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Gavin Smith

Professor

Brooks Hall NA

Publications

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Grants

Date: 02/10/22 - 9/30/24
Amount: $125,000.00
Funding Agencies: US National Park Service

The team will provide disaster preparedness and response training for state agency personnel, local governments, and non-profit historic sites based on consultation with the training section in the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, State Historic Preservation Office, NC Office of Recovery & Resiliency, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) resources. The training will provide information to help local communities prepare for events and develop local resources. Materials about pre-disaster planning and post-disaster guidance on how to treat historic resources are available from the state but many communities remain unaware and/or unprepared. The training modules and best practices information produced will be available to local communities to access when needed. A research assistant will compile existing state resources and good examples from other states that may be used to develop training for local communities.

Date: 09/29/22 - 9/28/23
Amount: $534,040.00
Funding Agencies: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

This current presidential administration has prioritized work to support projects, especially in underserved communities, that emphasize the importance of technical assistance working across federal government and with external stakeholders. FEMA’s Resilience organization and Mitigation Directorate are looking to provide direct, coordinated, and place-based assistance and capacity building to ensure that disadvantaged communities have the opportunity to access and deliver generational resilience and infrastructure investments. Research and practice-based evidence has shown that many communities are struggling to effectively develop, implement, and manage BRIC grants, particularly when compared to larger and wealthier communities. Research has also shown that communities are struggling to effectively plan for and enact managed retreat policies and projects.

Date: 09/29/22 - 9/28/23
Amount: $1,202,977.00
Funding Agencies: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

This current presidential administration has prioritized work to support projects, especially in underserved communities, that emphasize the importance of technical assistance working across federal government and with external stakeholders. FEMA’s Resilience organization and Mitigation Directorate are looking to provide direct, coordinated, and place-based assistance and capacity building to ensure that disadvantaged communities have the opportunity to access and deliver generational resilience and infrastructure investments. Research and practice-based evidence has shown that many communities are struggling to effectively develop, implement, and manage BRIC grants, particularly when compared to larger and wealthier communities. Research has also shown that communities are struggling to effectively plan for and enact managed retreat policies and projects.

Date: 07/01/19 - 6/30/23
Amount: $661,982.00
Funding Agencies: US Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS)

Educational needs will be addressed through the development of a new 3-credit hour course titled Disaster Resilient Policy, Engineering, and Design and assisting FEMA operationalize the intent of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act (DRRA). The results of the DRRA work will be incorporated into classes taught at North Carolina State University as part of a new Graduate Degree Program led by the PI of this CRC project. The new course proposed for development will serve as one of three required core courses in the 13-credit hour interdisciplinary certificate program. The certificate program will include three tracks: 1) policy, 2) engineering, and 3) design. The certificate is intended to foster interdisciplinary learning through case studies, studio-based coursework, interaction with experts from multiple fields of scholarship and practice, and deep community engagement. This approach draws on the findings of a Department of Homeland Security-supported study assessing the quality of Resilient Design Curricula at United States Colleges and Universities led by the PI of this project. The certificate also draws on lessons derived from the Year 4 work associated with the Hurricane Matthew Disaster Recovery and Resilience Initiative, which provided unique educational, research, and engagement opportunities for students and participating faculty. The new course will be taught for the first time in the Spring of 2020. In addition, this project will address educational needs through the hiring of a PhD student to assist in the development of policy recommendations and strategies to implement the new Federal pre-disaster hazard mitigation program as required under the Disaster Recovery Reform Act and to conduct research on the role of states in developing the local capacity needed to implement the provisions of the DRRA. The research assessing the role of states in hazard mitigation and local capacity building will build upon previous work led by the PI of this project which focused on the role of states in hazard mitigation planning as part of a six-year study funded by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Science and Technology. The results of the policy counsel and data collected may inform the dissertation topic of the PhD student hired to assist the PI.

Date: 03/01/21 - 12/31/22
Amount: $19,999.00
Funding Agencies: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

North Carolina has had a recent spate of storms that have impacted its coastal region and there are many small, low capacity communities struggling with recovery, maintaining cohesion, and increasing resiliency to future events. Disaster recovery literature have shown that inequities are likely, but potentially avoidable, related to disaster recovery funding. This project would establish a Sea Grant, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Law, and North Carolina State University collaboration to help address this issue by providing training on flood recovery buyout programs for coastal legal professionals that work with economically disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods. Besides meeting a critical support need, the work will rebuild a long-standing legal extension programming partnership with the UNC-CH School of Law. Fundamentally, the project will increase capacity internally within the North Carolina extension partnership, for its coastal legal professional audience, and ultimately, for coastal property residents impacted by storms and floods. The proposed work will be pursuant to the National Sea Grant Law Center’s objective to support Sea Grant programs to build capacity to address legal research, extension, and education needs. Objective: This project will develop a “proof of concept” framework for a training program to inform coastal legal professionals who are tasked with aiding economically disadvantaged and at-risk communities and/or property owners.


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