Rachel Steratore

Associate Policy Researcher

Off Site Office

Education

Ph.D. in engineering and public policy, Carnegie Mellon University; M.S. in geography, McGill Univ; B.S. in environmental science, Park University

One Page Bio

Overview

Rachel Dryden Steratore (she/her) is an Associate Policy Researcher with expertise at the intersection of extreme event climate attribution and social and behavioral science. She leverages quantitative and qualitative methods to identify and overcome cognitive, affective, material, and social barriers to effective decision making on topics from weather- and climate-related risks to anti-terrorism technologies. Steratore earned her Ph.D. in engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University.

Research Focus

Publications

Report
Community and Individual Disaster Resilience for Floods: Options for Improving Protective Action Guidance
This report describes options for Department of Homeland Security officials to improve protective action flood guidance and messaging in response to growing flood risks that continue to cause adverse effects and threaten lives and property.
May 8, 2023
Report
Streamlining Emergency Management: Issues, Impacts, and Options for Improvement
Researchers sought ways to streamline, simplify, and strengthen the U.S. emergency management system, assessing how overlap, duplication, and fragmentation could affect implementation and outcomes. They propose options and discuss trade-offs of each.
Jun 24, 2022
Report
A Risk Assessment of National Critical Functions During COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities
This report presents a framework for assessing risk that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses to the National Critical Functions, describes challenges in implementing the framework, and provides recommendations for improving it.
Apr 26, 2022
Report
The Department of Homeland Security's Use of Emerging Technologies: Why Public Perception Matters
This Perspective explores how public perception can influence the success of government technology deployments, ways to assess public perception, and how government agencies might account for public perception across that deployment life cycle.
Mar 21, 2022
Report
Developing Metrics and Scoring Procedures to Support Mitigation Grant Program Decisionmaking
To develop metrics that can inform decisionmaking for awarding predisaster mitigation grants, the authors established three lines of effort (LoEs) for analysis. Each LoE produced a metric or framework that could support grant decisionmaking.
Mar 31, 2021
Journal Article
Do We Prioritize Floodplains for Development and Farming? Mapping Global Dependence and Exposure to Inundation
Mapping global floodplain exposure and dependence.
2021
Journal Article
Estimating Nuclear Proliferation and Security Risks in Emerging Markets Using Bayesian Belief Networks
Estimating future nuclear proliferation risk using expert elicitation.
2021
Journal Article
Lay Detection of Unusual Patterns in the Frequency of Hurricanes
How public participants attribute hurricanes to climate changes.
2020
Journal Article
A Simple Strategy to Communicate About Climate Attribution
Using spinner boards to communicate about climate attribution.
2020