Associate Professor, City & Metropolitan Planning
Assistant Professor, City & Metropolitan Planning

d.chandrasekhar@utah.edu

Professional Membership

• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Board Member, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute Utah Chapter, 12/01/2019
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Member, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, 09/01/2015 GLOBAL

Publications

• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Garcia, I., Chandrasekhar, D., Ganapati, N., Fagundo Ojeda, K., Velazquez-Diaz, J., Witkowski, K., & Rivera Miranda, P. (2021). Nonprofit Response to Concurrent and Consecutive Disaster Events in Puerto Rico. Natural Hazards Center Public Health Report Series, 9. Boulder, CO: Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado Boulder. Available at: https://hazards.colorado.edu/public-health-disaster-research/nonprofit-response-to-concurrent-and-consecutive-disaster-events-in-puerto-rico, 09/15/2021 PUERTO RICO
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Chandrasekhar D., García I. & Khajehei S. (2021). Recovery Capacity of Small Nonprofits in Post-2017 Hurricane Puerto Rico. Journal of the American Planning Association., 01/01/2021
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: García I. & Chandrasekhar D. (2020). Impact of hurricane maría to the civic sector: A profile of non-profits in Puerto Rico. (pp. 67-88). Vol. 32. Centro Journal., 09/01/2020 PUERTO RICO
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Chandrasekhar, D., “2012 Hurricane (“Superstorm”) Sandy” in Paul, B.K. (Ed.). Natural Hazards and Disasters: From Avalanches and Climate Change to Water Spouts and Wildfires (Vol. 2: Disasters). Broomfield, CO: ABC-CLIO., 01/09/2019
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Divya Chandrasekhar, Robin Rothfeder, Yu Xiao & Donovan Finn (2018). What drives household recovery after disasters? A case study of New York City after 2012 Hurricane Sandy. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management (CJEP)., 10/2018 GLOBAL
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE: Chandrasekhar, Divya, Proffitt, D., Rumore, D. & Siddiq, F. (2018). Impact Assessment of the Natural and Cultural Resources (NCR) Recovery Support Function (RSF) under the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF): A field coordinator’s perspective. The Department of the Interior., 07/01/2018
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Yu Xiao, Kai Wu, Donovan Finn & Divya Chandrasekhar (2018). Community Businesses as Social Units in Post-Disaster Recovery. Journal of Planning Education and Research., 07/2018 GLOBAL
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | AIR QUALITY | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE: Rumore, D., Chandrasekhar, D. & Hinners, S. (2018). Teaching Transportation Planning in Natural Amenity Regions.. National Institute of Transportation and Communities., 03/2018
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | AIR QUALITY | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE: Rumore, D., Chandrasekhar, D. & Hinners, S. (2018). Tools and Techniques for Teaching Collaborative Regional Planning and Enhancing Livability and Sustainable Transportation in Gateway and Natural Amenity Regions.. National Institute of Transportation and Communities., 03/2018

