The Natural Hazards Center created the Annual Hazards and Disasters Student Paper Competition for undergraduate and graduate students in 2004 to recognize and promote the next generation of hazards and disaster researchers. The 2024 winners are:
Undergraduate Student Paper Competition
Gabriella Bellows is a May 2024 graduate of Tulane University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in homeland security and a minor in political science. She has been recognized for her academic achievements with honors, including the Tulane Leadership Award. Bellows has already garnered significant experience in the field, notably through her internship at Guidehouse. There, she played a key role in stakeholder engagement for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, demonstrating her ability to navigate complex communication networks and enhance emergency response mechanisms. Her hands-on experience extends to her time with JetBlue Airlines, where she contributed to emergency response initiatives, showcasing her skills in operational planning and crisis management. As Bellows steps into her professional career, she joins the incoming cohort of consultants at Guidehouse, ready to apply her expertise to support FEMA projects. Her future aspirations include pursuing a master's degree in disaster risk management, with a focus on advancing her knowledge in human-climate interactions and community resilience, underlining her commitment to making a significant impact in the field of emergency preparedness and disaster response. Read her winning paper here.
Graduate Student Paper Competition
Gardiner Brown is a doctoral student in the University of California, Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. He also holds a master’s in environmental humanities from the University of Utah. His research lies at the intersections of critical disaster studies and critical disability studies, and he’s especially compelled by research projects that allow him to apply his experience as both a social scientist and a humanities scholar. His scholarly writing has previously been published in Edge Effects, and his personal essays have appeared in Blue Mesa Review and Burrow Press Review. Read his winning paper here.
Learn more about the competition and view previous winning papers on the Student Paper Competition page.