Nicole Dash's Homepage

Nicole Dash joined the faculty at the University of North Texas during Fall 2002. Before joining the University of North Texas, Nicole worked at the International Hurricane Research Center at Florida International University. While at the IHRC, Nicole worked on a variety of different projects related to the social scientific study of disasters. In other words, the study of the human/social dimensions of disasters and natural hazards. While at FIU, Nicole completed her PhD in Sociology under the guidance of Drs. Walter G. Peacock, Betty H. Morrow, Hugh Gladwin and Barry Levine.

Dr. Dash worked on a variety of different projects while at FIU and the IHRC. These projects include: study of Hurricane Andrew both in the immediate aftermath and ten years later; evacuation study of Hurricane Georges in the Florida Keys; study of mobile home populations, particularly those living in Pre-1976 mobile homes; and, project management of a multi-year, multi-million dollar research program for the State of Florida.

Dr. Dash's current teaching and research is discussed below. Please contact her if you have any questions: email: dash@unt.edu

Her current VITA can be found here: VITA

Teaching

Dr. Dash teaches the following undergraduate courses: SOCI 1510 Individuals in Society; SOCI 3550 Collective Behavior; SOCI 3560 Sociology of Disasters; SOCI 4240 Sociology of Sexuality; SOCI 4260 Applied Sociology; and SOCI 4880 Quantitative Methods (stats). She teaches SOCI 3550 every fall and SOCI 3560 every spring. SOCI 4240 usually is taught during the Maymester. For current course listings, check the official schedular of classes.

On a Graduate level, Dr. Dash has taught: Research Methods; Collective Behavior; Feminist Theory and Sociology of Disasters. In the future, she hopes to teach Sociology of Sexuality on a graduate level.

Dr. Dash serves on a variety of master's and doctoral committees as chair, minor professor and committee member.

Research:

My research focuses primarily on disasters and social vulnerability. Particularly, I am interested in how social structures in conjunction with physical risk (geography) renders some individuals at greater risk to experience the effects of a disaster. Structures such as race, class, gender, age and disability play a role in how individuals and thus their families are impacted by and recover from disaster.

Currently I am working on a National Science Foundation project (with Doug Henry and Linda Holloway) studying Hurricane Katrina evacuees who remain displaced in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex. The focus os the project is to understand decision-making, agency and the role of poverty and diability in limiting the choices evacuees were able to make as Katrina approached and in the immediate aftermath.

Recently, I completed a project with an amazing group of researchers. The congressionally mandated independent study to assess future savings from mitigation activities has been completed and delivered to Congress. I was the social science expert on the statistical track of the project. The final report findings went to congress and will help shape future mitigation policy in the United States. For more information see the Assessment of Mitigation Savings Website of the Multihazard Mitigation Council.

Publications recently accepted include a 10 year later qualitative study of a working class community after Hurricane Andrew, a paper authored by Adam Rose, Keith Porter and others on the assessment of mitigation savings project, and a book chapter with Walter Peacock and Yang Zhang on housing after disaster in the Handbook of Disaster Research.