Simms to Become Laborde Endowed Chair

Jessica RZ Simms, a researcher-writer, has been named Laborde Endowed Chair for Sea Grant Research and Technology Transfer at Louisiana Sea Grant (LSG). Her appointment begins July 1 and will last for one year.

Simms earned her Ph.D. in geography from Louisiana State University in 2017. For several years after, she was the outreach and engagement coordinator for the Isle de Jean Charles Resettlement Program, playing a vital role in one of the nation’s most closely watched relocation efforts. In this capacity, she helped facilitate community meetings, conducted household interviews and practitioner surveys, organized design workshops and charrettes, and maintained in-person, regular communications with Island residents. Her work was instrumental in shaping a master plan and policies and procedures that were more responsive to the community’s needs than previous relocation assistance policies. While working for the state, she also published ethnographic articles on community-driven relocation.

As Laborde Chair, she will work on a book with the working title of Isle de Jean Charles is Not Dead: Stories from the Frontlines of the Nation’s First Climate-Induced Relocation. The narrative nonfiction book will center Island residents’ stories and experiences as they weigh the tradeoffs of leaving their ancestral homeland. In addition to the work she will do on the book, Simms will also conduct interviews with Louisiana Sea Grant extension agents and specialists to connect on-the-ground observations with the Isle de Jean Charles case study and broader adaptation and resilience research. By combining research, community science and accessible knowledge-sharing, the project is designed to enhance public understanding of relocation as a practical adaptation approach and help ensure that future relocation efforts are community-driven, historically and culturally sensitive, and promote resilience and sustainability.

The John P. Laborde Endowed Chair for Sea Grant Research and Technology Transfer enables Louisiana Sea Grant to bring highly qualified scientists to LSU to focus on marine and coastal issues critical to the state while providing those researchers with supplemental funding. To date, 12 internationally recognized researchers have been appointed to the endowed chair. The chair was established in 1994 with a gift of $600,000 from Tidewater Inc. – where John P. Laborde served as CEO for nearly 40 years – and a match of $400,000 from the Louisiana Board of Regents.