| NSF Org: |
CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | October 29, 2018 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | November 1, 2021 |
| Award Number: | 1901700 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Daan Liang
dliang@nsf.gov (703)292-2441 CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | November 1, 2018 |
| End Date: | October 31, 2022 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $20,792.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $20,792.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
524 W 59TH ST NEW YORK NY US 10019-1007 (212)237-8449 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
524 West 59th Street New York NY US 10019-1069 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | HDBE-Humans, Disasters, and th |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
Disasters such as Hurricane Florence attract lay citizens who quickly mobilize in search of opportunities to contribute to the relief efforts. Individuals who are not affiliated with relief agencies prior to the disaster have been label 'spontaneous volunteers'. Spontaneous volunteers represent a tremendous asset and make valuable contributions towards relief efforts; however, they may also represent a potential source of substantial risk and uncertainty. These volunteers interact with beneficiaries, trained and affiliated volunteers, emergency management officials, and nonprofit organizations. While managing spontaneous volunteers is challenging, it is worth finding ways to effectively integrate them into the formal emergency management infrastructure. To do this we must understand what it means to be successful in the response effort. This Rapid Response Research (RAPID) project develops appropriate performance indicators that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of volunteer management systems currently in practice. The results will improve practical management principles aimed at successfully incorporating spontaneous volunteers into organized relief efforts. This project provides an opportunity for experiential learning for students in emergency management, operations management, and industrial engineering. This scientific research contribution thus supports NSF's mission to promote the progress of science and to advance our national welfare. In this case, the benefits will be insights to improve volunteer management post-disasters which can save lives and reduce economic losses.
This RAPID project collects data from volunteers in two cities in North Carolina during the response and recovery phases associated with Hurricane Florence. The collected data will support: (1) the development of key performance indicators associated with volunteer management systems, (2) insights into how well organizations perform based on these metrics during the ongoing relief efforts, and (3) an analysis of the decision making process of volunteer managers and their impact on performance. The team will collect both primary and secondary data. Primary data include semi-structured interviews and observations. Semi-structured interviews will be carried out with spontaneous volunteers, volunteer managers or coordinators of both local agencies and large relief organizations, and beneficiaries. Secondary data refers to data collected by relief organizations in the aftermath of a disaster such as volunteer logs (arrival and departure times), times between customer arrivals (requests for help); and geographic, temporal, and modal variation in volunteer arrivals; documents and newspaper articles.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
During the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in 2018, the outpouring of support for the affected communities was tremendous. Citizens from all over the United States traveled to North Carolina looking for ways to help fellow Americans in any way they could. With the increasing frequency of ?hundred year? events such as Hurricane Florence, more and more people in the United States and worldwide are likely to find themselves in need of assistance as a result of natural disasters. Therefore it is important for government, nongovernment, and business organizations to have collective, coordinated, and flexible disaster responses plans in place.
The integration of spontaneous volunteers into organized relief efforts represents a critical aspect of managing post-disaster relief operations. Motivated by compassion, curiosity, and a host of other factors, spontaneous volunteers often self-deploy and converge to affected areas in such large numbers that makes it difficult for official responders to manage them. Thus emergency managers must be deliberate in their plans for incorporating spontaneous volunteers into organized relief efforts in order for the response to be successful.
This project is motivated by the following question: What exactly is a successful or effective response? The answer depends on the role of the person asked as it relates to the overall response operation. As such, the main goal of this study is to gain insight into how stakeholders with different perspectives interpret success in terms of post-disaster response. The perspectives considered in this study are that of spontaneous volunteers, volunteer managers, and the beneficiaries they serve. We engage these stakeholders by serving as spontaneous volunteers during relief efforts that followed three different disaster events: Hurricane Florence in North Carolina, a tornado in Alabama, and a tornado in Mississippi.
Intellectual merit:
The project has shed light on key perfromance indicators from the perspective of volunteer coordinators and volunteers. In addition, the project contributed to understand to identify volunteer managers decisions and their unintended consequences.
Broader Impacts:
The project through the field work trip provided real-world problem-solving experience to the next-generation of minority students and scholars in hazards mitigation and disaster research and assisted in the reduction of vulnerability among racial and ethnic minority community. Findings from this research have been integrated within emergency management courses to highlight the challenges and opportunities provided by volunteers in post disaster relief and also to discuss the impacts of material convergence/donations on response and recovery. Thus, the study also contributes to enhancing participation and to diversify the hazards and disaster field, this is amplified especially when considering that John Jay College is both a Minority serving and a Hispanic Serving Institution. All these efforts should lead students to enter careers related to hazards mitigation and disaster management.
The multidisciplinary cross fertilization with the field of operation management and engineering contributes to the solving of complex problems while avoiding duplication of efforts and approaching problems from different perspectives.
Deepening our understanding of how spontaneous and affiliated volunteers join the post- disaster relief, how they are managed by more or less formalized organizations, what kind of impact they produce and how they can be better integrated into formal response process contributes to the shortening of response and therefore recovery operations.
Summary of the outcomes
This project has expanded educational opportunities by providing transdisciplinary service learning experiences for affiliated student researchers, and by incorporating elements of this study into emergency management courses taught by the Principal Investigator.
The project involved nine student researchers, eight of whom were individuals historically underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines: seven women (two of whom were graduate students), one African American undergraduate student, and one Hispanic undergraduate student.
The collabiartive effort shed light on key perfromance indicators from the perspective of volunteer coordinators and volunteers. In addition, the project contributed to understand to identify volunteer managers decisions and their unintended consequences.
Last Modified: 03/02/2023
Modified by: Lucia Velotti
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