Featured Scholar: Daniel Johnson, PhD
Associate Professor of Geography
Department of Geography, IU Indianapolis School of Liberal Arts
Research Video: https://youtu.be/WEJ7ZDPuV3c
Interactions Between Social and Environmental Vulnerability
Social vulnerability refers to the limited ability of people or communities to respond to an external stressor such as a heat wave or epidemic. Environmental vulnerability in this context implies the environmental stressors that a location is likely to experience. When social and environmental vulnerabilities overlap, there is a high likelihood of significant negative impacts in the local community .Professor Daniel Johnson's research focuses on social and environmental vulnerability and how they inter-relate in space and time. His focus is on modeling these interactions and working toward predictive models that can help increase resilience, prevent disaster or mitigate the effects. The forces of both social and environmental vulnerability are very pronounced in urban areas where disparities between populations are highly evident.
His models have been deployed in several cities to guide the opening of cooling centers during extreme heat events. Some of his earlier work found that cooling centers were not located in areas or neighborhoods where vulnerable populations lived. Using models he and his research team developed, cities were able to open cooling centers or use buses, as mobile cooling centers, in neighborhoods where they were needed the most.
Professor Johnson's translation of research into tools that can be used to help vulnerable communities is another excellent example of how IU Indianapolis's faculty members are TRANSLATING their RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE.
Selected Publications in IU Indianapolis ScholarWorks
With several research works contributed to IU Indianapolis's free, open access repository, Professor Daniel Johnson has made translational research knowledge available to professionals, researchers, students, and communities around the world.
Johnson, D. P., Ravi, N., & Braneon, C. V. (2021). Spatiotemporal Associations Between Social Vulnerability, Environmental Measurements, and COVID-19 in the Conterminous United States. GeoHealth, 5(8). https://hdl.handle.net/1805/26944
Gary D. Hutchins, Kathryn J. Wilson, Michael S. Sturek, Eliza Y. Du, James W. Fletcher, Eric C. Long, Bruce A. Molitoris, Daniel P Johnson, Richard N. Day, William K. Barnett, Mathew J. Palakal. (2012, April 13). IU Indianapolis Imaging Research Council. Poster session presented at IU Indianapolis Research Day 2012, Indianapolis, Indiana. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/7662
Gabriel Filippelli, Daniel Johnson, Sarah Wiehe, and Terry Zollinger. (2011, April 8). The IU Indianapolis Center for Urban Health Enhancing Community Wellness Through Research. Poster session presented at IU Indianapolis Research Day 2016, Indianapolis, Indiana. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/10838
Johnson, D.P. (2010). The Primary Advantage in Utilizing Remote Sensing Assets for Extreme Heat Vulnerability Studies. Earthzine. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/12334
David A. Ford, Director, David Bell, PI, “Networks of Heterosexual Risk and HIV” (NIH) Daniel P. Johnson, PI, “Decision Support through Earth Science Research Results” (NASA), Wan-Ning Bao, China Studies Workgroup, Jeanette Dickerson-Putman, IU Indianapolis-Moi Workgroup, Wendy Morrison, Health Research Workgroup, John Parrish-Sprowl, Global Health Communications Center, Jeffrey Wilson, GIS Research Center and Center for Health Geographics, James Wolf, Survey Research Center. (2010, April 9). The Institute for Research on Social Issues. Poster session presented at IU Indianapolis. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/11251
Johnson, D., J. Wilson & G. Luber. 2009. "Socioeconomic indicators of heat-related health risk supplemented with remotely sensed data." International Journal of Health Geographics, 8, 57. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/3292