Workshop Impact
In the summer of 1975, the Natural Hazards Center’s founding director Gilbert F. White gathered a small group of researchers and practitioners in Boulder, Colorado. The goal was to create a space where professionals could exchange knowledge and work towards a shared goal of reducing the harm caused by disasters.
Today, the Natural Hazards Workshop’s purpose remains much the same. We aim to share insights, inspire innovative work, and recognize our interdependence.
To celebrate our 50th anniversary, people from across the hazards and disaster community have shared stories of the Workshop's impact, compiled below.
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Click here to tell us what the Workshop means to you!
Kate Brady, University of New South Wales
Mary Fran Myers Scholarship recipient. Workshop attendee since 2015.
Lisa Jackson (left) and Kate Brady at the 2023 Workshop.
The first year I was able to attend the Workshop was 2015. I attended as a Mary Fran Myers scholarship recipient from Australia. I was a bit nervous about whether I would fit in, but I really didn't need to worry. For most of my career, I've had a foot in both the practice and research camps. While theoretically, that should mean that I feel at home at both practice and research forums, in reality it can mean not feeling like a good fit at either. This is the beauty of the Natural Hazards Workshop to me—bringing a lot of people together, irrespective of their role or organisation, because we're all trying to work on the same issues and we have a wide range of perspectives to offer. It makes much more sense to me for people working from research, policy, and practice to come together than to have this work siloed.
I have since made it back to the Workshop two other times, and have made a lot of connections there that have led to work collaborations, information exchanges, and friendships. For example, in 2023 and 2024, the excellent Sara McBride was kind enough to host me while I was in the U.S.A. for the Workshop, in 2024 the lovely Jenna Tilt from Oregon State University came to visit us in Melbourne, and this year we're lucky to be hosting wonderful fellow Mary Fran Myers alum Betty Lai from Boston College for her year long sabbatical in Sydney.
Being able to be a part of the Natural Hazards Workshop has made me feel like I have a connection to the work that is happening in the U.S.A. and other countries, and that I am part of a bigger network that I can both call on and offer support to.
Ray Chang, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Mary Fran Myers Scholarship recipient. Workshop attendee since 2012.
Ray Chang giving a lecture. 
Ray Chang (left) at the 2024 Workshop barbeque. 
Ray Chang and Dennis Mileti at the 2012 Workshop.
The Natural Hazards Workshop has been a foundational part of my academic and professional journey. In 2012, I received the Mary Fran Myers Scholarship shortly after leaving the fire department and during my second year as a Ph.D. student. At that time, I was still navigating how to bridge my practice-based experience with emerging research goals. The scholarship reaffirmed that my efforts to integrate academic and practitioner perspectives were both needed and valued.
Since then, the Workshop has consistently offered space for meaningful engagement and exchange. Over the years, I’ve presented multiple research posters, contributed to sessions, and served on the Mary Fran Myers Scholarship selection committee. I’ve also co-organized and moderated researcher-practitioner panels and presented with the Federal Emergency Management Agency's higher education program manager to highlight collaboration models across sectors.
A professional connection made at the Workshop also led to a co-authored publication exploring disaster preparedness and response in Hawaii—one of several scholarly outputs shaped through Workshop engagement.
For me, the Workshop has never been just a conference; it has been a collaborative space that fosters trust, connection, and shared learning across roles and disciplines. I’m grateful for the opportunities it has provided and proud to be part of a community that continues to move the field of hazards and disaster research forward in thoughtful and inclusive ways.
Lindsay Davis, U.S. Geological Survey
Workshop attendee since 2014.
Members of the Puerto Rico Landslide Hazard Mitigation Project at the 2019 barbecue. From left to right: Yahaira Álvarez Gandía, Lindsay Davis, Jocelyn West, and Raquel Lugo Bendezú. 
Undergraduate research assistants Raquel Lugo Bendezú and Yahaira Álvarez Gandía of UPR Mayagüez with Jonathan Godt and Lindsay Davis from the U.S. Geological Survey at the poster session at the 44th annual Natural Hazards Workshop. 
Lindsay Davis, Raquel Lugo Bendezú, Yahaira Álvarez Gandía, and Lori Peek at the 2019 Workshop barbeque.
I first heard about the Natural Hazards Workshop when I was 22. I couldn’t join my undergraduate internship mentor, Michele Wood (Cal State Fullerton), at the Workshop that year, but three years later I had the chance to attend as a volunteer while home from a Peace Corps assignment in El Salvador. A charismatic Colorado State University professor named Lori Peek approached me at one point to discuss a question I asked during a session. After that five-minute conversation I knew I wanted to work with Dr. Peek at some point.
