Christopher Burton

Christopher Burton is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, Sustainability, Community, and Urban Studies Education at the University of Connecticut. His research focuses on natural hazards risk, vulnerability, and disaster resilience using geospatial and artificial intelligence methods.

Education:

• Ph.D., University of South Carolina (2014)

Research Interests: Dr. Burton develops metrics and tools for evaluating interactions in natural, social, and engineered systems that affect disaster losses and recovery. His work integrates spatial analytics, AI, and data mining to address problems in earthquake vulnerability, flood social vulnerability, and community resilience to hurricanes.

Publication Trends: His recent publications (2015-2022) emphasize the validation of composite indices for measuring vulnerability (e.g., to earthquakes) and the development of resilience scorecards for urban areas. A key theme is the socio-economic perspective in vulnerability assessment and the spatial distribution of recovery processes.

Teaching: He teaches courses including GEOG 2300E (Intro to Physical Geography), GEOG 3530 (Intro to GeoComputing), GEOG 4240/5240 (Disaster Risk, Vulnerability, and Resilience), and GEOG 4519/5519 (Spatial Big Data Analytics).