Mayesha Shams

Mayesha Shams is a PhD student in the Fire and Emergency Management Administration program at Oklahoma State University. Shams received both her bachelor and master’s degrees in disaster management from the Institute of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh. During her time at Oklahoma State, she has worked as a research assistant under the supervision of Dale Li in a National Science Foundation-funded project titled ‘Coping with Stressors: Understanding Negative Emotions, Harmful Strategies, and the Role of Fire Service Culture’ where she assisted with GIS mapping and spatial analysis. In addition, Shams serves as a teaching assistant for the Introduction to Emergency Management course. Shams' research interests focus on disaster governance, the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and emergency management, and disaster politics. Her master’s thesis analyzed the socio-economic impacts of Covid-19 through gender lens in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Outside of her studies, Shams is also engaged as a volunteer of American Red Cross (Kansas-Oklahoma Region) on the Disaster Action Team, where she supports local disaster response efforts, serves in shelter centers, and conducts community-level training on CPR and disaster preparedness. This service deepens her knowledge by bridging the gap between theory and real-world practice in emergency management field.