Luke Juran

Luke Juran serves as Associate Professor in Virginia Tech's Department of Geography within the College of Natural Resources and Environment. He holds a joint appointment at the Virginia Water Resources Research Center and is Affiliate Faculty at the Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-borne Pathogens. His work bridges human-environment interactions with practical applications in water security and disaster resilience across global contexts.

His academic foundation includes:

• Ph.D. from University of Iowa (2012), with research at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
• M.A. from University of Iowa (2008)
• B.A. from University of Northern Iowa (2003)

Dr. Juran's research centers on three interconnected domains: human-water resource dynamics, human-disaster interactions, and the nexus where these systems converge. He specializes in water access/sanitation infrastructure, post-disaster reconstruction of WASH systems, and community-level water security. His fieldwork spans 15+ countries including India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and the United States, employing mixed-methods approaches from geospatial analysis to household surveys. Current projects examine disaster-resilient infrastructure in India, school water disinfection in Haryana, and Virginia well-water quality.

His publication record reveals strong thematic continuity in water-poverty metrics, multi-hazard risk assessment, and socio-ecological disaster recovery. Key trends include the development of participant-driven vulnerability indices, critical analysis of cultural barriers to sanitation adoption, and geospatial modeling of infrastructure resilience. The work consistently integrates technical water-quality analysis with political ecology perspectives.

Dr. Juran actively mentors graduate students and has secured significant research funding including a $5M USAID partnership for disaster-resilient infrastructure. His grant portfolio demonstrates expertise in disaster response (multiple COVID-19 rapid-response awards), international collaboration (India-focused projects), and interdisciplinary water research (NASA, Virginia Space Grant).

He leads the Water & Hazards Working Group and collaborates with Virginia Tech's Center for Geospatial Information Technology, developing frameworks for water-security assessment that integrate hydrological data with social vulnerability metrics across multiple spatial scales.