Steven Picou
Dr. J. Steven Picou is professor of sociology at the University of South Alabama. In 1989, Picou was part of a team that received a Natural Hazards Center Quick Response Grant that allowed for the collection of baseline social impact data on the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS) in Cordova, Alaska. In 1991, he served as principle investigator for a two-year grant funded by National Science Foundation (NSF) to continue to monitor the chronic social impacts of the EVOS in Cordova, Valdez, and Petersburg. This research was expanded from 1995 to 1997 a Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council contract, which focused on developing intervention strategies for facilitating community recovery from EVOS related disruption and stress. Throughout these projects Picou worked closely with Duane Gill and other psychologists and sociologists collecting community survey data on the social impacts of the EVOS. In 2000, Picou and Gill received separate collaborative grants from the NSF. Picou’s research focused on community impacts and data were collected in Cordova in 2000 and 2006.
Picou is senior editor and contributor to “The Exxon Valdez Disaster” and has authored numerous articles and book chapters on the EVOS and Hurricane Katrina. In 2000, he served on the National Research Council committee reviewing the Gulf of Alaska Ecosystem Monitoring Program. He has been the recipient of two awards for his scholarly contributions to disaster research. In 2001, the American Sociological Association section on Environment, Technology and Society presented Picou with the Distinguished Research Contribution Award for his research on the EVOS. In 2008, he received the William Foote Whyte Distinguished Career Award from the American Sociological Association’s section on Sociological Practice for his applied research on contaminated communities and disaster recovery, particularly for the EVOS and Hurricane Katrina.