As a changing climate and growing global population bring disasters into ever greater focus, emergency management has become highly relevant to the atmospheric and related sciences–and to all of our lives. In response, the 2026 AMS Annual Meeting will host the First Annual Disaster and Emergency Management Symposium, organized by the Committee on Emergency Management.
The symposium takes place Thursday, 29 January at the 106th Annual Meeting, in Houston and online. It aims to bridge the two fields of meteorology and disaster management to explore common challenges, accomplishments, and relevant topics. You can view the full program here.
We spoke with Committee Chair Ashley Morris about what to expect from the symposium.
Why is it so important to host a disaster symposium at AMS?
With many large emergencies and disasters occurring due to meteorological conditions and impacts, the topic of disaster and emergency management has been a growing interest in the weather community. Operational meteorologists are passionate about learning how emergency and disaster management works and are eager to find ways to communicate weather for field operations. Academics are curious about the intersections of social science, disaster decision-making, and weather support, and are anxious to design systems that enhance weather support for emergency managers. Lastly, many private-sector meteorology companies have contracts to provide information to government officials to assist with response. Outside of those intersections, more weather-educated professionals are developing an interest in emergency management careers.
What are a few sessions you’d like to highlight?
There are several intriguing sessions scheduled for the first ever emergency management symposium track:
- In the Shoes of Emergency Management Professionals (Thursday 8:30 AM–10 AM): Several presentations covering duties, roles, and glimpses into the profession of emergency management. This included topics of leading through crisis, implementing decisions after a forecast, emergency management workflows, and public evacuation.
- High Water – High Danger: Flood Preparedness, Warning Systems, and Recreational Safety (Thursday 10:45 AM–11:15 AM): Flood warning systems, warning economics, and information sharing.
- Disaster Words and Disaster Actions (Thursday 1:45 PM–3:00 PM): A variety of presentations on scales, lessons learned, and communication center resources related to how people talk before and after weather-related disasters.
In addition to symposium sessions, what other activities are planned?
The Committee on Emergency Management is supporting several other emergency management-related activities during the meeting. A student Integrated Warning Team (IWT) will be held Sunday afternoon allowing students to be assigned a role (forecaster, broadcaster, or emergency manager) and work through a weather-related response scenario. In addition, there will be a few additional panels and presentations during the student conference relating to emergency management career interest. Finally, an emergency management networking session will be held during the week for professionals and students interested in connecting with others from the disaster space.
While the conference is one day this year, we would like to expand the conference track to multi-day in the near future. If you are interested in learning more about the disaster symposium or the AMS Committee on Emergency Management, contact me (Ashley Morris) at [email protected].
