CARRI Research Announcement

Friday December 07, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   

For More Information, contact:
December 7, 2007      Warren Edwards, 865.574.8277

Community and Regional Resiliency Initiative Adds University of

Southern Mississippi Professor to Research Team

Oak Ridge, Tenn – The Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL) Community and Regional
Resilience Initiative (CARRI) announced the addition of University of Southern Mississippi/Gulf Coast
professor Dr. Tom Lansford as the local research liaison for the CARRI-Gulfport, Mississippi partnership.
CARRI is working closely with leaders in Gulfport to help develop and share the essential benchmarks, tools
and techniques that any community or region should take to strengthen its ability to prepare for, respond to,
and rapidly recover from significant natural and man-made disasters with minimal downtime to basic
community, government and business services.

Dr. Lansford is the Interim Chair of the Department of Political Science and also serves as Assistant Dean of
the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Southern Mississippi/Gulf Coast.  He will be directing an
interdisciplinary team to support the CARRI-Gulfport partnership including conducting much of the due-
diligence reviews of existing reports, plans, requirements and participant interviews to understand what the
Gulf Coast community is already doing to be resilient.   

“We are excited to add Dr. Lansford to the CARRI-Gulfport partnership,” said Warren Edwards, CARRI
director.  “In order for this project to be successful, input from all sectors of the community is vital.  Dr.
Lansford brings strong academic credentials and local knowledge that will assist in defining what will make
Gulfport and the region more resilient.  As the local research liaison, he and his University of Southern
Mississippi colleagues will be an important repository of CARRI’s findings going forward.”

“It is a distinct pleasure to be part of such a significant program that is working to capture important lessons
from across the community and region about how to make the Mississippi Gulf Coast more resilient,” said
Dr. Lansford.   “The University of Southern Mississippi/Gulf Coast and the broader university community
are excited about CARRI's potential to bring about meaningful change in terms of how we prepare for,
respond to, and ultimately recover from disasters." 

ORNL’s Community and Regional Resilience Initiative (CARRI) is a new program of the congressionally
funded Southeast Region Research Initiative.  For more information, please visit our website at
www.ResilientUS.org. 
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