CACP’s Salimah LaForce, in collaboration with Technological Innovations in Response to COVID19 Working Group members, coauthored a Research Agenda-Setting Paper. This paper was written to advance convergence-oriented research in the hazards and disaster field. It highlights areas where additional research could contribute new knowledge to the response to and recovery from the pandemic. In response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, states and localities in the United States issued stay-at-home orders and suggested social distancing measures. These widespread, unprecedented orders forced a large majority of nearly 330 million Americans to rely on technology to continue work, schooling, and other crucial societal functions. This Working Group is dedicated to reviewing the innovative uses of current technology and novel technology developed during the pandemic for response efforts and used by the public in daily life. The working group under which the paper was developed, is a part of the National Science Foundation-funded Social Science Extreme Events Research (SSEER) network and the CONVERGE facility housed at the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. 

Working Group Members:

• DeeDee Bennett, Working Group Co-Lead, Emergency Management, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity, University at Albany - SUNY
• Thora Knight, Working Group Co-Lead, Information Science, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity, University at Albany - SUNY
• Elisabeth Dubois, Information Science, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity, University at Albany - SUNY
• Pallavi Khurana, Department of Communications, Social Science, University at Albany - SUNY
• Salimah LaForce, Center for Advanced Communications Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology
• David Wild, Crisis Technologies Innovation Lab, Indiana University, Bloomington
• Xiaojun (Jenny) Yuan, Information Science, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity, University at Albany - SUNY