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SIRF’s Up: SSSC Welcomes Social Scientist Max Izenberg
Not all landslide researchers wear a hard hat and use a trowel. Some study the complicated way information is shared in town. The Sitka Sound Science Center welcomes Max Izenberg back to Sitka! Max is a social scientist and PhD student with Pardee RAND Graduate School and will be here for a month-long Scientist and Residency Fellowship!
Max is a part of the team of scientists working to develop a landslide warning system in Sitka. Max is in town to gather more insights from Sitkans and communicate project findings thus far. And share how community members can get involved to improve landslide preparedness.
The Sitka Connection: The Landslide Warning System
Working on the social science arm of the project, Max focuses on two different aspects of the system:
1) To understand how messages about landslides travel throughout town to improve communication.
2) To work with Sitkans to identify potential options for landslide insurance.
This month, he’ll be focusing on the latter. Throughout the United States, most homeowners have significant challenges accessing landslide insurance. And where it’s available, is often unaffordable. Max will be spending most of his time understanding these dynamics in Sitka. He plans to learn what approaches to landslide risk reduction are workable for Sitkans.
Mark your Calendars! Outreach and Events to Learn More
The Morning Interview- Tune in to KCAW at 8AM Monday, April 12th
Brown Bag Lunch Talks- Wednesday April 28st & May 5th @12pm
Follow @sitascience or email Callie at csimmons@sitkascience.org for the zoom link!
Research Interests and Background
Max’s interests and research experiences span a wide range of topics including disaster preparedness, risk communication, and risk management (to name a few).
Before returning to graduate school for a PhD, Max has supported community-partnered policy research and worked with policymakers across many countries to develop and evaluate policies related to public health, disaster recovery, social protection, and migration.
Max has an M.Sc. in health policy, planning, and financing from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the London School of Economics and a B.S. in public health informatics from Tulane University. He also enjoys trivia, eating seafood, and wants to learn more about taxidermy!
