A new scholarship program from the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) and its partners will take the study of mitigation to higher education for the first time ever.

“We're creating an educational link between traditional disciplines that support mitigation–like meteorology, insurance, construction and engineering–as a field of study and practice,” says FLASH President and CEO Leslie Chapman-Henderson.

The scholarship program was unveiled during a leadership dinner and tribute to the three-year success of StormStruck: A Tale of Two Homes, a popular interactive severe weather experience at INNOVENTIONS at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort. StormStruck is sponsored by FLASH and four of its partners: RenaissanceRe Holdings Ldt., Simpson Strong-Tie and State Farm.

The scholarships are in keeping with the mission of the StormStruck experience, which is to provide “edu-tainment” to consumers about the importance of preparing their homes for severe weather impacts.

One $1,500 annual scholarship will be awarded in each sponsor's name. All five scholarships are available for the next three years to master and doctorate-degree students for various areas of study related to disaster mitigation, and are as follows:

RenaissanceRe® Risk Management Scholarship – for students performing research on the identification, assessment or prioritization of risk as it relates to natural disaster liabilities.

Simpson Strong-Tie® Structural Engineering & Construction Scholarship – for students performing research on resilient construction materials or techniques.

State Farm® Financial Services Scholarship – for students performing research on financial analysis, investment management or corporate finance as they relate mitigating the effects of, responding to or recovery from natural disasters

The WeatherPredict Consulting Inc. Meteorology Scholarship – for students performing research on meteorology or meteorological risk modeling as it relates to natural disasters.

FLASH Social Science Scholarship – for students performing research on behavior change, societal effects or other social aspects as they relate to natural disaster mitigation or preparation.

For details on the open application process, interested individuals are encouraged to visit www.flash.org. This year's application process opens Dec. 1, 2011 and closes Feb. 15, 2012.

Scholarship awardees will be notified in March regarding their selection as 2012/2013 recipients. Winners will be recognized at the 2012 FLASH annual meeting at which they will be required to present their research findings as posters.

Source: www.flash.org

Special Reports /

FLASH Introduces New Scholarship

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