Center for Disaster and Community Resilience

The vision of the JSU Center for Disaster and Community Resilience (CDCR) is to harness the collaborative power and collective wisdom of our interdisciplinary team to produce high quality research and policy analyses that advance the state of theory and practice for disaster management and resilience.

View the Center Projects Page

The JSU CDCR is dedicated to:

  • Supporting and engaging in innovative, interdisciplinary research and applications for understanding and improving disaster and community resilience.
  • Exploring collaborations with other research centers in pursuit of a more resilient nation.
  • Proposing policy initiatives and implementation strategies to promote disaster and community resilience.
  • Educating the next generation of scholars, policy experts, and advocates.
  • Disseminating information, research and policy positions.
  • Engaging important stakeholders to promote resilience in their organizations and communities.
  • Providing leadership and support to the Eastern Alabama Emergency Management Coalition and other regional, state and/or local organizations to help transform resilience concepts into practice and build disaster resilient communities.

Center Staff

Scott Manning, D.Sc., Center Director
Department of Emergency Management and Public Administration
Research Interests/Specialization: Disaster Planning and Policy, Hazard Vulnerability and Disaster Resilience, Transportation Systems and Infrastructure Protection, Strategic Program Management
srmanning@jsu.edu

Jane Kushma, Ph.D., Center Director Emeriti
Department of Emergency Management and Public Administration
Research Interests/Specialization: Long Term Recovery, Disaster Case Management, Policy Implementation, Collaborative Practices, Community Engagement
jkushma@jsu.edu

Tanveer Islam, Ph.D., Research Associate
Department of Emergency Management and Public Administration
Research Interests/Specialization: GIS Applications, Hazard Mitigation, Risk and Vulnerability Assessment, Social Media
tislam@jsu.edu

Arjola Balilaj, Ph.D., Research Associate
Department of Emergency Management and Public Administration  Research Interests/Specialization:  Program Evaluation, Conflict resolution, Diversity
abalilaj@jsu.edu

Chan Wang, Ph.D., Research Associate
Department of Emergency Management and Public Administration
Research Interests/Specialization: EM Risk Communication; Qualitative Comparative Analysis; Social Network Analysis
wang@jsu.edu

Chongming Wang, Ph.D., Research Associate
Department of Emergency Management and Public Administration
Research Interests/Specialization: Human-Environment Geography, Natural Hazards and Vulnerability, Risk Perception and Behavior, Mixed-methods Research, Applied GIS
cwang@jsu.edu

Research Assistants

John Greaves, Senior Research Assistant
Department of Emergency Management and Public Administration

Noah Maddox, Graduate Research Assistant
Department of Emergency Management and Public Administration

Jim St. John, Senior Research Assistant
Department of Emergency Management and Public Administration