Oronde Drakes

Oronde Drakes is a geographer focused on human-environment interactions. His research interrogates the intersections between natural hazards and society. Drakes' current work focuses on social vulnerability in multiple hazard contexts and its implications for disproportionate hazard exposure, impacts, and recovery. This research blends participatory methods with geospatial analysis to improve spatial indicators of these human-environment interactions.

He has previously worked on flood vulnerability mapping and the impact of sea level rise on the coastal defences, developed risk assessment databases, and regional-scale multihazard vulnerability profiles.

A Bill Anderson Fund alumnus, he is a recipient of the Jeanne X. Kasperson Prize for outstanding student research in hazards geography and the Gilbert F. White Dissertation Award from the Hazards, Risks, and Disasters Specialty Group of the AAG. He is now a physical scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey.