Today, we have a discussion of children in the COVID-19 pandemic with Alice Fothergill and Lori Peek.
Alice Fothergill is Professor of Sociology at the University of Vermont. She studies disasters, children, inequality, and vulnerability. She and co-researcher, Professor Lori Peek, conducted a longitudinal study on the experiences of children and youth in Hurricane Katrina, which resulted in the 2015 award-winning book, Children of Katrina. Professor Fothergill is an editor of Social Vulnerability to Disasters, first and second editions. Her book, Heads Above Water: Gender, Class, and Family in the Grand Forks Flood examines women’s experiences in the 1997 flood in Grand Forks, North Dakota. She has conducted research on volunteerism in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, mothers’ challenges in academia, and the culture of childcare centers in Ohio. In the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene in Vermont in 2011, she took her UVM Sociology of Disaster students into devastated Vermont communities to help with recovery efforts. In 2017, Professor Fothergill was a Fulbright Fellow in New Zealand, examining disaster preparedness for childcare centers.
Lori Peek is professor in the Department of Sociology and director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. She studies vulnerable populations in disaster and is author of Behind the Backlash: Muslim Americans after 9/11, co-editor of Displaced: Life in the Katrina Diaspora, and co-author of Children of Katrina. Behind the Backlash received the Distinguished Book Award from the Midwest Sociological Society and the Best Book Award from the American Sociological Association Section on Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity. Children of Katrina received the Best Book Award from the American Sociological Association Section on Children and Youth and the Alfred and Betty McClung Best Book Award from the Association for Humanist Sociologists. 
Peek has conducted field investigations in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the BP Oil Spill, the Christchurch earthquakes, the Joplin tornado, Superstorm Sandy, and Hurricane Matthew. She is the principal investigator for the NSF-funded CONVERGE facility, which is dedicated to improving research coordination and advancing the ethical conduct and scientific rigor of disaster research. She also leads the NSF-supported Social Science Extreme Events Research (SSEER) and Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Extreme Events Research (ISEEER) networks.