A Data-Driven Approach for Decision Making in a Regional Interdisciplinary Resiliency Center

Abstract

Lamar University established a Center for Resiliency in 2021 in response to the increasing natural and human-made disasters in the Southeast Texas region. Now more than ever a robust decision-making framework is essential for this recently established regional interdisciplinary resiliency center to make well-informed decisions, prioritize funding effectively, and nurture collaboration across various fields to help communities vulnerable to these threats. This article provides a progress update and presents a methodology integrating VOSviewer and Google Trends to develop such a decision-making framework for the Center for Resiliency at Lamar University in the Southeast Texas region. Four prominent study areas in resilience—Climate Stressors and Disasters, Mental Wellness, Energy and Optimization, and Resilience Planning—were identified. These findings were validated with real-time insights from Google Trends, ensuring practical relevance to recent resilience needs to provide an understanding of evolving resilience dynamics. Furthermore, the paper discusses the status of research conducted at the Lamar University Center for Resiliency, showcasing its commitment to fostering resilience through diverse initiatives across five academic colleges. Integrating VOSviewer and Google Trends offers a robust framework for informed decision making, aligning research efforts with the Southeast Texas region’s current and future resilience needs.

Keywords

Decision making / Disaster decision making / Google trends / Resiliency center / Resilience science / VOSviewer

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