Another important resource for disaster researchers and graduate students considering where to apply:
The Center for Hazards Assessment, Response & Technology (CHART) at the University of New Orleans.
Another disaster studies resource.
I’ve mentioned the Science Hostel idea before — originated with Garrett Lisi, resonates with the idea of the metaversity. Also, I think an important approach to the future of post doctoral education. It looks like Lisi has a website for this idea going up now: http://sciencehostel.org/
Garrett Lisi has been getting a lot of attention lately for his ideas on lie algebras and particle physics. This my isn’t thing, but a close friend of mine has been into lie algebra for some time, so Lisi’s recent TED talk on the subject caught my attention. But what was really interesting to me was not the math, or the pretty pictures that are supposed to describe/predict so far undected particles (although this was all really cool). What was interesting to me is Lisi’s description of a looser, less geographically bounded structure of the university — actually in far flung parts of the world, communicating remotely, living a balanced life, and having the time and space to actually think. Maybe a bit dreamy in parts, but it strikes me as also a very apt description of an “instance” of the metaversity that incorporates profound scholarly activity with living in beautiful places — a geographically unboundedness to the life of the university. His discussion of his approach starts at about minute 16 of the TED talk.
His ideas about the “Science Hostel” can be found on his website.
Some reflections on the PhD dissertation process for folks working at the margins of several disciplines. This version prepared for ISCRAM PhD Colloquium students.
Transdiciplinary & Translational Dissertation Process – Disaster, Information Science, Psychology. (PDF)
For those interested in disaster psychology, there is another program at the University of Hawaii – Manoa that has a certificate in Disaster Management & Humanitarian Assistance within their Community & Cultural Concentration. Looks very cool. Plus you get to surf.
http://www.psychology.hawaii.edu/pages/graduate_programs/community.html
and
http://www.hawaii.edu/graduatestudies/fields/html/departments/cd/dmha/dmha.htm#deg_requirement
National Center on the Psychology of Terrorism
http://www.terrorismpsychology.org
The National Center for Disaster Mental Health Research
http://www.ncdmhr.org/
The Disaster Mental Health Institute (DMI)
http://www.usd.edu/arts-and-sciences/psychology/disaster-mental-health-institute/
International Disaster Psychology program, U. Colorado at Denver
http://www.du.edu/gspp/degree-programs/international-disaster-psychology/overview/index.html
The New York Times has a great article on the research that is currently being done at the edge of several disciplines, including military biological weapons countermeasures, proteomics and entomology. The reporter, Kirk Johnson, managed to capture some of the nuances of transdiciplinary research in his narrative about the nature of the research partnership, the building of cross-expertise, and the seeming synchronicity of several events that led the two teams (one military and from the University complex) to work together on this problem:
“But researchers on both sides say that colony collapse may be the first time that the defense machinery of the post-Sept. 11 Homeland Security Department and academia have teamed up to address a problem that both sides say they might never have solved on their own.
‘Together we could look at things nobody else was looking at,’ said Colin Henderson, an associate professor at the University of Montana’s College of Technology and a member of Dr. Bromenshenk’s “Bee Alert” team.
Human nature and bee nature were interconnected in how the puzzle pieces came together. Two brothers helped foster communication across disciplines. A chance meeting and a saved business card proved pivotal. Even learning how to mash dead bees for analysis — a skill not taught at West Point — became a factor.”
The complete story can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/science/07bees.html?hp
I missed last year’s ISCRAM conference, but was able to go briefly this year. Maybe because of the distance, I was again struck by the level of multidisciplinarity at this conference, and the profound struggle to move into a truly transdisciplinary space. I have enough of a computing background to keep up with the gist of most of the presentations, but I am also increasingly aware of just how sophisticated these folks are at mathematics — some of the math I can follow at a conceptual level, and in other not. At the same time, the computer folks (and even the human factors folks) make a lot of assumptions about human behavior, useability, etc. that just fly in the face of what more general psychology suggests. And then there is the issue of actually conducting research in this arena — it is so damn expensive and time consuming, and we haven’t even begun to really solve the tower of babble problem. I am hoping to figure out a way to get at this in a track for next year.