Duane A. Gill

Duane A. Gill is a Research Professor of Sociology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Emeritus Regents Professor of Sociology at Oklahoma State University. Dr. Gill is a disaster scholar specializing in technological hazards and disasters. He was part of a research team that investigated social impacts of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill through a series of longitudinal studies spanning 24 years. He has also conducted primary research on human impacts of Hurricane Katrina, the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2020 Wakashio shipwreck and oil spill in the island nation of Mauritius. During the past 12 years, Dr. Gill has worked with First Nations in Canada to conduct social impact assessments of energy development activities occurring in their traditional lands and waters. His research activities generally seek to understand community capacity to respond to and recover from disasters, as well as ways to enhance community preparedness and resilience. Dr. Gill is a Fulbright Scholar, having spent the 1998-99 academic year at the University of Bahrain and the Fall 2015 semester as a Visiting Research Chair in Native Studies at the University of Alberta in Canada. He is currently co-editing The Encyclopedia of Technological Hazards and Disasters in the Social Sciences with Drs. Liesel A. Ritchie and Nnenia Campbell, which is expected to be published in 2024.