I am an associate professor at Virginia Tech in Alexandria, Virginia. My scholarship investigates how to build better governance for managing disasters including hurricanes, floods, and terrorist attacks in the present moment, and over the long term. I developed an interest in disaster growing up along the hurricane-prone Texas gulf coast. I'm a political scientist by training, though my speciality lies in the misty academic archipelago of public administration, policy, political science, and history.
I have worked for government agencies and foundations and written for popular media.