A fateful encounter with Dr. Jonathan Godt of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) at a congressional briefing during a policy fellowship in D.C. gave me that chance a few years later. Jonathan and Lori invited me to work on a Puerto Rico landslide project, and I joined the Natural Hazards Center team as a research associate soon after, working with colleagues from the USGS, the University of Puerto Rico, and the University of Colorado Boulder. The Workshops allowed the team, including our two fabulous undergraduate students from Puerto Rico, to come together and share our work. Networking with budding professionals and seasoned experts, reconnecting each year with colleagues and friends, participating in and contributing to sessions, attending the BBQ…the Workshop continues to be a cornerstone of my career journey. Now, a USGS scientist focusing on international humanitarian assistance, this community remains a web of disciplines, cultures, and mentors that I draw on for collective learning, cross-pollination, and inspiration.
Sydney Madison Dyck, University of Delaware
Student Paper Competition Winner. Workshop attendee since 2020.
Sydney Dyck at the 2024 Workshop barbeque. Photo by Chip Van Zandt. 
Sydney Dyck (left) and her collaborator Julie Elliot at the 2024 Workshop poster session.
I was the winner of the 2020 Undergraduate Student Paper Competition for the Natural Hazards, and since that time my life has changed dramatically through this opportunity! When I submitted my paper, I was finishing my undergraduate degree, and had applied with the encouragement of my mentor, Dr. Tim Haney at Mount Royal University. I had only ever taken his disaster sociology class, and my knowledge of the disaster world was only informed by this, but I was hooked!
Winning the student paper competition and attending the Workshop online in 2020 exposed me to so much more of the field, and ultimately drove me to apply for graduate school in the U.S., leaving Canada to attend the University of Delaware and become an affiliate at the Disaster Research Center. Since then, I have published papers on disasters and embarked on three fieldwork trips, including to Western North Carolina following Hurricane Helene this past fall. Winning the Student Paper Competition gave me the boost of confidence I needed to really dive into the disaster world, and the kindness from everyone at the Natural Hazards Center (NHC) made that even more viable for me. I am proud to say that I am part of the disaster research community now, and attending the Annual Hazards Workshop is one of the best ways to experience the passion of the field. Thank you again, NHC, and congrats on 50 years!
Bill Hooke, American Meteorological Society
Workshop attendee since 1987.
From left to right: Bill Hooke, Gilbert White, and Bill Anderson at the 2004 Workshop. Photo by Lori Peek. 
Bill Hooke speaking on the 2019 Workshop panel "Conceptual Convergence." 
Bill Hooke speaking on a panel at the 2004 Workshop.
As an atmospheric scientist, I am only a grafted branch in the hazards community. In the 70s' I had been working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration in Boulder and aware of the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshops' launch, but my first Workshop might not have been until 1987 or 1988. I was there by happy accident, but the Workshop immediately became my favorite meeting of each year. I attended most of the Workshops following until COVID-19.
For me, the Workshop represents years of remedial education. The meetings drive home multiple basic ideas: Extremes are nature’s way of doing business; by contrast disasters are a human construct. Disasters might result directly from poor land use, building codes, fragile infrastructure, etc.. But the root causes are poverty, social injustice, gender inequities, repeated failures to learn from experiene—human culture, values, and shortcomings.
Each Workshop is magical. The goal of reducing disasters’ harm. The Colorado setting. The format. The mix of researchers and practitioners. A place-based emphasis but international reach. The invitational nature cohabiting with one-third participation by first-timers. And more recently, rigorous, meticulous crafting of major themes and minutest details by Lori Peek and the incredible Natural Hazards Center staff.
The first twenty years of my career had always brought joy. The Workshop experience deepened that. Ever since, work every day has been “a new chance to do eight billion people some good.” That’s been inspired by the personal example of hundreds of Workshop attendees and their commitment, passion and vision. The Workshop has changed my life, made me a better person.
May the Workshop endure another fifty years.
Betty Lai, Boston College
Mary Fran Myers Scholarship recipient. Workshop attendee since 2014.
Betty Lai speaking at the 2024 Workshop. Photo by Chip Van Zandt. 
Betty Lai and the 2014 Mary Fran Myers Scholars with Dennis Mileti and Lori Peek. 
Betty Lai with Mary Fran Myers alumni at a celebration dinner for the 2024 recipients.
The Workshop changed the trajectory of my career. It opened my eyes to the world of hazards and disaster research and practice. At my first Workshop, I met Ann-Margaret Esnard, who became a close mentor and friend. We went on to co-write my first federal grant and co-teach a course. I met like-minded peers who let me know about opportunities and fellowships that helped me earn tenure.
Over the years, the Workshop has made a difference in my life because it's dedicated to deepening our connections to each other and to the grand challenges we are trying to address in our work. This focus means that colleagues I've met at the Workshop are now close friends. They are people I call with happy news or when I've run into a work problem. I get to celebrate the milestones in their life every July.
And I've been privileged to serve on the Mary Fran Myers Scholarship committee. The scholarship started in 2004 and has supported over 60 practitioners and researchers attending the Workshop. Our global network grows every year—as do the connections we've formed. To illustrate, I just submitted a seed grant led by Kate Brady, with a letter of support from Lisa Jackson—both are fellow scholarship alumni.