Presentations

• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Active Community Engagement & Awareness for Inclusive Cities: coping with current and future urban pandemic” at the Fifth International Conference on Learning Cities of UNESCO, Incheon, South Korea, October, 2021., 10/29/2021 GLOBAL
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Kim, S. & Chandrasekhar, D. "Promoting mitigation through post-disaster small business recovery programs" at the 61st Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, October 2021., 10/22/2021
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: “A framework for disaster recovery” at Stanford Disaster Resilience Seminar series, October 2021., 10/18/2021
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: "Safer buildings, Safer Communities: A Road Map to Action for Earthquake Country" hosted by the Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup, July 2021., 07/21/2021
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: "Holistic Disaster Recovery” at the MIT Sensible City Lab speaker series, July 2021., 07/18/2021
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Moderator, “Managing Disaster Data for Social Change" at the 2021 Annual Hazards Workshop, July 2021., 07/16/2021 GLOBAL
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Kim, S. & Chandrasekhar, D. "Promoting mitigation through post-disaster small business recovery programs: Preliminary Findings" at the Natural Hazards Center Researcher's Meeting, July 2021., 07/15/2021
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: "Alternative Platforms of Representation and Self-Recovery" session at the Recovery with Dignity workshop hosted by Indian Institute of Habitat Studies, India, July 2021., 07/09/2021 GLOBAL
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: Pre-planning for Post-disaster Rehousing of Public Housing Residents (Case-study: Salt Lake County), 10/03/2020 GLOBAL
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: “Promoting Mitigation through Post-Disaster Small Business Recovery Programs” with Sua Kim, poster presentation at the 60th Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP), November 2020, held virtually., 10/03/2020
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: Informing Puerto Rico’s community relocation program: Global lessons from the past.” Roundtable (organizer) at the 60th Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP), November 2020, held virtually., 10/03/2020 GLOBAL
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: “The Grassroots of Disaster Recovery” at the 2020 Seminar Series of the Global Change and Sustainability Center, University of Utah, September 2020., 09/15/2020 GLOBAL
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: "Pre-planning for Post-disaster Rehousing of Public Housing Residents” with Sayma Khajehei at the 2020 Researchers Meeting of the International Sociological Association Research Committee, July 2020, held virtually., 07/15/2020
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: Panelist for “The 2020 Salt Lake City Earthquake: Best Mitigation Practices” session at the 45th Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop, July 12-15, 2020, held virtually., 07/15/2020 GLOBAL
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: Keynote, Utah Geological Association (UGA) Luncheon Series, September 9th, 2019, Salt Lake City UT., 09/09/2019 GLOBAL
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE: Chandrasekhar, D., Rumore, D., Proffitt, D. & Siddiq, F. “Resilience-building through Natural and Cultural Resource (NCR) Recovery Support Function (RSF)” at the 58th Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP). Buffalo, NY October 2018., 10/2018 GLOBAL
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: Panelist for roundtable titled, “Organizing Community & Nonprofit Networks for Community Rebuilding” at the 58th Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP). Buffalo, NY October 2018., 10/2018 GLOBAL
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: Invited Panelist for session titled, “Post-disaster long-term recovery: critical considerations for creating resilient communities” at the 2018 Western Places/Western Spaces conference of the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute, Denver, CO., 03/2018 GLOBAL
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: “Building Resilient Communities: A Plan to Survive and Thrive” workshop sponsored by the State of Utah and the Utah Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Salt Lake City, February 2018., 02/09/2018
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: “The Economics of Disaster: Achieving Mitigation and Ensuring Equality” at the 2017 Large Urban County Caucus (LUCC) Symposium organized by the National Association of Counties, Snowbird UT., 10/26/2017
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: "A longitudinal analysis of household recovery after 2012 Hurricane Sandy.” With Donovan Finn, Yu Xiao and Fariba Siddiq at the 57th Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP). Denver, CO, 10/14/2017
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: “Disaster, Place & Identity” at the University of Utah Entrepreneurial Faculty Services Retreat, Salt Lake City, UT., 10/03/2017
• NATURE & CULTURE | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE: “Assessing the Situation to Support Collaborative Planning in the Western Zion Corridor and Other Gateway Regions.” With Danya Rumore and Sarah Hinners. The Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) 2016, 56th Annual Conference, Portland, OR. November 2016., 11/04/2016 GLOBAL
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE: “What Drives Household Recovery after Catastrophic Disasters? Lessons from New York City after the 2012 Hurricane Sandy”. With Donovan Finn and Yu Xiao. The Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) 2016, 56th Annual Conference, Portland, OR. November 2016., 11/03/2016 GLOBAL
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE: “Planning after Sandy: How Do We Rebuild for a More Resilient Region?” With Donovan Finn and Yu Xiao. The Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) 2016, 56th Annual Conference, Portland, OR. November 2016., 11/03/2016 GLOBAL
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE: “Planning after Sandy: How Do We Rebuild for a More Resilient Region?” With Donovan Finn and Yu Xiao. The Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) 2016, 56th Annual Conference, Portland, OR. November 2016., 11/03/2016 GLOBAL
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE: Invited Panelist for session on “Transportation Planning for Emergency Response & Recovery” at the 2016 National Institute for Transportation & Communities (NITC) Summit, Portland OR, September, 2016. , 09/09/2016 GLOBAL
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE: “Recovery planning from the neighborhood to the region: The case of Hurricane Sandy”. With Donovan Finn and Yu Xiao at the International Sociological Association's International Research Committee on Disasters Annual Meeting, Broomfield, CO. July 2016., 07/15/2016 GLOBAL
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE: A holistic view of household recovery after the 2012 Hurricane Sandy in New York.” With Donovan Finn and Yu Xiao at the International Sociological Association's International Research Committee on Disasters Annual Meeting, Broomfield, CO. July 2016”., 07/15/2016 GLOBAL
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: Invited Panelist for session titled “Invisible Disasters” at the 2016 Annual Conference of the Integrated Network of Social Sustainability (INSS), June 10th, 2016. Conference simulcast over 7 cities in the US and UK., 06/10/2016 GLOBAL
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE: Invited Panelist for session titled “The Role of Government: Mitigation Efforts & Recovery Expectations” at the Utah Earthquake Resiliency Workshop, West Jordan UT, April 27, 2016., 04/27/2016 GLOBAL

