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“I’ve been a translator for our team,” explains Adams, of his multi-faceted role in RI-CHAMP. “I help define what’s useful for an emergency manager and lead trainings about how to use the dashboard.” Adams says he is excited to use his dual role as a student and an emergency manager to think critically about how hazards are identified and the impact of climate changes on hazard response for URI. Working with a consultant and other internal URI partners, Adams’s emergency management team is in the process of developing a new hazard mitigation plan for the University. “We are going to collect data on critical infrastructure on the Narragansett Bay Campus, which we’re then going to model in RI-CHAMP,” he says. “This will be the first time we have the opportunity to use the outputs from RI-CHAMP and incorporate them into an actual hazard mitigation plan. It’s very exciting.” Adams stresses the importance of effective implementation of RI-CHAMP through these projects to both provide immediate benefits and advance broader conversations in his field. “I’ve reached the point in my career where I want to be more than just a good emergency manager,” Adams says. “I want to contribute to the foundation of my profession. This is how I can start to make change.” Adams says he is also excited to use his dual role as a student and an emergency manager to think critically about how hazards are identified and the impact of climate changes on hazard response for URI.

SAM ADAMS PH.D. CANDIDATE, MARINE AFFAIRS DIRECTOR, URI EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, PUBLIC SAFETY

“The traditional processes and indicators used to assess damage from coastal hazards like storms are a little strange to me,” says Sam Adams. “It’s all focused on the economic cost of replacing buildings or the percentage of infrastructure destroyed rather than the actual impact to the community.” He says he hopes to shift this perspective to include the more nuanced and often cascading impacts of hurricanes and nor’easters through his role as URI’s emergency management director and assistant director of Public Safety and through his doctoral studies in marine affairs as part of the RI-CHAMP team. For his dissertation, Adams will focus on how tools like the RI CHAMP dashboard are implemented by emergency management agencies. Adams’s interest in the vulnerability of coastal communities is also personal. “I grew up in New Orleans and was affected by Katrina,” he says. “That’s what got me interested in emergency management in the first place.” His personal ties to coastal communities and professional experiences working as an emergency manager for the past 15 years are what motivate him to focus on building a system that’s useful.

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