Shaped by Katrina, LSU’s Traci Birch Is Now Helping Plan for a Stronger Louisiana
Traci Birch was a Ph.D. student and practicing urban planner when she was forced to evacuate from New Orleans ahead of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She thought she’d be back home in a few days. Instead, she left Louisiana to finish her degree, then later returned to Louisiana, working in recovery planning.
Now an associate professor at the LSU School of Architecture and associate director of the LSU Coastal Ecosystem Design Studio, Birch has spent the last two decades helping Louisiana communities recover, rebuild, and prepare for the future. From working with FEMA in the months after the storm to shaping long-term resilience strategies across the state, her work reflects a deep commitment to applied, collaborative research to help communities statewide.