Walter Gillis Peacock

Walter Gillis Peacock is professor of Urban Planning in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, the Sandy and Bryan Mitchell Master Builder Endowed Chair, a senior fellow at the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M University, and editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, Sage. He served as Director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center (2004-2019) at Texas A&M, Program Director, Hazards, Disasters, and the Built Environment program at the National Science Foundation (2019-2021) and Research Survey Statistician, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Social, Economic and Housing Statistics Division, Small Area Modeling & Development Branch (2023-2025). His research areas include disaster resilience with a focus on disaster impacts, housing recovery and restoration, community resilience, hazard mitigation & climate adaptation by households, businesses, and jurisdictions, social vulnerability, and hurricane evacuation. He has conducted research in states and regions in the United States (Texas, Florida, North Carolina, California, and the Gulf and Atlantic coasts) and other countries (Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Italy, Turkey, India, and the former Yugoslavia). His research has been funded by federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration, National Institute for Standards and Technology, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers. He has authored or co-authored three books and over a hundred journal articles, book chapters, and research monographs/reports. He has striven for his research to make a difference in helping make communities stronger, more disaster-resilient, and sustainable places to live.