Dr. Duane Gill

Oklahoma NSF EPSCoR Researchers:
Exploring Socio-Ecological Systems' Adaptation to Climate Variability 

Dr. Duane A. Gill is a Professor of Sociology at Oklahoma State University. His research interests include:

• Environmental Sociology
• Sociology of Disasters
• Community
• Rural Sociology
• Social Impact Assessment
• Theory
• Qualitative Methods
• Natural Resources
• Applied Soicology
• Sport and Leisure

His work on the Oklahoma NSF EPSCoR research project addresses three research objectives, including:

1. Establishment of a first-of-its-kind, statewide, socio-ecological observatory;
2. Development of a fully integrated socio-ecological modeling and prediction system that is designed to integrate qualitative and quantitative approaches and to systematically examine insights from both disciplinary and integrated perspectives;
3. Development of a pilot decision-support system that provides researchers, educators and practitioners with data, models, tools and scenarios that are needed to explore and understand the social and ecological impacts of management and policy decisions.

In addition to his role in the EPSCoR project, Dr. Gill is a part of a research team that has been investigating human impacts of the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Alaska through a series of longitudinal studies funded by the National Science Foundation, the Earthwatch Center for Field Studies, and the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council. More recently, he led a research effort to document and understand social and psychological impacts of the 2010 BP oil spill in coastal Alabama. He has also conducted research on community impacts of the 2004 Selendang Ayu shipwreck and oil spill in the Aleutian Islands and the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay. These research activities seek to understand community preparedness for, response to, and recovery from disasters, as well as ways to enhance disaster resilience.

Dr. Gill has also collaborated on several studies of Hurricane Katrina. He organized and led a Katrina Summit that brought together national and local disaster scholars to discuss research needs and approaches to the disaster. He also served as guest editor for special ‘Katrina’ issues of Sociological Spectrum and the Journal of Public Management and Social Policy.

Dr. Gill is past President of the Mid-South Sociological Association and has served on the Minerals Management Service Outer Continental Shelf Scientific Committee and the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council’s Socioeconomic Panel.Dr. Gill is also a Fulbright Scholar, having spent the 1998-99 academic year at the University of Bahrain.

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Acknowledgment: OSU Dept. of Sociology