Roxane Cohen Silver, Ph.D. is Professor in the Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, the Department of Medicine, and the Program in Public Health at the University of California, Irvine, where she has been actively involved in research, teaching, mentoring and administration since 1989. An international expert in the field of stress and coping, she has spent the past three decades studying acute and long-term psychological and physical reactions to stressful life experiences, including personal traumas such as physical disability, loss, and childhood sexual victimization, as well as larger collective events such as war, firestorms, the Columbine High School shootings, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and other community disasters across the world (including the 2010 8.8 earthquake in Chile and the 2006 destructive earthquake in Yogyakarta, Indonesia).

Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, the US Department of Homeland Security, and the US Public Health Service. Since December 2003, Dr. Silver has served on numerous senior advisory committees and task forces for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, providing ongoing advice to DHS and its component agencies on the psychological impact of disasters and terrorism. She is also one of the founding Directors of Psychology Beyond Borders, an international nonprofit organization that facilitates research, intervention and policy development in the prevention, preparedness and response to terror attacks, conflict, or natural disasters across the world. Dr. Silver is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (in 4 Divisions) and the Association for Psychological Science.

In 2007 Dr. Silver received the American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science and in 2010 she received the Public Advocacy Award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (for “outstanding and fundamental contributions to advancing social understanding of trauma”). In 2011 she received the American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest (Senior Career) and the Award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Trauma Psychology from the American Psychological Association's Division 56 (Trauma Psychology).

Randy G. Vaughn is the current Sr. Pastor of Mount Sinai
Missionary Baptist Church, located at 501 W. Thomas Blvd.; Port
Arthur, Texas. He has been pastoring the Mount Sinai church for
over 28 years and has been in ministry for over 35 years.

Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Pastor Vaughn presented to the National Baptist Convention USA Inc., the need for an office of
disaster management. After working with consultants and developing plans for disaster response, the Office of Disaster Management was
formed and Pastor Vaughn accepted the task of being the director. This gave him the responsibility. This disaster service are provided to
62 state conventions, over 30,000 churches and church affiliates and encompasses over 7.5 million individual members.

In September of 2009, Pastor Vaughn orchestrated the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the American Red
Cross at the National Convention. This historical agreement caught the attention of the national media. These works have been
documented in Ebony magazine and has made headlines across the country. In 2010, Pastor Vaughn was instrumental in the NBC USA
Inc. becoming the first African American organization to become members of the NVOAD (National Voluntary Organization Active in
Disaster). In addition, he serves as the Convention’s representative to the White House office of Faith Based Organization, consulting with
the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA.

Pastor Vaughn has been heavily involved in missions in the country of Haiti since 1989. In 1996, he led his first delegation to the
country of Haiti and has ministered on ground in Haiti, providing field medical services, the building of 9 churches, the digging of water
wells and the distribution of water purifications apparatuses. In addition, through his leadership, orphanages and a medical clinic were
built. This work continues to support more than 3,000 children in education as well as a full time medical clinic with staff, which provides
services to a community of over 250,000 people. To help administer these services, the Succor Foundation was created with Pastor
Vaughn as its Founder and President. As a result of his vast engagement in Haiti, Pastor Vaughn’s experience was called upon to help lead
the National Baptist Convention in its response to Haiti after the January 2010 Earthquake. With an understanding of Haiti before the
earthquake, he saw that the vast needs of Haiti required both short and long term approaches. For more information about his missions in
Haiti, visit http://www.haitimissionsupport.com.

He was instrumental in the development of the African American Missionary Baptist Collaboration which brought together the five (5)
African American Baptist Conventions and Foreign Mission bodies, namely NBC USA Inc.; NBC of America; Progressive National Baptist
Conventions, National Missionary Baptist Convention and the Lott Carey Foreign Mission body. This group today has given more than one
million dollars, partnering with Habit of Humanity in the building and rebuilding of homes for many Haitian families.

His missions and ministry on the eastern hemisphere have taken him to countries such as India, Mozambique, Malawi, and others. He
has participated on Ecumenical journeys, representing National Baptist Convention, that have taken him to Geneva Switzerland where he
engage in discussion with the leadership at the World Council of Churches, the Vatican in Rome where discussions were held with the
Pontificate Council on inter-faith relations, to Kenya to have dialogue with leaders of the All African Council of Churches and to South
Africa where he met with leaders of the South African Council of Churches and leaders of the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

Rev. Vaughn’s works in India have been in support of the Encourager Bible School and Seminary in New Delhi, India. His mission
tours in this area included being the commencement speaker for graduating classes of ministers serving in the Hinter lands of that vast
country, as well as the preaching of the Gospel to thousands.

Randy G. Vaughn Resume

Dr. Laura Myers holds a doctorate in criminology from Florida State University, and her research, publication and training areas include disaster management and planning, weather enterprise application research, criminal justice education, criminal courts, criminal justice ethics, criminal justice administration, and cultural diversity. Dr. Myers has received over $600,000 in Department of Homeland Security grants to develop and create a model for regional emergency planning, with emphasis on the social science aspects of partnership planning between the National Weather Service and their weather enterprise partners including emergency management, broadcast meteorology, and end-users of their products.

Through these grants, Dr. Myers works with the National Weather Service providing social science research for severe weather warning improvement and risk communication projects. Dr. Myers also has been awarded over a million dollars in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration grants to develop and implement an electronic citation system for law enforcement in Mississippi. Dr. Myers is a Research Scientist with the Center for Advanced Public Safety at the University of Alabama and a Research Professor with the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University.

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