Research

Areas of Research

Powell Lawson Consulting conducts hazards and weather research, focused in the areas of:

  • Drought, wildfires, and hurricanes
  • Organizational learning in hazard mitigation
  • Risk communication
  • The Internet and mobile Internet as hazards mitigation tools
  • Renewable energy.

Visitors to Shawnee Twin Lakes in Shawnee, OK, found its shoreline severely impacted by the 2005 drought.

Serene days like July 14, 2019, see blue skies and cartoon-like clouds above downtown Oklahoma City, OK.

Selected Research Publications

The following links highlight recent research conducted by Powell Lawson Consulting and its clients and/or research partners. Please contact us to learn more.

• Lawson, Carlie. 2022. “Infrastructure, Storms and Social Effects: The Effects of Extreme Weather on an Unfinished Subdivision in Extreme Rural Oklahoma.” 1st WWRP/SERA “Weather and Society” Conference 2022.

• CONVERGE Compound Hazards and Cascading Disasters Working Group. 2020. “Extreme Weather Events in a Time of Pandemic.” CONVERGE.

• Kelman, Ilan and Lawson, Carlie L. 2008. “Extreme event warning systems as social processes.”

• Lawson, Carlie L. and I. Kelman. 2008. “Slow Migration Due to Environmental Contamination: The Making of an Oklahoma Ghost Town.”

• Lawson, Carlie L., Baze, Lucas, Meo, Mark. 2007. “Emerging Energy Technology Survey: Oklahoma State Agency Interests.” University of Oklahoma.

• Lawson, Carlie L. 2007. “The Potential of Internet Technologies in Hazards Mitigation: The Oklahoma Fire Danger Model as an Online Nowcast/Forecast Tool.”

• Lawson, Carlie, L., Meo, Mark. 2006. “The Fire Danger Model and the Mesonet – the Underutilized Benefit of IT Software in Oklahoma’s Drought Planning and Management.”

• Lawson, Carlie, L., Jabbar, Afsaneh. 2006. “The Effects of Climate Change on Water Resources Planning: The City of Shawnee Perspective”.

• Jabbar, Afsaneh, Lawson, Carlie, L. 2006. “Planning for Drought in a Changing Climate: Directions in Planning and Management Techniques.”

Academic Books

High and dry: institutional impediments to effective drought management and relief in the 1995-96 and 1998 Oklahoma droughts

by Carlie Lawson

My Masters thesis provides a historical account of the 1996, 1997 and 1998 droughts and wildfire outbreaks, the flood interspersed between two of the droughts, and an analysis of the mitigation techniques used at the federal, state, and local levels. It covers the OK Mesonet, the HayNet, and J.D. Carlson’s fire danger model, and provides recommendations for mitigation improvements. My co-chairs were Dr. Mark Meo and Dr. Richard Marshment.

The 1996 and 1998 droughts in Oklahoma spawned wildfires that eradicated thousands of acres of land.

Oklahoma provides unique weather. On June 16, 2019, the northwest side of the city experienced severe thunderstorms and a lovely rainbow, simultaneously.

Emerging Energy Technology Survey: Oklahoma State Agency Interests

by Carlie Lawson

In September 2006, a survey questionnaire was mailed to all state agencies, boards, and commissions in the state of Oklahoma to ascertain their level of interest in various emerging energy technologies that might be of value to the state. This book/ e-book summarizes the survey results and provides analysis and context within the renewable energies industry.