Disaster research institute at UL Lafayette names new leader

Published

The National Incident Management Systems and Advanced Technologies Institute at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette has named Dr. Michael Dunaway as its director.

NIMSAT is part of the Informatics Research Institute at the University. It’s an applied research center in the areas of homeland security and emergency management.

NIMSAT’s efforts include development of public and private sector partnerships through Louisiana Business Emergency Operations Center and the Virtual Business Emergency Operations Center portals.

Dunaway will play a major role in outreach efforts by leading NIMSAT’s interactions with government and private sector clients and managing execution of funded projects sponsored by state and federal agencies.

A former Navy captain, he has 12 years of experience in homeland security and emergency preparedness. He is founding partner of The AE Analytics, a Maryland-based, veteran-owned small business focused on risk analysis and strategic planning. He was founding chairman of the Chesapeake Critical Incident Partnership, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving private and public collaboration for disaster response and recovery.

Previously, Dunaway served as senior director for Preparedness and Resilience Programs at the national headquarters of the American Red Cross; as chief for risk management and program manager for Community Resilience in the Science and Technology Directorate, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and as a program manager in the Cognitive, Neural and Social Science Division of the Office of Naval Research.

In 2002, Dunaway was a consultant to the National Bioterrorism Medical Response Center in Philadelphia and authored the first online guidebook for hospital contingency planning for mass-casualty events.

A graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, he served as a surface line officer in the U.S. Navy before retiring from active duty. He holds an M.A. in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a Ph.D. in systems engineering from George Washington University. Dunaway is a certified search and rescue technician and is a sailing instructor for the Offshore Sail Training Squadron at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Dr. Michael Dunaway