Dr. Samantha Montano
Dr. Samantha Montano became interested in disasters following a trip to New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina and the Levee Failure. She spent years in New Orleans working with various non-profits on recovery efforts related to both Katrina and the BP Oil Disaster in 2010. Her educational background includes a B.S. in Psychology from Loyola University New Orleans and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Emergency Management from North Dakota State University. She is currently an assistant professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. She has taught courses on disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation, vulnerable populations in disaster, the political and legal foundations of emergency management, disaster communications, and voluntary organizations active in disaster. She is also the co-founder of the Center for Climate Adaptation Research. Her research interests cut across areas of interest to emergency management. She primarily studies non-profits, volunteerism, and informal aid efforts in disaster but also does work related to the intersection of disasters and climate change, gender, and media. In addition to research, she is passionate about public engagement work especially related to climate change. She is the author of Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis.
