PSTC faculty associate Elizabeth Fussell, an Associate Professor of Population Studies and Environmental Studies (Research), has received recent attention for her research on inequality in post-disaster recovery, as well as on migration trends amid rising sea levels. 

Fussell and James Elliott of Rice University recently led a briefing at the General Accountability Office (GAO) about how federal recovery programs can exacerbate economic and social inequality. Their research analyzed population data from the US Census Bureau and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine the effects of Hurricane Katrina, as well as the federal recovery programs that followed. Fussell showed that disaster recovery policies that favor homeowners over renters in disaster recovery assistance affected the timing and likelihood of returning to New Orleans. Elliott found that white residents of disaster-affected places were more likely to maintain or exceed their pre-disaster economic status than black and Hispanic residents. The GAO provides recommendations for congressional spending, meaning that Fussell’s research has the chance to influence policy surrounding federal relief programs. 

Fussell also participated in a research network on the timing, locations, sequence and likeliest destinations of populations displaced by sea level rise and coastal extremes sponsored by the Socio-environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) at the University of Maryland. The network produced a co-authored paper in Nature Climate Change that urges policymakers to use computer modeling systems to forecast the effects of rising sea levels on migration. The paper argues that these computer-generated predictions of migration patterns will inform policymakers about where coastal communities might migrate, and thus aid in development of effective adaptation policies. 

Both the GAO presentation and the new paper exemplify demographic contributions to timely and relevant real-world issues. Fussell explains that, "Demographers are primed to join the conversation about the climate emergency. Population responses to sea-level rise, coastal storms, drought, and other climate-related events are not uniform and easily predictable. People's responses are complicated by social structures and inequalities, exactly where we have valuable expertise."