The Natural Hazards Center is pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 Hazards and Disasters Student Paper Competition. The competition was established in 2004 as a way to recognize undergraduate and graduate student efforts at interdisciplinary hazards and disaster research.
The 25 papers submitted this year showcased promising research on topics such as disaster mitigation and preparedness, social vulnerability, postdisaster housing, mass fatalities management, and emergency management. Winning papers, however, displayed outstanding originality and data collection and analysis, as well as a strong thesis and organization of their argument.
The graduate student winner is:
Eric Best, University of Delaware
Collective Models of Disaster: Making a Case for Using Collective Mobile Phone Location Data in Disaster Science
The undergraduate student winner is:
Audrey Matusich, Colorado State University
Vulnerable Victims: Media Constructions of Children After the BP Oil Spill
First-place winners each receive $100, publication on the Natural Hazards Center website, and an invitation to the 2012 Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop in Broomfield, Colorado.
The 2013 call for papers will be announced in December of 2012. Full text of winning papers and more information on the contest can be found on the Natural Hazards Center Website.