Researchers Meeting Acknowledgements

The Natural Hazards Center and CONVERGE teams and the leadership of the International Sociological Association Research Committee on Disasters (ISA-RC39) are pleased to convene the 2026 Researchers Meeting. We are grateful to all those who are attending this year’s meeting.

Special Thanks

The Natural Hazards Center, CONVERGE, and the ISA-RC39 wish to offer special thanks to the following people and organizations.

• Kyle Breen and Kristopher Young, who served as chairs of this year’s Researchers Meeting. This is their first year in this important leadership role, which is gratefully acknowledged. They led the planning process with clear-eyed focus and deep expertise. Our research community grows stronger and more vibrant with each passing year, and we gratefully acknowledge their service.
• We also offer immense thanks to the other members of the Researchers Meeting Organizing Committee. Oronde Drakes and Jennifer Lawerence served as lead session organizers, playing a vital role in pulling the entire program together. For the second time, Jennifer Lawrence also assumed a lead role in organizing the roundtable discussions.
• Santina Contreras, Diamond Ebanks, Qian He, Kanako Iuchi, Melina Matos, Alexis Merdjanoff, Jason Rivera, Peter Stempel, Jennifer Trivedi, Melissa Villareal, and Chandler Wilkins served as members of the Abstract Review Committee. These talented scholars read, evaluated, and edited hundreds of abstracts and helped the lead organizers to assemble an extraordinary final program.
• We thank the student volunteers who applied and were selected to help with the management and execution of the Researchers Meeting.
• Finally, we thank the program directors from the National Science Foundation who support science, engineering, and interdisciplinary research efforts in hazards and disasters. We remain grateful for the funding that makes this convening possible. We especially thank them for the ongoing recognition of how important it is that the hazards and disaster research community has this opportunity to share our recent research with one another.

Funding Support

The 2026 Researchers Meeting is made possible with funding support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) (Award #1841338, Award #1635593, and Award #2536173). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this meeting are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.