WASHINGTON — Six scientists have been awarded the Early-Career Research Fellowship (ECRF) in Human Health and Community Resilience, the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (GRP) announced today.  

Starting this month, the fellows in this two-year program will contribute to the advancement of health equity in the Gulf of Mexico region or Alaska by developing understanding and mitigation of factors that may amplify the compounding effects of disasters on the health and resilience of historically disadvantaged, overburdened, or marginalized communities. 

Between 2020-2021, Gulf coast communities experienced numerous billion-dollar extreme weather disasters and widespread energy infrastructure failures, combined with the health and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. These events occurred against a backdrop of persistent social and economic inequities, resulting in disproportionate impacts on historically marginalized, disadvantaged, and excluded groups. The increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, amplified by climate change, will likely continue to exacerbate these impacts and their effects on the resilience of communities throughout the Gulf region. 

“The goal of the ECRF is to support the budding careers of researchers whose work, in turn, is benefitting communities in the Gulf region and Alaska. This year’s goal for the Health and Resilience track recognizes the impact that compounding disasters are having on communities in the Gulf and asks researchers from a variety of disciplines to look for community-centered solutions to these complex challenges,” said Karena Mary Mothershed, program head and senior program officer for the GRP’s Board on Gulf Education and Engagement. 

The Gulf Research Program’s Early-Career Research Fellowship helps researchers during the critical pre-tenure phase of their careers. Fellows receive a $76,000 financial award along with mentoring support to provide them with independence, flexibility, and a built-in support network as they take risks on untested research ideas, pursue unique collaborations, and build a network of colleagues. 

The 2023-2025 cohort of Human Health and Community Resilience Early-Career Research Fellows are: 

Drew Capone
Drew Capone is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at Indiana University. He uses engineering, epidemiology, and environmental microbiology tools to investigate the problems affecting individuals with low incomes and aims to improve public health in the communities where these people live. His research focuses on public health engineering, which includes public health surveillance using fecal waste streams, assessing the fate and transport of fecal contamination in the environment, and predicting public health outcomes using quantitative microbial risk assessment.  

Shangjia Dong 
Shangjia Dong is an assistant professor in the University of Delaware’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, a core faculty member of the Disaster Research Center, and a member of the Coastal Hazards, Equity, Economic Prosperity, and Resilience (CHEER) Hub. His research revolves around understanding the complex dynamics between human and infrastructure systems during disasters. He aims to establish an algorithmic and theoretical framework to assess community resilience and equity, which can facilitate risk-informed decision-making for climate change adaptation, critical infrastructure protection, effective disaster preparedness and response, equitable resilience planning and operationalization, and smart operation and design of urban infrastructure.  

Guanyu Huang
Guanyu Huang is an assistant professor of environmental and health sciences at Spelman College. His research focuses on exploring the mechanisms that control air pollution under a changing climate and understanding the impacts and consequences of air pollution and climate change on public health and social justice. Huang is an expert in satellite remote sensing and has been involved in multiple NASA satellite missions for air quality and atmospheric chemistry research. He is also interested in leveraging citizen science and community engagement for climate resilience, environmental health, and environmental justice research.  

Saeed Rokooei
Saeed Rokooei is an assistant professor in the Department of Building Construction Science at Mississippi State University with professional and academic experience in architecture and construction areas. Community resilience is at the core of his research interests, alongside project management methodologies, engineering education, data analytics, creativity and innovation, and smart cities. Driven by a passion for empowering underrepresented groups in educational communities, Rokooei is actively developing innovative educational techniques and methods in construction and engineering. This focus helps prepare students to create stronger, more resilient communities, fostering a more sustainable and equitable future.  

Lauryn Spearing
Lauryn Spearing is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Materials, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Her research focuses on improving people’s quality of life by increasing the level of service received from the built environment and ensuring access to critical infrastructure systems. Spearing’s research interests include infrastructure system management during disasters and understanding sociotechnical water challenges. Her work has explored water access in rural Alaska, community resilience to disasters in Texas, and the cascading impacts of disaster displacement. Currently, her research group is studying public perceptions during the water crises in Jackson, Mississippi.  

Siyu Yu
Siyu Yu is an assistant professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning and a core faculty member with the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M University. Her experience spans land use, plan integration, and resilience issues in the United States, principally in the Gulf Coast region, as well as internationally in the Netherlands and Japan. She aims to increase multihazard resilience and social equity in an era of climate change by investigating relationships among community networks of land use and development plans and policies related to social and physical vulnerability to natural hazards.  

To learn more about the Gulf Research Program’s Early-Career Research Fellowships, visit nationalacademies.org/our-work/early-career-research-fellowship. 

The National Academies’ Gulf Research Program is an independent, science-based program founded in 2013 as part of legal settlements with the companies involved in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. It seeks to enhance offshore energy system safety and protect human health and the environment by catalyzing advances in science, practice, and capacity to generate long-term benefits for the Gulf of Mexico region and the nation. The program has $500 million for use over 30 years to fund grants, fellowships, and other activities in the areas of research and development, education and training, and monitoring and synthesis. Visit nationalacademies.org/gulf/gulf-research-program to learn more. 

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, engineering, and medicine. The National Academies operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln. For more information, visit nationalacademies.org/about.