Sonja Schmid, PhD is an associate professor in STS at Virginia Tech's National Capital Region Campus. She specializes in science and technology policy, nuclear emergency response, the nuclear industries in the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Dr. Schmid researches how entities, ranging from local municipalities to nation-states, respond in the event of a nuclear emergency. She is not personally involved in the initial emergency response; however, she researchers previous emergency responses and advises on how to reduce the consequences of nuclear disaster. She is also currently working on an NSF-supported project to "investigate the challenges of globalizing nuclear emergency response," as a part of which, she organized a monthly speaker series that focuses on research and education related to nuclear emergency response.
All above information sourced from http://www.sts.vt.edu/faculty/sschmid/ unless otherwise noted.