PEMA staff to provide mentorship to students exploring issues related to hurricane mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery
Friday, March 1, 2019
Providence, RI – Providence Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) Director Kevin Kugel and Deputy Director Clara Decerbo will serve as mentors to teams of Rhode Island college students during Brown University’s second annual “Hack for Humanity” event held from March 2-3, 2019 at the Stephen Robert ’62 Hall.
”The Hack for Humanity will provide college students an opportunity to make innovative and impactful contributions to the field of humanitarian and disaster relief by bringing together practitioners and experts in those disciplines,” said PEMA Director Kevin Kugel. “The students who participate in this event could develop ideas that transform the way we think about disaster preparedness and mitigation and I’m honored to be able to support them in any way that I can.”
The humanitarian hackathon, organized by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs’ Humanitarian Innovation Initiative and the Brown Humanitarian Society, brings together college students from across Rhode Island to learn about the most pressing needs in the humanitarian sphere and develop creative ideas for innovative programs or technologies that could help improve the lives of disaster and conflict-affected communities around the world.
This year, the hackathon will use Hurricane Maria as a lens for examining the current and future challenges that hurricanes pose to the United States. PEMA’s expertise in hurricane preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation will be invaluable to the students as they develop pitches for their team projects. Following all presentations, a panel of judges will award two project teams with grant funding to further develop their ideas.