BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHDennis S. Mileti, Ph.D.
Dennis S. Mileti is Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado at Boulder where he served as Chair of the Department of Sociology and as Director of the Natural Hazards Center—the U.S.’s national clearinghouse for social and behavioral science research on hazards and disasters.
Dennis is author of over 100 publications. Most are on the societal aspects of hazards and disasters. His book, Disasters by Design, summarized and assessed knowledge in all disciplines and U.S. policy for hazards and disasters. He was the founder and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the all-hazards and all-disciplines journal the Natural Hazards Review.
He has served on a variety of advisory boards. These include: (1) the Committee on Natural Disasters in the National Research Council, (2) the Board of Visitors to FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute, (3) the Board of Directors of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, (4) the Advisory Board to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Research Program on Earthquakes and Volcanoes, (5) the Expert Advisory Panel to the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s study of evacuation of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11, and (6) the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Expert Panel for the Army Corps of Engineers’ assessment of the New Orleans levee failures for which he was given the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal by the Department of the Army.
Dennis is currently a member of: (1) the START Center at the University of Maryland which is a Department of Homeland Security National Center of Excellence for research on terrorism, (2) the California Seismic Safety Commission, (3) the NRC’s Committee to Evaluate the U.S.’s National Tsunami Warning Program and (4) he serves on the Board of Directors of the Southern California Earthquake Center.
