Briar Goldwyn is a research social scientist (post-doctoral fellow) in the Social and Economic Analysis Branch at the Fort Collins Science Center. Her primary research focuses on convening stakeholders and scientists in multi-disciplinary workshops to discuss post-fire hazard consequences and interventions.
Briar works at the interface of science and human dimensions research, particularly focused on natural hazards. Currently, her research applies the Chains of Consequences method to convene stakeholders and scientists and discuss the cascading consequences of post-fire hazards and interventions to reduce their likelihood or severity. Briar's doctoral research in civil engineering employed social science methods to focus on understanding the housing safety perceptions of those involved with Puerto Rico's informal construction sector and how these housing safety perceptions do and do not align with structural performance assessments of informally constructed housing in hurricanes and earthquakes in Puerto Rico. This project aimed to determine local preference and understanding of building components that are safe; assess the structural performance of shelters in multi-hazard environments; and create a communication design to assist communities and organizations in enhancing their resiliency to natural hazards.
Professional Experience
Graduate Research Fellow; University of Colorado Boulder; Boulder, CO; July 2018 to August 2022
Shelter Research Fellow; InterAction; Washington, D.C.; August 2021 to March 2022
Fellow; Colorado Science and Engineering Policy Fellowship; Colorado State Legislature; Denver, CO; June 2021 to August 2021
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, 2022
M.S. in Civil Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, 2021
B.S. in Civil Engineering, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, 2018
Abstracts and Presentations
Goldwyn, B., Javernick-Will, A., Liel, A.B., and Koschmann, M. (2022). "Designing a Communication Practice to Build Community Capacity for Safer Housing." 2022 Proceedings of the Construction Research Congress, Arlington, VA.
Goldwyn, B., Javernick-Will, A., and Liel, A.B. (2020). "Changing perceptions of safe housing after a less familiar disaster." Engineering Projects and Organizations Conference, Virtual.
Goldwyn, B., Venable, C., Javernick-Will, A., and Liel, A.B. (2020). "The influence of reconstruction modality, social capital, and community satisfaction on willingness to participate in resilience-building activities." 2020 Proceedings of the Construction Research Congress, Phoenix, AZ.
Goldwyn, B., Opdyke, A., Javernick-Will, A., and Liel, A.B. (2019). “Humanitarian shelter and settlements research priorities.” 2019 Engineering Project Organizations Conference, Vail, CO.
Science and Products
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Identifying Chains of Consequences and Interventions for Post-fire Hazards and Impacts to Resources and Ecosystems
Science and Products
- Publications
Non-USGS Publications**
Goldwyn, B., González Vega, Y., Javernick-Will, A., and Liel, A.B. (2022). "Identifying misalignments between the informal construction sector's perceptions and engineering assessments of housing safety in future disasters for capacity development." International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 77: 103105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103105Goldwyn, B., Javernick-Will, A., and Liel, A.B. (2022). "Multi-hazard housing safety perceptions of those involved with housing construction in Puerto Rico." Sustainability, 14(7): 3802. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14073802Lochhead, M., Goldwyn, B., Venable, C., Javernick-Will, A. and Liel, A.B. (2022). "Assessment of hurricane wind performance and potential design modifications for informally-constructed housing in Puerto Rico." Natural Hazards. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-022-05222-0Goldwyn, B., Javernick-Will, A., and Liel, A.B. (2021). "The dilemma of the tropics: Changes to housing safety perceptions, preferences and priorities in multi-hazard environments." Natural Hazards Review. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000457Opdyke, A., Goldwyn, B., and Javernick-Will, A. (2020). “Defining a humanitarian shelter and settlements research agenda.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101950**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
- Science
Identifying Chains of Consequences and Interventions for Post-fire Hazards and Impacts to Resources and Ecosystems
As part of a broader USGS project on Post-fire Hazards and Impacts to Resources and Ecosystems (PHIRE): Support for Response, Recovery, and Mitigation, the PHIRE social science team convenes stakeholders involved in post-fire hazard science and decision-making to identify potential consequences resulting from post-fire hazard scenarios along with strategies to reduce the likelihood or severity of...