Biography
Qian Hu is a professor at Schar School of Policy and Government. She specializes in emergency management, organizational networks, network governance, social media, and big data. Before joining the Schar School, Qian was a faculty member in the School of Public Administration at the University of Central Florida (UCF) from 2011 to 2023 and directed its nationally ranked graduate emergency management programs.
Qian has spent more than a decade researching organizational networks and applying network analysis tools to understanding interorganizational communication and coordination in the context of disasters. Her recent research applied machine learning algorithms to investigate the challenges and opportunities facing government agencies when using social media platforms to engage citizens, nonprofit organizations, and businesses in crisis communication and disaster response.
Qian has published 39 refereed journal articles and two co-authored books about networks. Her work has been published in highly ranked public administration and emergency management journals such as Public Administration Review, the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration, Public Management Review, Disasters and Risk Analysis. Qian’s work on emergency communication and coordination networks has won national paper awards, including the William Petak Best Paper Award from the American Society for Public Administration’s (ASPA) Section on Emergency and Crisis Management in 2021. She has been recognized as a subject matter expert by government agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Government Accountability Office. She was the recipient of several university-level research and teaching awards. In 2021, she was inducted into the UCF Scroll and Quill Society because of her national and international impact of sustained and outstanding research achievements.
Qian is currently the chair of the ASPA’s Section on Complexity and Network Studies and executive committee member of the ASPA’s Section on Emergency and Crisis Management and Section on Intergovernmental Administration and Management. She is associate editor for Natural Hazard Review and Chinese Public Administration Review. She serves on the editorial board for Public Performance & Management Review and several other journals.
Areas of Research
- Emergency Management, Crisis Communication, and Coordination
- Network Governance and Organizational Networks
- ICT-Facilitated Collaboration, Social Media, and Big Data