Student Disaster Science Association Combines Book Smarts, Real-World Training

By: Elaine Pittman on November 05, 2010

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DSMA members participated in the U.S. Postal Service's Biohazard Detection System full-scale exercise in April.

Students who join Louisiana State University’s Disaster Science and Management Association (DSMA) are graduating from college with more than just a degree in the emergency management field — they’re aiding disaster response and partnering with government and nonprofit organizations to garner real-world skills. The DSMA claims to be the nation’s first student organization for disaster education, training and response. It has about 40 active members and started last year when students felt a need for an organization that would bring together people with similar interests to enhance their skill sets.

“The group thinking was kind of, ‘Let’s get the training now, let’s prepare for it now so that when we graduate, we’ll have an opportunity to actually enter the work force better prepared than those who have just graduated,’” said Craig Westerman, the DSMA’s president and a senior at the university.

Although the organization is fairly new and still developing, it seeks to fill the need for students to have a degree and real-world experience. Westerman estimated that about two-thirds of the DSMA’s members are undergraduates and one-third are graduate students or people returning to school after working professionally. While most of the members are students in the university’s Disaster Science and Management Program, Westerman said all students are welcome to join.

The DSMA has partnered with governmental agencies and nonprofits to develop relationships. Its partner agencies include: the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness; Livingston Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness; Baton Rouge Red Cross chapter; and the state’s Department of Health and Hospitals. When possible, members participate in the agencies’ functional and tabletop exercises to see how the professional groups train.

Participating in exercises isn’t the only way DSMA members learn about disaster response outside of the classroom — they aided the response to the BP oil spill earlier this year. Erin Hymel, the association’s public information officer and a senior at the university, said members were provided with various opportunities, including cleaning up oil and working with the National Audubon Society to count birds and document the impact on wildlife.

Throughout the response, the DSMA worked with another group, the Student Coalition to Help the Oil Leak Relief, and used social media to gather about 1,800 student volunteers. It set up hazardous materials training and hazardous waste operations and emergency response (HAZWOPER) training to ensure that volunteers received proper education. And those who couldn’t be HAZMAT trained were connected with other organizations, like Catholic Charities USA, to work in food banks, answer phone calls or perform data entry.

“We also contacted all of the professors on campus who were doing research on the effects of the oil spill, both immediately and after the oil was capped,” Hymel said. “Several job opportunities and internships came out of that, which we offered to our members so they can work with professors doing research.”

Although, thankfully, there haven’t been other disasters for the DSMA to provide aid to, it’s working with the Red Cross to develop a spontaneous volunteer center, Hymel said. The center would provide a place for people to convene who want to volunteer after a disaster, and DSMA members will identify volunteers based on their skill sets and send them to the appropriate areas where they can maximize their ability to help.

Some of the members are Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) trained, but Hymel said the association is looking into training the rest of its members so they can become a CERT. She said one of the university’s Disaster Science and Management Program advisers is rewriting the campus emergency operations plan and the association’s CERT would become part of it.

“There’s no one else like us anywhere in the country,” Hymel said. “So it’s pretty new and we’re excited to be the one and only, and we’re trying different things and different trainings. We provide a lot of different services to students that they never had the opportunity to visit before.”

As baby boomers approach retirement and the professional landscape for emergency management and other professions changes, the DSMA members are educating themselves in book smarts and real-world experience so they’ll be ready to join the work force after graduation.

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http://www.emergencymgmt.com/training/Student-Disaster-Science-Association-Combines-Book-Smarts-Real-World-Training.html

Elaine Pittman

Elaine Pittman is the associate editor of Emergency Management magazine.

E-mail: epittman@govtech.com

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