Dr. Thomas's scholarly work is driven by a commitment to advancing sustainable and resilient life conditions for future generations. His research investigates the intersection of engineering and the social sciences to illuminate the dynamic relationships among human resilience, psychological development, and the resilience of complex socio-technical systems. These systems include the critical infrastructure that underpins community health, safety, and well-being—such as energy, water, transportation, communications, and cyber-security networks. His work emphasizes the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral dimensions of how individuals and organizations perceive, interact with, and adapt to technological systems, particularly in the context of natural disasters, human-caused disruptions, and catastrophic system failures. Dr. Thomas is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Resilience Engineering Institute, an organization dedicated to disseminating resilience-related knowledge, tools, and resources to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.
keywords
resilience, critical infrastructure, critical infrastructure resilience, human resilience, socio-technical systems, socio-ecological systems, community resilience, sustainable engineering, resilience engineering, entrepreneurship, digital transformation
