, Canada K1A 0W6; (613) 944-4875; http://www.ocipep.gc.ca/.

12) Watson International Scholars of the Environment Program

Brown University, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Program and the Henry Luce Foundation, is sponsoring an intensive curriculum that focuses on mid-career environmental leaders from developing nations.

Program organizers seek an unusual range of practitioners, applied scientists, policy experts, and technologists from within the diverse fields of environment who can make linkages among the complex array of global environmental challenges we now face. This opportunity is relevant and transferable to developing-nation contexts of biodiversity conservation, ecosystem management, global climate change, environmental health, and ecological economics. Approaches and tools participants will acquire include geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, environmental conflict resolution, rapid biodiversity assessment, ecological risk assessment, monitoring and predictive modeling.

An active field component includes the World Resources Institute, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Conservation International, the environment division of the World Bank, the Smithsonian Institution, the Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole), several consulting firms and additional universities.

The 2004 program will run from January 27 through May 12, 2004. Applications are due October 1, 2003. Complete information, including scholarship opportunities, is available at http://www.watsoninstitute.org/GE/Watson_Scholars/.

13) Homeland Security Scholars and Fellows Program Seeking Applications

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently named approximately 100 grand recipients under the agency's new Homeland Security Scholars and Fellows Program. DHS will provide recipients with stipends and tuition for either two-year undergraduate scholarships or three-year graduate student fellowships. In addition, recipients are offered 8-10 week internship opportunities.

Through this program, DHS, in coordination with the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, is supporting the growth and mentoring of the next generation of scholars and scientists who will study ways to prevent terrorist attacks within the U.S., reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recovery needed when attacks occur. The Homeland Scholars and Fellows Program is open to all students interested in pursuing scientific and technological innovations that can be applied to the DHS mission.

DHS has proposed doubling funding for this program for fiscal year 2004 and will expand the program to provide internships and specialized fellowships for students and faculty to further their knowledge of homeland security through short- and long-term exchanges.

Applications for the 2004 program will be accepted between October 1-December 5, 2003. For more information about the Homeland Security Scholars and Fellows Program visit http://www.orau.gov/dhsed/ or e-mail: e-mail: dhsed@orau.gov.

14) Some New Web Resources

[Below are some new or updated Internet resources we've discovered. For an extensive list of useful Internet sites dealing with hazards, see http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/sites/sites.html]

http://www.weatherclassroom.com
This web site, from the Weather Channel, includes interactive resources for teachers, students, and parents, on a wide variety of climate and weather related topics.

http://dels.nas.edu/dr/
The Disasters Roundtable (formerly called the Natural Disasters Roundtable) has unveiled an updated web site. The Roundtable's mission is to facilitate and enhance communication and the exchange of ideas among scientists, practitioners, and policymakers in order to identify urgent and important issues related to the understanding and mitigation of natural, technological, and other disasters.

http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/EENET/
A reminder that the most current listing of programs and satellite information about the Emergency Education Network (EENET)'s current schedule is available on this web site.

http://www.ifma.org/about/prdetail.cfm?id=216&actionbig=3&actionlil=153
This web page, from the International Facility Management Association web site, presents an overview of the results of a survey that was distributed to facility managers in the northeast after the recent blackout.

http://www.hwn.org/
The "Hurricane Watch Net" is an organization of amateur radio and weather people who disseminate hurricane advisory information to marine interests, Caribbean Island nations, emergency operating centers, and others in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific as promulgated by the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida.

15) Conferences and Training

[Below are some recent announcements received by the Natural Hazards Center. A comprehensive list of upcoming hazards-related meetings and training is available from our World Wide Web site: http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/conf.html]

ASCE 3rd Forensic Congress. Sponsor: American Society of Civil Engineers' Technical Council on Forensic Engineering (TCFE). San Diego, California, October 19-21, 2003. Congress presentations include: lessons learned from terrorist attacks, bridge failures, earthquake damage, construction failure, fire protection, geotechnical failures, insurance and risk, repair methodologies, and more. Program details and conference information is available from ASCE, 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Reston, Virginia 20191-4400;(800) 548-2723 or (703) 295-6300; http://www.asce.org/conferences/forensic2003/.

Hazards Watch: Reducing Disaster Losses through Improved Earth Observations. Sponsor: the Disasters Roundtable of the National Academies. Washington, DC: October 22, 2003. This workshop will provide the opportunity for researchers, decision-makers, practitioners, and other interested parties to discuss and exchange views and perspectives on opportunities to transform the tools available to emergency managers and policy makers by taking advantage of the earth observing systems and information already available and by influencing the systems of the future. Of particular interest is the opportunity to gain critical disaster reduction information required to make informed decisions at all levels, from local to international, from response to long-term mitigation. You may register on-line at http://dels.nas.edu/dr (click on the registration link); for more information contact Patricia Jones Kershaw, Disasters Roundtable, The National Academies, 500 5th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001; (202) 334-3063; e-mail: pkershaw@nas.edu.

51st Annual Conference. Sponsor: International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM). Orlando, Florida: November 14-20, 2003. The theme of this year's conference is "communities connecting: comprehensive emergency management," and featured sessions include the use of robotics in disaster response, perspectives on information management during emergencies, continuity of services, public health and emergency management, and much more. Complete information, including pre-conference training opportunities, is available from IAEM, 201 Park Washington Court, Falls Church, VA 22046; (703) 538-1795; http://www.iaem.com.

Midwest Sociological Society Annual Meeting. Kansas City, Missouri: April 15-18, 2004. The theme for this meeting is "the discipline of sociology in a post-disciplinary age: developing strategies for dialogue with fields near and far." As mentioned in this DR, there will be a special session on the sociology of disasters at this conference. Details are available from the Department of Sociology, Drake University, 2507 University, Des Moines, IA 50311; (515) 271-4108; e-mail: mss@drake.edu; http://www.themss.org/.

Lighting the Way to Floodplain Management. Sponsor: Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFM). Biloxi, Mississippi: May 16-21, 2004. This conference will showcase the state-of-the-art techniques, programs, resources, materials, equipment, accessories, and services to accomplish flood mitigation and other community goals. Non-profit, government, business and academic sectors will share how they successfully integrate engineering, planning, open space, and environmental protection. Abstracts are due by October 24, 2003; see http://www.floods.org/PDF/2004_Call.pdf for details. General conference information is available from ASFM, 2809 Fish Hatchery Road Madison, WI 53713; (608) 274-0123; e-mail: asfpm@floods.org; http://www.floods.org.

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