Risa Palm, Georgia State University
Workshop attendee since 1977.
Gilbert White and Risa Palm at the 1977 Workshop barbeque.
My first Hazards Workshop was in 1977, during a sabbatical from the University of California, Berkeley and just before I joined the geography faculty at the University of Colorado Boulder as an associate professor. Gilbert White encouraged me to explore the field of natural hazards, noting the connection to my interest in the geographical implications of real estate practices. He specifically pointed to California’s adoption of the Alquist-Priolo Special Studies Zones Act following the 1972 San Fernando earthquake, which required property sellers and their real estate agents to disclose seismic hazard zones. That conversation, along with the insights and encouragement I received from colleagues at this and later Workshops, launched a highly productive two decades of research on earthquake hazard perception—first in California, and later in Puerto Rico and Japan.
The Workshop played a pivotal role in connecting me with key figures such as Bill Anderson, then the National Science Foundation's hazards program director within the civil engineering directorate, as well as representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Red Cross, and the U.S. Geological Service. For me, this Workshop became a model for how valuable it is to share research-in-progress and to engage early with practitioners and policymakers. These interactions helped shape my research to be more relevant and impactful in both academic and practical contexts.
Darrin Punchard, Punchard Consulting
Workshop attendee since 1999.
Darrin Punchard (standing) as the moderator for the 2017 Workshop panel “Big Lights, Big Cities, and Big Plans for Disaster Resilience."
It was at my first Workshop in 1999 when I quickly learned how this annual gathering was unique. Kicking things off with an hour of “self-introductions” for several hundred people was certainly something I'd never seen before, but it was in hearing the incredibly diverse range of attendees that drew me in. The mix of researchers and practitioners representing a full range of disciplines, not to mention policymakers from all government levels, was unlike any event I had experienced. I fondly recall the opening remarks from Natural Hazard Center Director Dennis Mileti, who was provocative, inspiring, and instructive (especially when it came to the proper way to wear our name tags!).
Suffice to say, I was hooked and never missed another Workshop through 2017. My eagerness to return was highlighted in those early years, when I was unexpectedly identified during an opening session as the first person to register for the Workshop. In recognition I was presented with a copy of Disasters by Design, signed by Dr. Mileti and Dr. Gilbert White. What a memory!
As a practitioner, I deeply value insights from hazard scholars and the lessons learned through applied research. The quality of sessions, conversations, and relationships built through my participation in the Natural Hazards Workshop has greatly influenced my perspective on hazards planning, and I look forward to the 50th!
Stacia Ryder, Utah State University
Student Paper Competition Winner. Workshop attendee since 2012.
From left to right: Lori Peek, Michelle Meyer, Stacia Ryder, and Jennifer Tobin at the 2013 Workshop.
During my first couple of years at the Workshop I was lucky enough to be a graduate student volunteer, and quickly was able to meet many long-time conference attendees that made me feel right at home. Over the years I have attended the Workshop on and off when I can, and have always been welcomed back with open arms as I try to better connect climate, energy, and hazards research. Each time I attend feels like a reunion. I have never attended another conference where everyone introduces themselves on the first day, but I love the practice and I hope it can long continue! Professionally attending the Workshop and the collaborations it has built has helped me advance my career immensely, and it always leaves me with a profound sense of gratitude and humility. Last year I sent my first graduate student to the Researcher’s Meeting, and it felt like a full circle moment. Especially at a time when the incredible and necessary work that all the attendees do is being threated and hobbled, I want to express my sincere thanks and support for everyone who makes the Workshop what it is, especially the staff at the Natural Hazards Center. Here’s to another 50 years!
Jim Schwab, Jim Schwab Consulting
Workshop attendee since 1994.
Jim Schwab speaking to a conference at University of Nebraska in Lincoln, about drought and climate change, March 2017.
Like many people, I suspect, I first attended the Natural Hazards Workshop because I had undertaken a task I had not expected that intersected with a whole world of experts on natural hazards. In my case, it was managing a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)-funded project for the American Planning Association to produce a Planning Advisory Service Report, Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction. Joining the hundreds of allied professionals year after year introduced me to numerous perspectives that quickly enriched my own limited lens on the topic when I started. Over the next five years, I pursued what FEMA personnel working with me called “a vertical learning curve.”
When one is drinking from a fire hose, the opportunity to commune annually with veteran hazards researchers and practitioners provides badly needed perspective. Over time, I developed my own perspectives on the many complicated issues that confront people in the hazards arena, no matter what profession they are part of. As an urban planner, I came to realize that the length and depth of the reports and projects I led over the next 25 years was due to the fact that sometimes, as I have put it myself, when we discuss post-disaster recovery we are talking about “rebuilding the whole damned city.” One makes mistakes, one listens, one learns, one comes back with better ideas and keeps refining them until they start to make a difference in our communities, states, and nations. And that is why I still come to the Workshop 31 years later.