Prof. Ward Lyles

Focus
Reducing long-term risks to individuals, communities, and nations from disasters and climate change is a grand challenge of the 21st century – perhaps the grand challenge facing humanity. Generating better understanding of risk-reduction planning processes and is essential for creating more sustainable and resilient communities. In my research program I aim to advance theoretical frameworks and conceptual understandings on how to develop policy and planning practices that foster better interactions between human and natural systems.

To date, my research has focused on five main areas: substantively: 1) natural hazards mitigation and 2) climate change adaptation; procedurally: 3) planning processes and implementation; and methodologically: 4) planning evaluation and 5) network analysis. In addition to its direct contributions to knowledge on risk reduction, my hazards and climate-focused research program has broader implications for other areas of environmental management and planning and policy more generally.

Major Accomplishments/Significance of Contributions
As a scholar, I first consider my major research accomplishments through the lens of peer reviewed publications and citations. Since August 2013 when I began at KU, I have published (or have had accepted) nine journal articles and one book chapter. Four of the articles are in the top two planning journals, the Journal of Planning Education and Research and the Journal of the American Planning Association, and three more are in highly regarded environmental planning journals. Many of my 14 total publications address two or more of my five research areas simultaneously, broadening their impact on the body of knowledge and on research and practice. The most direct indication of the significance of my contributions is the growth in my total citation count to over 130 in three years. Much of my scholarship is collaborative and I have published papers with eight different colleagues, who currently work at five different institutions in the United States and Canada. Related to my peer reviewed publications are the papers and posters I regularly present at the annual American Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) and Hazards Workshop, two leading conferences in my research areas.

I also look to external acknowledgments of my research program as important indications of my accomplishments. Arguably the largest external acknowledgement of my research success to date was being selected into the highly selective, National Science Foundation-funded Next Generation of Hazards and Disasters Researcher Fellowship Program for 2015-16. Through this fellowship I receive mentorship, travel to intensive workshops and meetings, and stipends. The most tangible outcome of the fellowship will be an application for an NSF CAREER award application, to be submitted in July 2016, although the benefits in intellectual stimulation and networking are substantial as well. Another external acknowledgement of my scholarship was being selected as a top reviewer for 2014 for the Journal of Planning Education and Research, which I view as confirmation of my ability to critically but supportively improve the process and quality of peer-reviewed planning scholarship.

Another demonstration of my accomplishments as a researcher is the funding support I have secured for my program. I have been awarded individual competitive research support through a New Faculty GRF ($8000 for 2014-2015), a GRF ($7500 for 2015-2016) and collaborative research support through a The Commons Interdisciplinary Starter Grant ($10,000 for 2015-2016 with Uma Outka in Law and Rachel Krause in Public Affairs and Administration). The Institute for Policy and Social Research has also supported my work through two non-competitive awards ($3000 with Bonnie Johnson in UBPL) and ($2700 solo). These awards have allowed me to collect primary datasets, as well as develop at least four manuscripts already, one accepted at the Journal of the American Planning Association, one under review there also, and two that will be presented at the 2015 ACSP conference.

As a practitioner and member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, I also consider the impact of my research program through the lens of informing and improving practice. Although I have concentrated heavily on establishing my work in the academic arena to date, I have presented multiple sessions at the Kansas Chapter of the American Planning Association conference (2013 and 2014). Also, the research project that supported many of my hazard mitigation publications also led to the creation and launching of a website based at the University of North Carolina, mitigationguide.org, that provides best practices for federal, state, and local risk reduction policy makers and practitioners.

Goals for the Next Five Years
My main ambition for the next few years is to establish an internationally recognized, externally funded, research program that produces high-quality scholarship with tangible, positive impacts on policy and practice.

In January 2016, with collaborators at Texas A&M, I will submit a proposal to NSF that expands on my past research on hazard mitigation to understand regional approaches to risk reduction. In addition to continuing research in my existing areas of focus, I currently am adding a major new component that I believe holds transformative potential for addressing risk reduction and planning sustainable communities: integrating compassion and mindfulnesses into planning and policy processes. This line of research, already supported by a GRF, will be the thrust of my NSF CAREER award application in June 2016. Additionally, the interdisciplinary work through The Commons award will result in a timely conference on the intersection between social equity, clean energy, and climate adaptation at KU in spring 2016, as well as an interdisciplinary manuscript for publication. I am hopeful that the collaboration may also lead to a grant proposal to a federal funding entity.

