Hurricane Ian left a path of destruction in its wake, and communities in Florida and elsewhere are working to rebuild in the aftermath.
Florida State University faculty are available to speak to media covering post-storm recovery efforts.
COMMUNITY RESILIENCE
Brad Schmidt, professor, Department of Psychology
schmidt@psy.fsu.edu
Schmidt researches the nature, causes, treatment and prevention of anxiety and associated forms of psychopathology including post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use and suicide. He recently answered questions about the psychological toll of natural disasters and how to prevent and treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
“PTSD can be diagnosed following any sort of traumatic event when the individual believes they may be injured or killed or seeing others seriously injured or killed. There is quite a bit of work studying responses to various natural disasters including hurricanes, and while the symptoms are similar to other sorts of trauma like a car accident, war or assault, people do seem to recover better from natural disasters on average.”
EVACUATION
Eren Ozguven, associate professor, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and director of the Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response (RIDER) Center
eozguven@eng.famu.fsu.edu, (850) 410-6146
Ozguven directs the Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response Center, which promotes all-inclusive and equitable disaster resilience for vulnerable populations. His research interests include transportation accessibility, modeling of emergency evacuation operations, urban mobility and smart cities and the simulation of transportation networks. Recent scholarship focuses on the relationships among different infrastructure networks in Florida and how that contributes to disaster preparation.
“There was a lot of uncertainty as to where Hurricane Ian would hit and how broad an area it would impact, similar to hurricanes Irma and Michael. An important part of storm response is building a ‘muscle memory’ against hurricanes and not losing that over years, even if an area does not experience a hurricane for a long time. That is the key to make sure our communities are resilient against the catastrophic events such as those that Hurricane Ian brought to the Southeast.”
RISK AND INSURANCE
Patricia Born, Payne H. & Charlotte Hodges Midyette Eminent Scholar in Risk Management & Insurance
pborn@business.fsu.edu, (850) 644-7884
Born researches insurance market structure and performance, professional liability, health insurance and the management of catastrophic risks, such as hurricanes and other natural disasters. She is a past president of the American Risk and Insurance Association and the Risk Theory Society and is editor of Risk Management and Insurance Review.
Charles Nyce, Robert L. Atkins Associate Professor of Risk Management & Insurance and research director of the Center for Risk Management Education & Research
cnyce@fsu.edu, (850) 645-8392
Nyce’s main research area is catastrophic risk financing, and he has authored numerous articles on a variety of risk management and insurance topics, including title insurance, enterprise risk management, predictive analytics and natural hazards.
“The Florida homeowners insurance market is in crisis. Storm losses and fraudulent claims have caused six insolvencies so far in 2022 (all prior to Hurricane Ian). With projected insured losses above $40 billion for Ian, more insurers may go insolvent. The market evolution following Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the series of seven storms that made landfall in 2004-2005 led to the development of a fragile market. The lack of storms between 2005 and 2016 hid that fragility. Storm activity since 2016 along with burgeoning fraudulent claims have led to substantial market destabilization and growth of the state-run insurer of last resort, Citizens.”
URBAN PLANNING
Dennis Smith, planner in residence, Department of Urban and Regional Planning
djsmith3@fsu.edu
Smith is the director of the Mark & Marianne Barnebey Planning & Development Lab, which provides innovative planning for the sustainable growth and long-term viability of Florida communities. His work has focused on risks to the built environment, including projects for resiliency, transportation modeling, evacuation planning for high risk areas and vulnerability assessment. He has extensive experience managing state and federal programs and a thorough knowledge of laws relating to land use, transportation and disaster recovery.