Research Projects

Currently funded research

The following projects are currently funded.

Nebraska Tornado Quick Response: Assessing Community Impacts and Early Warning  

This research project focuses on conducting rapid response research following tornadoes to assess material needs, health impacts, and lived experiences, especially in rural areas. It aims to develop rapid needs assessment methods, adapted for use in Nebraska, where no such assessments have been used for public health disaster responses. The project will explore how early warning systems functioned during tornadoes and how households responded to warnings using the Protective Action Decision Model. By partnering with local agencies, the study aims to improve disaster preparedness and response, especially in hard-to-reach populations, and contribute to future multi-hazard early warning systems. 

• Funding Agency: National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Natural Hazards Center  

• Goal: The goal of the project is to develop and implement rapid needs assessment methods to evaluate health impacts and community responses following tornadoes, particularly in rural areas, to improve disaster preparedness and early warning systems. 
• PI: Kristina Kintziger, PhD & Sarah Scales, PhD 

Read the Report on the Washington County Tornado Recovery Survey.  

Watch a video report of the findings of the Washington County Tornado survey.  

Explore media coverage for this event:  

Tornado survey offers ‘boots-on-the-ground epidemiology’  

Health departments conduct needs survey in Washington County 

Survey being conducted to improve disaster response efforts  

Modernize Environmental Public Health Surveillance & Tracking, Reduce Health Disparities (aka Nebraska Tracking)

• Funding Agency: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Goal: Mobilize data to improve surveillance of environmental health issues, resulting in data-informed decisions for community health.
• PI: Jesse Bell, PhD & Derry Stover, MPH.

Identifying Public Health Applications of Satellite-derived Drought Indicators: Improved Monitoring for Respiratory Health

This project utilizes National Aeronautics and Space Administration air quality and drought monitoring data products to evaluate health outcomes associated with drought events. This evaluation will help inform the development of public health tools and resources to help public health departments effectively prepare for and respond to drought and its impact on human health.

• Funding Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
• Goal: Mitigate negative health outcomes associated with drought.
• PI: Jesse Bell, PhD, Co-Investigators: Lookadoo, Gwon.

Evaluation of Drought Indicators for Improved Decision-Making in Public Health and Emergency Preparedness: Reducing Drought’s Burden on Health.

Health departments and healthcare professionals need reliable information to effectively prepare and warn constituents of pending natural and biological threats. This information is critical to develop hazard messaging or other response actions in a timely fashion. This project will take an interdisciplinary approach to improve public health understanding of drought early warning and planning to reduce negative health impacts of at-risk populations in the United States.

• Funding Agency: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
• Goal: The proposed project will assist in the development of joint decision-making tools for public health stakeholders impacted by drought and improve connections between drought early warning and healthcare, leading to improvements in preparedness and climate resilience.
• PI: Jesse Bell, PhD & Rachel Lookadoo, JD.

Water, Climate and Health Program

This funding is to develop work on addressing environmental health issues. The goal of this project is to bring together expertise and resources to form collaborations to address public health challenges related to water and climate, and to create solutions to these challenges.

• Funding Agency: Claire M. Hubbard Foundation.
• Goal: This funding creates a state-of-the-art institution to address issues associated with climate change, water availability, and water quality.
• PI: Jesse Bell, PhD.

Expanding the Science and Preparedness Activities for Health Issues Associated with Drought

This funding is to continue and expand work from the project titled, “Drought-related health impacts: advancing the science for public health”. This work is to evaluate changes in mortality rates during drought periods. The other task of this work is to host regional drought and health workshops to scope public health response to drought events in the United States.

• Funding Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
• Goal: This contract is to create a national strategic plan for the National Integrated Drought Information System on engaging with public health officials to respond to drought.

Exploring the Relationship between Heatwaves and Cardiovascular Problems in Omaha, Nebraska

Heatwaves are prolonged periods of extreme temperatures that can cause health problems for different regions. About 6200 Americans on average are hospitalized each summer due to excessive heat, and those at highest risk are poor, uninsured, and elderly.

• Funding Agency: Innovation Fund, UNMC.
• Goal: The goal of this project is to investigate the effects of extreme temperature on cardiovascular health outcomes among Nebraskans.

Regional dust storm forecasting for Valley fever surveillance and highway accident prevention in the western United States

The proposed research aim is to apply NASA satellite products and novel data assimilation techniques to improve the nation’s operational dust storm forecasting system, so that the enhanced dust prediction can be integrated into three decision-support systems: air quality management, Valley fever surveillance, and highway safety.

• Funding Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
• Goal: This funding produced science applications for cutting edge satellite air quality monitoring products. 

Omaha Heat Watch

This project brought together UNMC researchers, local experts, and nonprofits teamed with citizen scientists to capture temperature and humidity data across our region during a one-day heat mapping campaign. The Urban Heat Watch Project is the first step to better understanding temperature distribution in Omaha. Our hope is that this data will inform policies and projects that address heat-related health issues, lower the risk of heat stress, and aim to mitigate heat islands. The second phase of the project will be to conduct a community survey to understand perceptions of urban heat and extreme heat events in Omaha. Using these quantitative and qualitative data, we can begin to develop heat action plans to be more resilient to change in our climate.

• Funding Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Education, Climate Program Office and National Integrated Heat Health Information System.
• PI: Jesse Bell, PhD

Learn more about the project findings.

Explore media coverage for this project:

• UNMC ‘Urban Heat Island’ study kicks off to explain why areas in North and South Omaha are hotter
• Omaha organizations come together to conduct "Urban Heat Island" study