Richard Bixler
University of Texas at Austin, TX·Social Science
Texas communities face growing risks from floods, storms and heat, at the same time as their populations grow and shift. Many rural and underserved places lack the staff, money or connections to plan for these hazards; some are cut off by geography, some by language, some by economic barriers.
- Fields
Social Science
Earth & Environmental Science
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
community resilience
extreme weather
climate hazards
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2027
What they work on
- Identify at-risk Texas communities using social vulnerability data and mapping tools, then form reciprocal partnerships with 2-3 place-based communities to co-produce a resilience research agenda.
- Engage community members, hazard scientists and policy specialists through online workshops, semi-structured interviews and surveys to surface local needs and gaps in extreme weather preparedness.
- Identify and support local 'resilience stewards,' community leaders who champion locally tailored responses to climate hazards, by connecting them to academic resources and peer learning.
- Develop an executive education curriculum and policy recommendations linking future extreme weather severity to actionable resilience strategies for federal, state and regional support systems.
More about the research
A central question is how scientists who study hazards can work directly with local leaders so research turns into practical, locally fitting plans.
Why it matters
Rural, isolated and underserved Texas communities could become better prepared for extreme weather by being linked with hazard scientists and by training local leaders. Findings on how to connect isolated communities with research centers, and on gaps in risk and preparedness communication across diverse groups, could inform federal, statewide and regional disaster-support programs.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Mark Schuller
Northern Illinois University, IL·Social Science
Test whether disaster resilience models developed in one community can be adapted to others across different scales. Compare outcomes at multiple sites.
Lani Tsinnajinnie
University of New Mexico, NM·Earth & Environmental Science
Work with Indigenous and rural communities in New Mexico and Oklahoma, through a co-production process, to identify information needs about the land-water-air system under extreme weather.
Jiakai Zhang
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, NM·Earth & Environmental Science
Integrate large public spatial, hazard and socioeconomic datasets into a single AI-driven model of regional environmental risk and vulnerability across the United States.
The school
University of Texas at Austin: 49 labs on PI Pages, $1.1B a year on research, 871 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
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