Rayne Hawkins is a researcher with the Center for Disaster Risk Policy (CDRP) and a teaching assistant in the Emergency Management and Homeland Security (EMHS) program at Florida State University. As an active member of the Disaster Incident Research Team (DIRT), their roles include UAS pilot, UAS logistics specialist, and geospatial data technician. Rayne holds a Bachelor of Science in Environment & Society and a Master of Science in Geography.
Their research focuses on community-based disaster risk reduction and the use of emerging technologies in emergency management. As part of their thesis work, Rayne partnered with the Office of the Wet’suwet’en First Nations community in northern British Columbia, Canada to develop and implement a drone program supporting natural resource management. Rayne’s experience training public safety and law enforcement agencies in the Remote Technician course designed by DIRT helped to support this research. This project was supported by grants from the FSU Native American and Indigenous Studies Center, the Florida Center for Reading Research, the Wetzin’kwa Community Forest Corporation, and the Bulkley Valley Research Centre.
Since 2020, Rayne has contributed to a range of disaster response operations, including the Surfside Condominium collapse, Dixie County Floods in 2021, Hurricane Ian, Hurricane Idalia, the Tallahassee tornadoes in May 2024, Hurricane Debby, and Hurricane Helene. They have also supported local missions such as search and rescue operations, the 2022 gubernatorial inauguration, and UAS support for local university events. Additionally, Rayne supported the FSU Covid-19 response as a logistics specialist for the university’s vaccine clinic.
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing, Natural Resource Management, Conservation, Climate Impacts on Disaster Preparedness, Emerging Technologies in Disaster Management, Critical Physical Geography
Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Emergency Management (UAS 1), Application of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS 2), Geospatial Intelligence in Emergency Management
"You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles."
