Date of Award
2026
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Marine Affairs
Department
Marine Affairs
First Advisor
Austin Becker
Abstract
There is growing interest in developing Decision Support Tools (DSTs) supporting emergency managers and other decision-makers during coastal storm events. Yet many tools fail to inform decision-making due to challenges associated with their development and transition into operational tools for real-time decision-making. This dissertation investigates these challenges and offers best practices for their development and implementation for real-world decision-making through a literature review, interviews with subject matter experts in the United States, and a real-world case study.
Manuscript 1 reviews existing published literature to understand whether and how tool developers are incorporating emergency managers in the development of DSTs and the outcomes of these efforts. Its findings suggest a lack of reporting of emergency manager engagement and offers four approaches for engaging emergency managers in their development based on practices described in existing literature. Manuscript 2 describes semi-structured interviews with tool developers and emergency managers to capture their experiences and perceptions of developing new tools to support emergency managers' storm preparedness and response decision-making. The third manuscript applies findings from Manuscript 2 to a case study of the Coastal Hazards Analysis Modeling and Prediction (CHAMP) project, a tool developed by researchers at the University of Rhode Island in collaboration with emergency managers throughout Rhode Island. It identifies challenges faced by the research team and emergency managers involved in the project and offers actionable insights to address them in the future.
This dissertation contributes to DST literature by offering empirical insights into challenges and best practices from existing academic literature, expert insights, and lessons learned from a real-world case study. Its contributions can help improve the development and implementation of new tools within emergency management to enhance decision-making that reduces the loss of life and human suffering from natural disasters.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Hallisey, Noah, "CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COASTAL HAZARD DECISION SUPPORT TOOLS" (2026). Open Access Dissertations. Paper 4607.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss/4607