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LSU Researchers Awarded $130,000 Mississippi-Alabama Sea Consortium Grant to Study Hurricane Communication
Baton Rouge, Louisiana – August 25, 2009 – Improving hurricane crisis communication in coastal communities is the goal of this interdisciplinary and inter-agency study, according to principal investigator Renee Edwards.
Thanks to a $130,000 grant from the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, Edwards, LSU Department of Communication Studies Professor and Chair, leads the dual study titled “Hurricanes, Institutional Procedures, and Information Processing (HIPIP): Engagement with Decision-Makers and Coastal Residents.”
The two studies supported by the grant are designed to create more effective hurricane communication among forecasters, government officials, media representatives and ultimately the public. In summer and fall 2009, in-depth interviews of southeastern Louisiana experts will be conducted to gauge how these decision-makers manage their communication about a crisis. The end result will be “best practices” and recommendations for improving risk communication in coastal communities, focusing on Louisiana parishes east of the Mississippi.
The second study focuses on the end user. A telephone survey of southeastern coastal Louisiana residents conducted by LSU’s Public Policy Research Lab will examine effects of and relationships among information sources, anxiety, credibility, self-efficacy, crisis experience and demographics on storm knowledge and future decision-making – including why some residents choose to evacuate, while others do not.
Co-investigators include Assistant Professor Stephanie Grey, Ph.D., also of Comm. Studies, Assistant Professor David Brown, Ph.D., of the Department of Geography and Anthropology, and Assistant Professor Andrea Miller, Ph.D., of the Manship School of Mass Communication. Mark Cooper, Director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, is the grant’s community partner.
The Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (MASGC), created in 1972, is one of 30 National Sea Grant College Programs administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Consortium members include Auburn University, Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, The University of Alabama, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, The University of Southern Mississippi, and the University of South Alabama.
“The mission of MASGC is to enhance the sustainable use and conservation of ocean and coastal resources to benefit the economy and environment in Alabama and Mississippi. To fulfill this mission, MASGC commits to interdisciplinary environmental scholarship and community-based natural resources management.”
Contact:
Renee Edwards, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Edwards@lsu.edu
Louisiana State University
Department of Communication Studies
136 Coates Hall
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Ph: 225-578-4172
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