Adapting to Change: Application of the Latest Research in Communities

Jaimie Hicks Masterson, AICP, is director of Texas Target Communities at Texas A&M University, a high impact service-learning and engaged research program that works alongside low capacity communities within the university curriculum. She is author of Planning for Community Resilience: A Handbook for Reducing Vulnerabilities to Disasters and Engaged Research … Read More

Jaimie Hicks Masterson, AICP, is director of Texas Target Communities at Texas A&M University, a high impact service-learning and engaged research program that works alongside low capacity communities within the university curriculum. She is author of Planning for Community Resilience: A Handbook for Reducing Vulnerabilities to Disasters and Engaged Research for Community Resilience to Climate Change. Read Less

"Dr. Galen D. Newman is a distinguished Professor and Head of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning (LAUP) at Texas A&M University. He is also the Youngblood Endowed Professor of Residential Land Development and the Principal Investigator of the TAMU Superfund Center's Community Engagement Core, as well as … Read More

"Dr. Galen D. Newman is a distinguished Professor and Head of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning (LAUP) at Texas A&M University. He is also the Youngblood Endowed Professor of Residential Land Development and the Principal Investigator of the TAMU Superfund Center's Community Engagement Core, as well as the Co-Principal Investigator for its Risk and Geospatial Sciences Core. Dr. Newman has held several key positions in LAUP, including Associate Department Head, Coordinator of the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture Program, Director of the Center for Housing and Urban Development, Coordinator of the Bachelor of Science in Urban Planning Program, Associate Director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center, and Community Resilience Lead for the Institute for Sustainable Communities. Dr. Newman's research interests are focused on community resilience, urban regeneration, land use science, spatial analytics, and built environment performance. His work has been published in numerous high-quality peer-reviewed outlets, including over 100 journal articles, and has been funded through various internal and external funding sources, including the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, totaling over $60 million. Dr. Newman has received many awards for his research, including the Excellence in Research and Creative Scholarship Award from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture and the Best Paper Award from the Journal of the American Planning Association. He has also led many efforts to provide service-learning opportunities, which have won national and state awards, including five American Society of Landscape Architects National Awards (ASLA), 30+ ASLA Texas Chapter Awards, 2 American Planning Association Texas Chapter Awards, and being designated as a TAMU Service-Learning Faculty Fellow, a TAMU Student Success Faculty Fellow, and a TAMU Presidential Impact Fellow. Dr. Newman has also been awarded as a TAMU Department Head Development Fellow, the TAMU School of Architecture's Regan Interdisciplinary Research Award, the Association of Former Student's Award in Teaching for the TAMU School of Architecture, and has been named one of Design Intelligence's Most Admired Educators." Read Less

Dr. Garett Thomas Sansom, Assistant Professor in Environmental Health at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health and investigator for the National Institute of Health (NIH) P42 Texas A&M University Superfund Research Center, focuses his research on the human health implications of industrial exposures and climate related hazard event … Read More

Dr. Garett Thomas Sansom, Assistant Professor in Environmental Health at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health and investigator for the National Institute of Health (NIH) P42 Texas A&M University Superfund Research Center, focuses his research on the human health implications of industrial exposures and climate related hazard event within vulnerable communities. Holding a master’s in public health (MPH) with a concentration in Epidemiology, and a dual Doctorate in Epidemiology & Environmental Health, Dr. Sansom has spearheaded investigations into significant environmental health issues, such as a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) funded exploration into two cancer clusters in Houston, TX, evaluating risks related to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). Furthermore, his multi-year research into heavy metals exposure in colonias along the US-Mexico Border has provided valuable insights into environmental health disparities. He was recognized for his efforts by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) in receiving an Early Career Research Fellowship. Read Less

Michelle Annette Meyer is the Director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center and an Associate Professor in the Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning Department at Texas A&M University. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at Colorado State University (CSU). She earned her BA from Murray State … Read More

Michelle Annette Meyer is the Director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center and an Associate Professor in the Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning Department at Texas A&M University. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Sociology at Colorado State University (CSU). She earned her BA from Murray State University in Murray, KY and her MA from CSU. Michelle’s research interests include disaster recovery and mitigation, environmental and community sustainability, and the interplay between environmental conditions and social vulnerability. Particularly, Michelle studies inequality and how disaster and environmental settings intersect with structural forces that maintain or transform inequality. She uses the lens of social capital and collective efficacy to theoretically understand how relationships between individuals and between governmental and nongovernmental organizations generate or hinder disaster risk and recovery. Hence, her interests have led her to research expansively on volunteer organizations, volunteerism, and philanthropy in disaster. Michelle has worked on various research projects including disaster risk perception, social capital in disaster resilience, nonprofit collaboration for disaster recovery, organizational energy conservation, volunteer training program evaluation, evaluation of disaster response plans for individuals with disabilities, social media use among vulnerable populations, how to increase protective action knowledge in Haiti, citizen science protocols for measuring storm-water condition equity, and environmental attitudes and behaviors. She has conducted research in Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Colorado, New York, California, Sri Lanka, and Haiti. As well as survey research throughout the Gulf and Atlantic coastlines and in Peru, India, and Turkey. Michelle aims to generate research that contributes to communities’ capacity to be resilient in the face of environmental threats, and do so in an equitable manner. Thus, she regularly collaborates with nonprofit organizations on applied research. Read Less