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Casie Venable has been awarded a 2019 from the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistantship and Habitat for Humanity International.

Venable is a civil engineering PhD student who has been working on research co-advised by Amy Javernick-Will and Abbie Liel. Her dissertation will investigate homeowners’ perceived safety of post-disaster shelters and compare it to engineering assessments of the shelters.

The Humanitarian Shelter and Settlements Student Fellowship is awarded to graduate students who are working on theses within civil, environmental or architectural engineering that focus on humanitarian shelter. The grant will allow Venable to travel and collaborate with organizations to ensure that her research has a positive impact in the humanitarian shelter and settlements sector.

The selection committee told Venable they were impressed with “the learning opportunities your research will provide to the humanitarian shelter and settlements sector.”

“I am very honored to be recognized by USAID/OFDA for my research on humanitarian shelter. I am particularly excited that they have recognized the importance of research that bridges local perspectives with expert engineering knowledge and seeks to enhance humanitarian shelter assistance. I look forward to partnering with and learning from practitioners active in the sector and creating relationships for my planned future career in infrastructure policy.”