Dr. Ezra Clay-Kelly Boyd

Ezra Boyd, Disaster Geographer
September 2, 1977 – July 2, 2017

The late Dr. Ezra Boyd, a native of New Orleans, earned his PhD candidate in Geography at Louisiana State University where he wrote his dissertation on loss-of-life associated with Hurricane Katrina, the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, and the catastrophic federal levee failures. Dr. Boyd was lead author of two peer-reviewed journal articles and co-author of another article related to the 2005 flood disaster.  While a graduate research assistant with the LSU Hurricane Center, Dr. Boyd worked with Dr. Marc Levitan and Dr. Ivor van Heerden assisting directly with the planning, emergency response, and recovery from the flood catastrophes of 2005. In addition to numerous commissioned reports and conference proceedings, he was lead author of one peer-reviewed journal article and co-author of another article. Mr. Boyd earned a Bachelor’s degree in physics (with honors) from the University of Chicago and a Master’s degree in political science from the University of New Orleans. For a time, he resided in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans in a house that flooded to the ceiling in 2005, and that he rebuilt largely by himself using energy efficient and disaster mitigation technologies. He was the owner and visionary behind DisasterMap.net, a geospacial analytical website that provides details about current hazards all over the United States in real time.