Dr Gavin Smith

Dr. Smith is the Director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence, a consortium of universities located across the country.  He is currently engaged in a number of planning and policy-related research projects within the center including an assessment of the role governor’s and state agency officials play in disaster recovery. 

As Director, he leads the 10-hour Graduate Certificate Program in Natural Hazards Resilience. Dr. Smith is also a Research Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Following Hurricane Matthew, Dr. Smith was appointed as a Senior Recovery Advisor to Governor Cooper and the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management.  In this role he advises the state on disaster recovery policy, assists communities develop disaster recovery plans, and links the resources of the University of North Carolina system with unmet state and local needs.