Empowered or Left Behind

Dr. Bennett Gayle is an Associate Professor and Director of the Extreme Events, Social Equity, and Technology (E2SET) Lab in the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on the individual and household disaster impacts for vulnerable populations and how technologies may be leveraged to increase resilience. She has secured research grants and contracts, including from the National Science Foundation, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security. With over fifty publications, work is published in various journals, and she has presented at several conferences related to disasters, disability, diversity, wireless technology, and future studies. She is co-editor of an edited book volume on information behavior. Dr. Bennett Gayle received her Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University in Fire and Emergency Management. She has a unique academic background having received both her M.S. in Public Policy and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Yuan is an Associate Professor and the Director of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Lab in the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Her research interests include both Human Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval, with the focus on user interface design and evaluation and human information behavior. Dr. Yuan has secured research grants and contracts from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Department of Education in New York State and University at Albany. She published extensively in journals in information retrieval and human computer interaction, and conferences in computer science and information science, and is co-editor of the edited book volume Social Vulnerability to COVID-19: Impacts of Technology Adoption and Information Behavior in publication with Springer Nature Publishing. She serves an Editorial Board member of Aslib Journal of Information Management (AJIM) and Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST), and a Board member of the International Chinese Association of Human Computer Interaction. Dr. Yuan received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University at School of Communication and Information, Ph.D. from Chinese Academy of Sciences in Institute of Computing Technology. She received her M.S. in Statistics from Rutgers University and M.E. and B.E. in Computer Application from Xi'an University of Science & Technology in China.