Previously, he was coordinator of the Emergency Administration and Planning Program in the Department of Public Administration at the University of North Texas. His research interests focus on individual and organizational responses to risk, improvisation and creativity during crisis, post-disaster shelter and housing, and planning for behavioral health services. Projects have included research on the reestablishment of New York City’s emergency operations center after the 9/11 attacks, a major study of the waterborne evacuation of Manhattan on 9/11, research on the social impacts of the Indian Ocean tsunami, and research on the organization of disaster behavioral health services.