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It’s hard to avoid, but given the events of 2005, local audiences associate the phrase “disaster management” with hurricanes. But the director of LSU’s new crisis management institute offers another reference: Apollo 13.

When astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise used the scant collection of resources in their lunar module to fit equipment from their damaged ship into incompatible outlets, they improvised, an essential ingredient to surviving a crisis, says Arjen Boin, director of the LSU Stephenson Disaster Management Institute.

“Good crisis management is ultimately related to good leadership,” says Boin. “The key to preparing for a crisis is often improvisation.”

A respected Dutch scholar and disaster expert, Boin left the Netherlands’ University of Leiden in December to launch SDMI, a research tank created by LSU alums and entrepreneurs Toni and Emmet Stephenson.

Frustrated by the federal government’s slow response to Katrina’s victims, the Denver-based couple saw an opportunity for LSU to study crises and advise governments and businesses about preparedness. They donated $11 million in startup funds and issued a simple mission: teach communities how to save more human and animal lives during catastrophes.

Exactly how that unfolds is in the hands of Boin, who has written extensively about the breakdown of institutions in chaos. He was also a partner in a private consulting firm that counted the Dutch prime minister and cabinet among its clients.

Boin says it’s not about creating plans as much as it is being able to mold them to unexpected situations.

“The New Orleans airport might have prepared for certain crises before Katrina, but one of them probably wasn’t how to handle babies being born on the tarmac,” he says.

In the past six months, Boin recruited 10 researchers to LSU to study everything from how leaders handle stress, to how information flows in the midst of a crisis, to how to move large groups of people when technology and infrastructure are compromised.

But the difference in SDMI and other research institutes, says Boin, is a practical side.

“Our commitment is to produce research that matters,” he says.

SDMI findings will eventually be distilled into an executive education program aimed at public officials and business managers charged with preparing their respective entities. Among other components, SDMI will use vulnerability audits to demonstrate weak spots in an organization’s response plan.

This type of research-informed training will fill a void in the state, says Vic Howell, CEO of the Baton Rouge Chapter of the American Red Cross.

“We can use some refocusing,” he says. “There’s a broad need for education for those in the business of responding.”

Howell says the Red Cross is already talking to SDMI about collaborative projects. He also sees the Red Cross feeding the institute reams of data collected from recent disasters for analysis, something his organization is not equipped to do.

Unlike its academic brethren, including the Stanford University School of Medicine Program in Disaster Management and the University of North Carolina School of Public Health’s Community Preparedness and Disaster Management program, SDMI was established within the E.J. Ourso College of Business. This will facilitate joint research with business scholars and ensure strong private sector relationships, says Tom Anderson, SDMI director of development.

A former startup executive, Anderson is charged with keeping SDMI flush beyond the Stephenson’s four-year commitment. He says the organization will need to raise about $500,000 in the next 12 months, increasing to $4 to $5 million annually in the form of grants, donations and self-generated funds.

For that to happen, Anderson says SDMI needs a strong identity.

“I’m all about the brand,” he says. “The SDMI brand is something we want to ultimately be able to see and recognize worldwide.”

But the field is crowded. Since Y2K and 9/11, preparedness experts are legion, says Boin, who is determined to avoid becoming “just another hurricane center.” Further, SDMI must emerge from two other LSU entities, the Fire and Emergency Training Institute and the National Center for Biomedical Research and Training, each of which has it own marketing and development goals.

But Anderson thinks the LSU brand, particularly after its well-regarded storm response, will serve SDMI well. He’s hoping it will help recruit companies that can benefit from a philanthropic relationship with SDMI.

For example, says Anderson, pet food companies with a presence in disaster-prone areas might see a boost in sales if they’re associated with an institute whose mission is to save animals during crises.

So-called cause branding is the strategy of a growing number of companies, who latch on to social issues that resonate with their target markets. Avon’s pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness is one of the oldest examples.

Disaster management will be a new animal for companies keen on cause branding, says Christine Riley, director of business development at Boston-based Cone Inc., the agency credited with developing cause branding.

“Disaster prep isn’t new to companies. They will always respond to disasters anyway,” she says. “But they might be looking for credibility partners that can figure out complex issues, like how the public and private sectors work together during a crisis.”

Riley says one Katrina finding was that government isn’t as effective as Wal-Mart at mobilizing supplies. The big-box retailer used its staff, supply chain and blanket of regional stores to move materials like water and diapers.

“Figuring out those public-private partnerships in times of disaster could be important research and could create valuable philanthropic relationships,” she says.

Boin plans to stay on the forefront of issues, including studying two of today’s biggest challenges: climate change and patterns of migration.

“Climate chance is huge in its consequences,” says Boin. “There will be more crises, and they’re totally different than what we’ve been used to.”

Porous borders will continue to present challenges for governments who have to manage increasing numbers of residents who operate outside of institutions, he adds.

Howell is hopeful that SDMI will “further strengthen the state’s portfolio,” of programs that not only support growth and economic development, but that also prepare Louisiana’s natural disaster-prone chemical and refinery corridors for the worst.

“It’s not limited to hurricanes,” he says, “We cannot take our eye off the possibility of man-made disasters.”