Earthea Nance
Dr. Earthea Nance is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Planning and Hazard Mitigation at the University of New Orleans, and a fellow in the National Science Foundation’s Next Generation of Hazards and Disaster Researchers program. She recently served as the Director of Disaster Mitigation Planning and the Director of Infrastructure and Environmental Planning for the City of New Orleans in its recovery from Hurricane Katrina, and she previously held faculty positions at Virginia Tech and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Nance holds a B.S in civil engineering (1985) and an M.S. in environmental engineering (1991) from the University of California at Davis, and a Ph.D. from the department of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University (2004). Dr. Nance’s research addresses the intersection of environmental and urban development problems in vulnerable socio-economic settings and post-disaster areas. She has studied the role of community participation in expanding basic urban services to chronically underserved neighborhoods. Her research has generated methods for critically evaluating infrastructure performance using multiple perspectives, and has produced strategies for sustainable urban development and environmental justice in areas of severe environmental hazard. Dr. Nance is currently researching the impacts of climate change on urban development and the affects of environmental trauma on urban social and ecological systems.