Focus
My research program aims to advance theoretical frameworks, empirical evidence, and practical applications of knowledge about interactions between humans, natural systems, and the built environment. I am motivated by deep concern about the need to foster more compassionate and sustainable communities from the local to the global scale. I ground my research program in one of the grand challenges of the 21st century – perhaps the grand challenge: reducing long-term risks to individuals, communities, and nations from disasters and climate change. Climate change and disasters are an ideal context for research at the intersection of social and natural science because of their spatial and temporal ubiquity, their inherent demand for interdisciplinary research approaches, and their relevance to policy and planning practice. My research program consists of three interwoven threads: 1) examining policy and planning interventions to reduce risks from natural hazards and climate change; 2) understanding the interplay of thought and emotion and the potential for more compassionate orientations to decision-making; and 3) applying, refining, and extending methods for assessing evaluation, implementation and networks.

Major Accomplishments/Significance of Contributions
First, my research has made contributions in all three of my research areas. My work on hazard mitigation and climate change adaptation has refined our understanding of intergovernmental policy implementation aimed at providing public goods in the face of uncertainty and competing interests. My recent work on compassionate planning aims to reframe broad theoretical discussions about the core purposes of planning, as well as inform planning in more robust ways with current research in neuroscience and psychology. My methodological work in the areas of plan evaluation and network analysis has focused attention on the broader array of tools available to planning scholars and practitioners to understand and analyze the dynamics of our field.

I have 15 articles in peer-reviewed publications, two forthcoming book chapters, and manuscripts in preparation. Most of my scholarship is collaborative and I have published papers with a dozen different colleagues. Collectively, my work has been cited more than 400 times and my H-index is 11, both of which are well above the median and mean of planning professors 10 to 15 years following completion of their doctorates. I have published in the Journal of the American Planning Association and the Journal of Planning Education and Research, which are recognized as the two most prestigious planning journals, as well as in the Journal of Planning Literature, one of the planning journals with the highest impact factors. I also have published in three of the four most highly regarded land use, environmental, and hazards journals, including Environment and Planning B, the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, and Landscape and Urban Planning. I regularly present papers and posters at the annual American Collegiate Schools of Planning and the Natural Hazards Workshop, two leading conferences in my research areas. My research productivity was important for my selection into the National Science Foundation-funded Next Generation of Hazards and Disasters Researcher Fellowship Program for 2015-16.

Second, my work has merited increasing financial support. In 2018, the National Science Foundation awarded funding for my proposal CAREER: Integrated Modeling of Hazard Mitigation Stakeholder Networks for Compassionate, Sustainable Risk Reduction. NSF identifies this five-year, $500,000 integrated research and teaching award as its most prestigious award for early-career scholars. My proposal integrates all three threads of my research program and in the review panel's words, "(T)his proposal was deemed to be transformational." The funding will fully support a doctoral student for five-years and enable me to provide multiple master's students with research experience. Another research proposal at NSF (3 years, $400,000) was the top rated proposal in one of two concurrent panels in the fall of 2017 (per personal communication with the Program Office) and the panel summary indicates that it is "a very strong proposal … addresses an important motivating question with an appropriately focused and detailed research plan … found the intellectual merit to be compelling." The PO is temporarily holding the proposal in order to balance the program's overall portfolio. Also, the Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program at the University of Oklahoma has built me in as an expert on planning and networks as part of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration proposal (~$120,000 over four years for KU).

Internal to KU, The Commons provided professors Uma Outka (Law) and Rachel Krause (SPAA) and me with a $10,000 grant around the topic of climate justice. Our work culminated in a daylong symposium with national experts from the academy and practice sharing their perspectives alongside local stakeholders. Additionally, the University of Kansas Office of Research and Institute for Policy and Social Research have provided me with multiple smaller grants on the topics of risk reduction and compassion, which helped lay the foundation for my NSF proposals.

Third, as a practitioner, I also consider my impact through the lens of informing and improving applied policy practice. I maintain my membership in the American Institute of Certified Planners and present sessions at the Kansas Chapter of the American Planning Association conference. Multiple forms of media coverage have allowed me to translate my findings for practitioners, policy makers, and the general public. These include the Harvard Business Review, the Congressional Quarterly Researcher, and the American Planning Association blog, as well as local outlets.

Goals for the Next Five Years
My primary aim for the next five years is to strategically establish myself as an internationally recognized member to the community of planning and public affairs scholarship tackling the most critical challenges facing humanity. The NSF award(s) will undoubtedly play an outsized role in shaping this effort. I intend to broaden the scope of my collaborations beyond planning, public policy, and engineering to fields like psychology and neuroscience. I also will explore the possibility of a more extended, book-length work on the topic of compassion and public decision-making. Ideally, in five years, my research program will help create an internationally recognized, externally funded, research entity on compassionate, sustainable communities at KU.