Natural Disaster Research: Profile on Dr. Matthew Davis
Dr. Matthew Davis, a professor in the Department of Psychology, locally referred to as “Dr. Disaster,” was named Dominican’s 2007 Teacher of the Year. The Dominican Teacher of the Year is nominated annually by Dominican students and must be a model classroom teacher, respected and admired by students and colleagues for having a successful teaching methodology, and be professionally active and generous in service to the University.
Dr. Davis (whose areas of expertise include human response to natural disasters, social psychology, and media psychology), recently presented the findings of a research survey that focused on measuring tsunami awareness and preparedness amongst coastal residents in Marin County. This survey was conducted last spring and was funded by the Marin County Sheriff’s Department’s Office of Emergency Services (OES). The survey was designed to provide a baseline measure of residents’ awareness of tsunami hazards and knowledge about actions that would need to be taken if a tsunami warning were issued. Survey findings will be used to help guide county officials as they design public education campaigns regarding tsunami preparedness.
In early May 2007, Dr. Davis presented his research on risk perceptions and preparedness among the residents of communities surrounding Mount Rainier in Washington, at the annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association in Vancouver, BC. This research was part of a collaborative project with faculty at Massey University in New Zealand, and was funded by a grant from the State of Washington.
In May, Dr. Davis also co-authored an article that was submitted to the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research for an upcoming special issue on human response to volcanic hazards. The article presents findings from a 2006 study of over 2,400 residents of metropolitan Naples, Italy regarding their perceptions of risk for potential eruptions of Mt. Vesuvius, and their confidence in the evacuation plan that has been proposed by Italian civil protection officials. This work was funded by a grant from the regional government of the Region of Campania, and involved collaboration with researchers from the Vesuvius Volcanic Observatory in Naples and the Universita` di Roma Tre.
Dr. Davis earned his doctoral degree in the interdisciplinary field of social ecology, with a focus on both social psychology and on the geological processes that create earthquakes and volcanoes. In recent years, his research has focused on hazard awareness for tsunami risks in Northern California, risk perception for volcanic hazards at Mt. Etna and Mt. Vesuvius in Italy, and the study of volcanic hazards at Mt. Rainier in Washington. He was recently featured in a video entitled, “Could It Happen Here?”, in which he discussed implications of his work in Italy. The documentary aired internationally on the Discovery Times Channel earlier this year.
