I’m an assistant professor at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences’ Sustainability Division at Stony Brook University. My research interest is post-disaster recovery and community resilience. I have studied recovery of different housing types, public participation in recovery, vulnerable populations and public housing through quantitative longitudinal modeling and qualitative analysis of planning decisions and processes.

I am also a researcher in Center of Excellence for Community Resilience at Colorado State University funded by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). I have conducted longitudinal and interdisciplinary modelling of housing recovery in seasonal and year-round housing markets in tourist-based communities based on physical and social vulnerabilities. In another line of research, I look at the role of social vulnerability and stigma in access to recovery decision making and participation in planning processes.

I have published on public housing after disasters, showing how being vulnerable implies less control and representation in decisions about one’s recovery. In the rural Midwest, I studied resilience of small towns to shrinking population, developing a new paradigm for rural smart shrinkage in a collaborative project funded by the National Science Foundation.

I teach courses in disaster resilience, sustainable communities, environmental
planning, and planning analytical methods.