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Playing it safe: How turning disaster prep into a game can save lives
The longer version
Beyond her research on emergency management and technology, DeeDee also works on enhancing climate resiliency in coastal regions.
In 2023, DeeDee was selected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to serve as Ocean Decade Champion, which led her to attend the 2024 IOC/UNESCO Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona. The summit spotlighted research that integrates natural, social and technological disciplines toward a shared mission of building coastal resilience.
We asked DeeDee about takeaways from this experience.
DBG: "The experience was invaluable. I've noticed a growing divide between STEM and social sciences when tackling complex problems. While we often call for data-driven, STEM-focused solutions, many questions, like why people behave as they do or how to drive change, require qualitative, social science perspectives.
Solving complex problems, like climate change, poverty, or expanding STEM education, requires more than one discipline. Funding mechanisms should reflect this and support truly inclusive, community-engaged research."
In addition to being a respected scholar in disaster preparedness, DeeDee is one of many UAlbany faculty members focused on ensuring that what she learns in her lab is translated to the real world, where that knowledge can help people.
DeeDee’s research on individual and household emergency preparedness shows that organizations struggle to teach the public how to deal with disasters in part because there are not enough opportunities to practice in immersive ways. To address this, her startup company Almanta developed a game called “All Hazards.” Played using a VR headset, the game allows the user to roleplay their way through a disaster scenario. The result, she says, is not just building tech for agencies, but building more prepared and resilient communities, one household at a time.
Almanta won runner up in the UAlbany Innovation Center’s Research and Innovators Startup Exchange (RISE) pitch competition in Fall 2025, winning $15,000 in seed funding.
Go deeper
Discover the work DeeDee is undertaking with her team at the Extreme Events, Social Equity, and Technology Lab.
Learn more about DeeDee’s experience testifying before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging about emergency preparedness and response.
Watch a video that captured DeeDee’s team as they tested their wearable VR tech with test users in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Episode credits
Hosted and written by Erin Frick
Interview, research and additional writing by Mike Nolan
Audio editing and production by Scott Freedman
Photo by Brian Busher
The Short Version is produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing at the University at Albany, which is part of the State University of New York.
Comments, ideas, suggestions?
Send them to [email protected] and be sure to put The Short Version in the subject line.
View all episodes
By University at AlbanyThe longer version
Beyond her research on emergency management and technology, DeeDee also works on enhancing climate resiliency in coastal regions.
In 2023, DeeDee was selected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to serve as Ocean Decade Champion, which led her to attend the 2024 IOC/UNESCO Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona. The summit spotlighted research that integrates natural, social and technological disciplines toward a shared mission of building coastal resilience.
We asked DeeDee about takeaways from this experience.
DBG: "The experience was invaluable. I've noticed a growing divide between STEM and social sciences when tackling complex problems. While we often call for data-driven, STEM-focused solutions, many questions, like why people behave as they do or how to drive change, require qualitative, social science perspectives.
Solving complex problems, like climate change, poverty, or expanding STEM education, requires more than one discipline. Funding mechanisms should reflect this and support truly inclusive, community-engaged research."
In addition to being a respected scholar in disaster preparedness, DeeDee is one of many UAlbany faculty members focused on ensuring that what she learns in her lab is translated to the real world, where that knowledge can help people.
DeeDee’s research on individual and household emergency preparedness shows that organizations struggle to teach the public how to deal with disasters in part because there are not enough opportunities to practice in immersive ways. To address this, her startup company Almanta developed a game called “All Hazards.” Played using a VR headset, the game allows the user to roleplay their way through a disaster scenario. The result, she says, is not just building tech for agencies, but building more prepared and resilient communities, one household at a time.
Almanta won runner up in the UAlbany Innovation Center’s Research and Innovators Startup Exchange (RISE) pitch competition in Fall 2025, winning $15,000 in seed funding.
Go deeper
Discover the work DeeDee is undertaking with her team at the Extreme Events, Social Equity, and Technology Lab.
Learn more about DeeDee’s experience testifying before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging about emergency preparedness and response.
Watch a video that captured DeeDee’s team as they tested their wearable VR tech with test users in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Episode credits
Hosted and written by Erin Frick
Interview, research and additional writing by Mike Nolan
Audio editing and production by Scott Freedman
Photo by Brian Busher
The Short Version is produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing at the University at Albany, which is part of the State University of New York.
Comments, ideas, suggestions?
Send them to [email protected] and be sure to put The Short Version in the subject line.