The Natural Hazards Center is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 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 21 papers submitted this year showcased promising research on topics such as inequality, vulnerability, emergency management, disaster preparedness, and response and recovery. Winning papers, however, displayed outstanding originality and data collection and analysis, as well as a strong thesis and organization of their argument.
Graduate student winners were:
Xiaoli Lu, Leiden University, First Place
Mass Evacuation in Typhoon Response in Wenzhou, China: A Preliminary Analysis of Progress and Challenges
Megan Reid, University of Texas at Austin, Honorable Mention
Survivors’ Perceptions of Federal and Non-Governmental Responses to Hurricane Katrina
Undergraduate student winners were:
Krista Richardson, Colorado State University, First Place
Katrina’s Children: An Analysis of Educational Outcomes Among Displaced Children in Colorado
Charles Jacob Huxford, Alexis Blue, and Hope Rietzen, Western Washington University, Honorable Mention
Reversing Rural Abandonment in the Mediterranean: A Capacity and Vulnerability Assessment of Communities on the Ionian Island of Kefalonia, Greece
First-place winners each received $100, a mention in the Natural Hazards Observer, publication on the Natural Hazards Center website, and an invitation to the 2009 Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop in Broomfield, Colorado.
The 2010 call for papers will be announced in December of 2009. Full text of winning papers and more information on the contest can be found on the Natural Hazards Center Website.