Internal Service

• NATURE & CULTURE | BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: Coordinator of Year of Resilience event series sponsored by Reaveley Engineers, 06/2018-05/2019

Professional Service

• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Resilient American Roundtable, National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine , 01/24/2022
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Utah Unreinforced Masonry Risk Reduction Strategy Advisory Team, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 07/01/2021
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Member, Utah Seismic Safety Commission, 01/01/2021
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Development Planning Working Group of the Disaster Resilience Initiative for Utah, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Utah Division of Emergency Management (DEM) and Envision Utah, 01/01/2021
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Panel Reviewer, National Science Foundation, 01/01/2021
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Board Member and Officer of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) Utah Chapter, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) Utah Chapter, 02/2019
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Applications Review, Utah State Division of Emergency Management, 01/2016
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | CLIMATE CHANGE: Utah State Recovery Framework Advisory Group, Utah State Division of Emergency Management, 01/2016

Media

• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: State leaders have known for decades that Utah kids could die in unsafe schools during an earthquake. They’ve taken little action., 03/28/2021
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: How this ‘earthquake nut’ prompted one Utah school district to make all of its buildings safer, 03/28/2021
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: A year after Magna earthquake, here’s what Utahns are doing — or should be — to prepare for the big one., 03/14/2021
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | CLIMATE CHANGE: KUER 90.1, NPR Utah, 01/08/2020

Grants

• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Role of Community-Based Organizations in Public Housing Resident Recovery after Concurrent Disasters. PI: Sayma Khajehei. Co-PI(s): Divya Chandrasekhar, Ivis Garcia, Elizabeth Colon Rivera, 12/01/2021 PUERTO RICO
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: SCC-PG: Online Role-Playing Games for Improving Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration in Concurrent Disaster Response Planning. PI: Divya Chandrasekhar. Co-PI(s): R. Michael Young, Ivis Garcia, Masood Parvania, John Horel, Daniel Mendoza, 09/01/2021
• ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Collaborative Proposal: Stakeholder Decisions on Post-Disaster Community Relocation under High Uncertainty. PI: Divya Chandrasekhar. Co-PI(s): Ivis Garcia, N. Emel Ganapati, Robert Olshansky, 09/01/2021 GLOBAL
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: Non-profit Response to Concurrent Disaster Events. PI: Ivis Garcia. Co-PI(s): Divya Chandrasekhar, 01/01/2021 LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN SOUTH-EASTERN ASIA UNITED STATES
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: Promoting Mitigation Through Post-Disaster Small Business Recovery Programs. PI: Sua Kim. Co-PI(s): Divya Chandrasekhar, 05/01/2020
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: Effectiveness of multi-hazard response planning for concurrent disasters (Case study: COVID-19 and post-earthquake response in the Salt Lake City Metro Region)” funded by the , 2020-2021. ($24,007). PI: Divya Chandrasekhar. Co-PI(s): Ivis Garcia, Daniel Mendoza, 05/01/2020-04/30/2021
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: Pre-Planning for Post-Disaster Rehousing of Public Housing Residents: A Case Study of Salt Lake County. PI: Sayma Khajehei. Co-PI(s): Divya Chandrasekhar, 01/01/2020
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: Building community networks to promote disaster recovery in San Juan Metro, Puerto Rico . PI: Divya Chandrasekhar. Co-PI(s): Ivis Garcia, 07/01/2018 PUERTO RICO
• BUILT ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITIES | ECOLOGICAL & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE | JUSTICE, EQUITY & DIVERSITY: A study of distributed infrastructure forms emerging after disasters. PI: Divya Chandrasekhar. Co-PI(s): Masood Parvania, 07/01/2018 PUERTO RICO