COLLEGE STATION, Texas— Researchers from The Texas A&M University System shared several proposals to improve emergency management at a research symposium hosted by the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) on Tuesday.
Seventeen researchers presented applied use cases at the symposium which aim to bridge the gap in communication between the academic world and emergency management practitioners.
“The ideas shared at this research symposium will undoubtedly improve the lives of Texans down the road,” said Texas Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd. “By bringing some of the brightest minds in research and higher education together with emergency management practitioners, we will be able to work together to take the great research being done and apply it to our field.”
Local, state, and federal emergency management professionals scored the research proposals based on the value to the field of emergency management, impact on the public, feasibility of implementation, clarity of language, and scalability across jurisdictions.
The Texas A&M University System will award grant funding to the highest-ranked research projects. The grant funding allotment will be announced at a later date.
Proposals addressed fire fighting, hazardous materials, flood response, soil structure risk assessments, long-term recovery, storm impacts on businesses, damage assessments using satellite imagery, data use for situational awareness, prepositioning hurricane emergency supplies, integrated planning, evacuation preparedness, volunteer support in disaster response, misinformation and disinformation in local emergency planning, emergency responses at chemical facilities, disease outbreak monitoring, and urban flooding.
The emergency management use case proposals can be viewed on TDEM’s website.