Current Projects

2022-present, Co-Principal Investigator & In-Place Lead, Rising Voices, Changing Coasts: The Earth and Indigenous Science Large-Scale Convergence Hub. Collaborating institutions: Haskell Indian Nations University, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network, Lowlander Center, Louisiana State University, Columbia University, Oregon State University - Cascades, Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center, University of California-San Diego, Colorado State University, University of Hawaii-Manoa, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Alaska Native Science Commission, University of Kansas, Olohana Foundation, University of Maryland, NOAA National Weather Service, NOAA Office for Coastal Management, Arizona State University, American Indian Higher Education Consortium, Northwest Indian College, College of Menominee Nation, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Funded by the National Science Foundation.    

Completed Projects

2020-2024, Principal Investigator, Risk Communication in Concurrent Disasters. Quick Response Research in the U.S. Territories. Collaborators: Lorna Jaramillo-Nieves (UPR-RP), Sara McBride (USGS), Nnenia Campbell (Natural Hazards Center). Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF Award #1635593) through supplemental funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Graduate Research Assistants: Ashley Méndez Heavilin  Undergraduate Research Assistants: Alejandra Figueroa Huertas, Noemi Rivera Acevedo, Francisco Vidal Franceschi

2020-2021, Group Lead, Risk Communication in Concurrent Disasters. COVID-19 Working Group for Public Health and Social Sciences Research. Supported by the National Science Foundation-funded Social Science Extreme Events Research (SSEER) network and the CONVERGE facility at the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder.

2020, Recipient, FEMA Scholarship for Teaching and Learning Emergency Management. FEMA Higher Education. Emmitsburg, MD.   

2015-2021, Senior Personnel and Co-City Lead, Urban Resilience to Weather Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN). Collaborating Institutions: Arizona State University, CUNY-Hunter, CARY Institute for Ecosystem Studies, Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora, Florida International University, Indiana University, The New School, University of Puerto Rico, University of Notre Dame, New York University, Portland State University, Universidad Austral de Chile, University of California-Los Angeles, University of Maryland, USDA Forest Service, North Carolina State University, Gensler Corporation, Sandia National Laboratory, Syracuse University.  Funded by the National Science Foundation. Graduate Research Assistant: Génesis Álvarez Rosario, Ashley Méndez Heavilin, Jaylin Soto Quintana, Jessica Díaz Díaz. Undergraduate Research Assistant: Elwood Tapia.

2017-2019, External Evaluator, Minority Scholars from Under-Represented Groups in Engineering and the Social Sciences (SURGE) Capacity in Disasters. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). 

2017-2018, Principal Investigator, Integrating Traditional and Formal Knowledge: A Community Education Program for Climate Change in Puerto Rico (Phase 2). Funded by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources. 

2015-2017, Principal Investigator, Convergenge of Human Activities, Sustainable Land Use, and Urban Development: Gentrification and Nitrogen Fixation in Barrio Caimito (with Jorge Ortíz Zayas). UPR-Center for Social Research and Department of Environmental Sciences. Funded by UPR Institutional Research Funds Program. Research Assistants: Argenis Cátala-Sánchez, Kelvin Serrano, Ashley Méndez, José Pérez Alcobe, Andrea Santos, Orlando Ríos

2015-2017, Principal Investigator, Integrating Traditional and Formal Knowledge: A Community Education Program for Climate Change in Puerto Rico (Phase 1). Funded by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources. Research Assistants: Génesis Álvarez, Jean Charlois, Coral Muñoz, Elmer Calvo, Elwood Tapia, Gabriel Barreto 

2015-2017, Principal Investigator, Social Vulnerability and Climate Change Adaptation in Dorado, Puerto Rico. (with Carmen M. Concepción-Rodríguez). UPR-Río Piedras Center for Social Research and Salvador Padilla Escabí Graduate School of Planning. Funded by U.S. NOAA Coastal Zone Management Program. Research Assistants: Argenis Cátala, José Gabriel Ramos-Aponte, Ashley Méndez-Heavilin. Volunteers: Ariana Sánchez, Coral Muñoz

2010-2012, Research Associate and Co-PI, Modelling Long-Term Population Resettlement Under Climate Change Scenarios (with Budhendra Bhaduri, Benjamin L. Preston, Xiahoui Cui, Jack Schryver, and Richard Medina). Geographic Information Sciences and Technology Group (GIST), Climate Change Science Institute (CCSI). Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN. Funded by the U.S. DOE Laboratory Directorate Research and Development Fund. 

Jan. 2010, Field Researcher, “2010 Haiti Earthquake Quick Response Research”. Disaster Research Center. University of Delaware.

2003-2010, Graduate Research Assistant, “National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA)”. End User Integration Thrust: Brenda Phillips, MBA (UMASS), Havidán Rodríguez Ph.D (UDEL), and Walter Díaz Rodríguez, Ph.D (UPRM). Funded by the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centers Program. 

2008, Researcher, “Human Rights Index”, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Kaufman Foundation. Investigators: Judith Blau, PhD, Jenniffer Santos-Hernández, M.A. Funded by the Kauffman Foundation. 

Sept. 2005, Field Researcher, “Hurricane Katrina Quick Response Research”. Disaster Research Center. University of Delaware.

2004-2006, Lead Graduate Research Assistant, “Population Composition, Geographic Distribution, and Natural Hazards: Vulnerability in the Coastal Regions of Puerto Rico” Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware, Physical Oceanography Laboratory (POL) and Center for Applied Social Research (CISA), University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. Investigators: Havidán Rodríguez, Ph.D. (DRC), Aurelio Mercado, Ph.D. (POL) and Walter Díaz, Ph.D. (CISA). Funded by NOAA Sea Grant Program. 

Summer 2004, Research Assistant, “Social Component of the Project: Aquaculture Cages: Technical, Environmental, Social and, Legal Aspects” Center for Applied Social Research (CISA), University of Puerto Rico and University of Miami. Investigator: Janet Bonilla, Ph.D., Dallas Alston, Ph.D.

Summer 2004, Research Assistant, “Puerto Rico: An Island of Sustainability (PRIOS)” Center for Industrial Ecology, Yale University. Investigators: Marian Chertow, Ph.D., Weslynne Ashton, Ph.D.

2003-2004, Undergraduate Researcher, “OK-First: county socio-demographics and emergency management in Oklahoma”. Center for Applied Social Research, University of Puerto Rico.

2002-2003, Bachelors Thesis, “The mass media and emergency management agencies in disaster situations: A structural analysis”. Center for Applied Social Research, University of Puerto Rico.

2001-2004, Research Assistant, “Evaluation of the MARC Program.” Center for Applied Social Research, University of Puerto Rico. Investigators: Janet Bonilla, Ph.D, Douglas Santos, Ph.D, Havidán Rodríguez, Ph.D.