Louise K. Comfort

Professor

Comfort is a known expert in decision-making in crisis, disaster preparedness, and the use of technology to inform managers operating under urgent conditions. Graduating with a PhD from Yale University, she engaged in field studies following 23 earthquakes in 15 countries and has authored multiple books.

Consultancies and Public Service

  • Consultant to the Municipality of Bogota, Columbia, 2005
  • Consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank, 2003
    Awards
  • Provost’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring, University of Pittsburgh, 2008
  • Fellow, National Academy of Public Administration, 2006
Recent Publications
  • Global Risk Management: The Role of Collective Cognition in Response to COVID-19. Lead editor with Mary Lee Rhodes. Routledge, 2022.
  • Hazard SEES Type 2: From Sensors to Tweeters: A Sustainable Sociotechnical Approach for Detecting, Migrating, and Building Resilience to Hazards, National Science Foundation, #1331463, September 2013-August 2019. 
  • The Dynamics of Risk: Changing Technologies and Collective Action in Seismic Events. Princeton University Press, 2019.
Research Interests
  • Disaster response management 
  • Organizational theory
  • Complex adaptive systems 
  • Decision making under uncertainty