Jaimie Hicks Masterson is a certified planner, instructor, and director of Texas Target Communities at Texas A&M University, Texas, United States. In this capacity, she liaises between researchers and community members to develop and execute research and applied planning projects that are responsive to the expressed needs of the community.

Galen Newman is an associate professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University, Texas, United States. His research focuses on urban regeneration and community resilience. Within these foci, Dr. Newman crosses interdisciplinary fields in land use science, spatial analytics, landscape performance, and participatory urban design. His design and research have been rewarded numerous times at national, state and local levels.

Michelle Annette Meyer, Ph.D., is the Director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center and an assistant professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University, Texas, United States. She received a BA in sociology from Murray State University, Kentucky, United States, and a PhD in sociology from Colorado State University, Colorado, United States. Dr. Meyer's research addresses disaster recovery and mitigation, environmental sociology and community sustainability, and the interplay between environmental conditions and social vulnerability and stratification. She regularly works with scholars, practitioners, and students in sociology, planning, engineering, construction science, landscape architecture, public administration, and anthropology.