Qiong Wang is a PhD candidate in planning, governance and globalization at the Virginia Tech School of Public and International Affairs. Wang's research focuses on disaster resilience, environmental planning and climate policy, and environmental justice with an emphasis on understanding local decision-making dynamics, supporting local adaptation planning and implementation, and policy innovation in the United States. Currently, she is a fellow of the Virginia Sea Grant and a scholar of the interdisciplinary Disaster Resilience and Risk Management program, and with these positions closing in May 2023, she is looking to further her postdoctoral career in the academic space.

Sherri Brokopp Binder’s is president of BrokoppBinder Research & Consulting, a research and evaluation consulting firm located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Trained as a community psychologist, Binder’s work spans the academic, non-profit, and private sectors. Her research focuses on housing recovery and postdisaster relocation, with an emphasis on home buyout programs. Her work includes mixed-method studies of community and governmental response and recovery following recent California wildfires, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Sandy, the 2013 Moore, OK tornadoes, and the 2009 South Pacific tsunami. She received her bachelor's in International Affairs from Kennesaw State University, her master's in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University, her PhD in Community and Cultural Psychology from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, and a graduate certificate in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance from the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Ronald Schumann is an associate professor in the Department of Emergency Management and Disaster Science at the University of North Texas. A human geographer by training, Schumann’s research focuses on long-term community recovery and post-disaster mitigation. His research utilizes participatory, geospatial, and mixed methods to explore issues of social vulnerability, cultural memory, equity, and risk perception. Schumann has previously conducted fieldwork documenting recovery efforts after Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, and Harvey. He is currently collaborating on a study funded by the National Science Foundation that uses photovoice to understand how place attachment affected housing recovery after the recent California wildfires.

Divya Chandrasekhar is an associate professor in the Department of City and Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah, with expertise in community recovery from disasters. Her research has examined post-disaster community participation, capacity building, and policymaking in South and Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and the United States. She is a member of the Utah Seismic Safety Commission and a member of the Roundtable on Risk and Resilience of Extreme Events (Resilient America) of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. She holds master’s and PhD degrees in urban and regional planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.