Carlie Lawson
Summer 2006 WAS*IS

I hold two Bachelor's degrees - one in Journalism and Mass Communications, and one in Film and Video Studies - and a Master's degree in Regional and City Planning with a specialty in Environmental Planning from the University of Oklahoma . My thesis examined disaster mitigation and response in Oklahoma 's 1995, 1996, and 1998 drought and wildfire events. I am actively searching for the appropriate Ph. D. program in natural hazards and am developing dissertation ideas. My main research interest is end-user understanding of, and reaction to, forecasts/outlooks, especially as it pertains to drought and hurricanes. My specific applications of this include agricultural producers' decision making during drought events, and coastal residents' hurricane evacuation decision making, including how to design forecast and educational products to help overcome the issue of social capital as a liability in evacuation decision making. My secondary interest is in the re-development of existing drought indices, and heat wave indices (i.e. Dr. Laurence S. Kalkstein's recent work with the NWS) on a regional climatic scale to improve their applicability in determining onset, intensity, and end point, and the development of explanatory/educational products provided to the public in order to mitigate economic and health impacts. I currently serve as Operations Manager at the Environmental Verification and Analysis Center . I recently began working part-time as a consultant on municipal drought plans, and environmental and natural hazards education products. Very broadly, my research interests include drought, wildfires, hurricanes, organizational learning in hazard mitigation, risk communication, renewable energy, and the Internet as a hazards mitigation tool.
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