Author Biography
DeMond Shondell Miller is a professor of sociology and director of the Liberal Arts and Sciences Institute for Research and Community Service at Rowan University (Glassboro, New Jersey). He has worked as principal investigator to facilitate research projects involving natural and technological disasters, environmental issues, and community satisfaction. His primary area of specialization is environmental sociology (disaster studies and the study of the social construction of place), community development and community organizing, and social impact assessment. He is currently engaged in research on international environmental policy, coastal and maritime sustainable tourism, and the ongoing social impacts of Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Jason David Rivera is a research associate in the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. His research focuses on social vulnerability to natural and manmade disasters with an emphasis on minority experiences. Additionally, his research highlights institutional structures that have historically perpetuated social vulnerability within minority and low income communities. These research findings have been incorporated into policy recommendations that make mitigation, response, and recovery more efficient.
