Melanie Gall
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Phone: 602-496-1040
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Downtown Campus UCENT 422H 411 N Central Ave Phoenix, AZ 85004
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Mail code: 3720Campus: Dtphx
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Melanie Gall is an assistant professor in the School of Public Affairs where she co-directs the Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security and manages the Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database for the United States (SHELDUS). She is a trained hazards geographer studying the interaction between natural hazards and society. Her expertise lies in risk metrics (e.g., disaster losses, indices, risk assessments), hazard mitigation and climate change adaptation planning as well as environmental modeling. The applied nature of hazards research allows her to work closely with emergency management agencies from local to federal levels. She has conducted post-disaster field work in Mozambique, Haiti, and in the United States. Her publications appeared in journals such as Nature Climate Change, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, and Natural Hazards Review. She is a certified floodplain manager and holds a doctorate from the University of South Carolina (Geography), a master's degree from the University of Salzburg in Austria (Geography/GIS), and a bachelor's degree from the University of Heidelberg in Germany (Geography).
- Ph.D. Geography, University of South Carolina, 2007
- M.S. Geography and Geoinformatics, University of Salzburg (Austria), 2002
- B.S. Geography (Biology and Political Sciences), University of Heidelberg (Germany), 1999
- Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM), 2012
Societal impacts of natural hazards and extreme events
Loss and damage
Vulnerability and resilience indices
Vulnerable populations
Hazard mitigation planning
Climate change adaptation
Environmental justice
Floods
Heat
Select Publications
CEMHS. 2022. The Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database for the United States (SHELDUS) Version 21 [online database]. Available at sheldus.org.
Gall, M., T. Sheldon, and L. Collins. 2022. The economic impact of disaster-related school closures. Risks, Hazards, and Crisis in Public Policy. https://doi.org/10.1002/rhc3.12242
Gall, M. and Carol J. Friedland. 2020. If Mitigation Saves $6 Per Every $1 Spent, Then Why Are We Not Investing More? A Louisiana Perspective on a National Issue. Natural Hazards Review 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000342
de Sherbinin, A., A. Bukvic, G. Rohat, M. Gall, B. McCusker, B. Preston, A. Apotsos, C. Fish, S. Kienberger, P. Muhonda, O. Wilhelmi, D. Macharia, W. Shubert, R. Sliuzas, B. Tomaszewski, and S. Zhang. 2019. Climate change vulnerability mapping: a systematic review and recommendations for the future. WIREs Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.600
Cutter, S. L., & Gall, M. (2015). Sendai targets at risk. Nature Climate Change, 5(8), 707-709.
Gall, M., Nguyen, K. H., & Cutter, S. L. (2015). Integrated research on disaster risk: Is it really integrated?. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 12, 255-267.
Gall, M., Borden, K. A., Emrich, C. T., & Cutter, S. L. (2011). The unsustainable trend of natural hazard losses in the United States. Sustainability, 3(11), 2157-2181.
Gall, M., Borden, K. A., & Cutter, S. L. (2009). When do losses count? Six fallacies of natural hazards loss data. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 90(6), 799-810.
Gall, M. (2007). Indices of social vulnerability to natural hazards: a comparative evaluation (Doctoral dissertation, University of South Carolina).
Courses
2025 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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PAF 160 | How to Survive 21st Century |
2024 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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PAF 553 | Hazard Mitigation Planning |
PAF 261 | Hazards and Risk Management |
2024 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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PAF 559 | GIS for Hazards Analysis |
PAF 559 | GIS for Hazards Analysis |
2023 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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PAF 553 | Hazard Mitigation Planning |
PAF 553 | Hazard Mitigation Planning |
PAF 360 | Emergency Management I |
2023 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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CPP 510 | Hazards Governance |
CPP 570 | GIS for Hazards Analysis |
2022 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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CPP 510 | Hazards Governance |
CPP 511 | Hazard Mitigation Planning |
CPP 511 | Hazard Mitigation Planning |
2022 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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CPP 510 | Hazards Governance |
CPP 570 | GIS for Hazards Analysis |
CPP 570 | GIS for Hazards Analysis |
2021 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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CPP 510 | Hazards Governance |
CPP 511 | Hazard Mitigation Planning |
CPP 511 | Hazard Mitigation Planning |
2021 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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CPP 510 | Hazards Governance |
CPP 570 | GIS for Hazards Analysis |
CPP 570 | GIS for Hazards Analysis |
2020 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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CPP 510 | Hazards Governance |
CPP 511 | Hazard Mitigation Planning |
CPP 511 | Hazard Mitigation Planning |
2020 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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CPP 510 | Hazards Governance |
CPP 570 | GIS for Hazards Analysis |
CPP 570 | GIS for Hazards Analysis |
2019 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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CPP 510 | Hazards Governance |
CPP 511 | Hazard Mitigation Planning |
CPP 511 | Hazard Mitigation Planning |
Natural Hazards Review (Associate Editor)
American Association of Geographers (AAG)
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Arizona Association of Emergency Managers (AzEM, formerly AESA)
Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM)
Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM)
Arbeitskreis Naturgefahren und Naturrisiken (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geographie)
Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI)
National Hazard Mitigation Association (NHMA)
North American Alliance of Hazards and Disaster Research Institutes (NAAHDRI)
Chair, Membership Committee, North American Alliance of Hazards and Disaster Research Institutes (NAAHDRI)
Member, Board of Directors, National Hazard Mitigation Association
Partner, Board of Directors, Arizona Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters
Academic Partner, Bill Anderson Fund