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Focus Carolina: Elizabeth Frankenberg

Focus Carolina: Elizabeth Frankenberg

Jane Calloway

December 7, 2020
The Well

Elizabeth Frankenberg headshot outside Elizabeth Frankenberg

Elizabeth Frankenberg, director of the Carolina Population Center, is using what she learned studying the effects of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia to understand how communities in eastern North Carolina are affected by and respond to flooding events.

She is working to design a survey that she will combine with satellite imagery of flooded areas in eastern North Carolina to create models of the storm surge and flooding. Over the past five years, North Carolina has had several major hurricanes that involved significant property damage and long-term recovery. More information about where the water goes will provide a deeper understanding of the impacts of the hurricanes and how people recover over time.

The Carolina Population Center is also known for its longitudinal data collection in the United States, China, Russia, Indonesia and the Philippines. “We follow the same people over time and try to track the evolution of their family life, their health, their well-being,” she said.

Researchers also incorporate new technologies. Today, they can collect smaller samples of blood or saliva and run much more sophisticated tests for health measurements. “We try to stay on the cutting edge of data collection technologies and expand the ways we collect data to tap into some of those technologies,” she said.

Learn more about this important work at Carolina by listening to this week’s segments.

 

Read a transcript of this interview.

Read a transcript of this interview.

Every day, faculty members at UNC-Chapel Hill engage in groundbreaking research, innovative teaching and public service that makes an impact in our community and the state, nation and the world.

Tune in to Focus Carolina during morning, noon and evening drive times and on the weekends to hear their stories and find out what ignites their passion for their work. Focus Carolina is an exclusive program on WCHL, sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can listen to WCHL at 97.9 FM or 1360 AM.

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