News Archive

Tropical Storm Henri provides opportunity to test ADCIRC Prediction System™ real-time storm modeling capabilities

an example of the RICHAMP pilot test visualization during TS Henri showing the inundation forecast for the Southern New England coast

As the weekend of August 21, 2021 drew near, it became increasingly evident that Tropical Storm Henri would not only impact Southern New England, but could become a hurricane before making landfall. This situation gave researchers at the University of Rhode Island (URI) a chance to test out the real-time storm modeling capabilities of the Rhode Island Coastal Hazards, Analysis, and Modeling Prediction (RICHAMP) system.

Students from CRC partners win awards at COE Summit

Kyle McElroy, a graduate student from the University of Rhode Island, and Verónica Díaz-Pacheco, and undergraduate student at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, won second and third place, respectively, in the student poster contest at the 2021 Centers of Excellence Summit held May 19-20, 2021.

Center enters sixth year of projects

Prof. Ismael Pagán-Trinidad of the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez leads a site visit with a class as part of a three-day event conducted with federal partners in 2019. Photo submitted.

The Center currently supports 16 core projects, 11 research and 5 education, as part of its Year 6 portfolio, which covers the period starting on July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021.

My learning experience from Puerto Rico’s encounter with Hurricane María

Dr. Mauricio Cabrera-Ríos of the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez worked with CRC Executive Director Tom Richardson and Education Director Dr. Robert Whalin of Jackson State University on a project called “Individual Emergency Response and Recovery: A learning experience from Puerto Rico’s encounter with Hurricane María,” as part of this year’s Summer Research Team (SRT) program. … Read more

Thriving through the storm

Hurricane Florence (2018), as captured over North Carolina by NASA satellites.

Dr. Liping Liu of North Carolina A&T University, along with first-year graduate student Tiana Johnson (who is focusing on Applied Mathematics), and undergraduate senior Jackson Wiles (who is majoring in Physics) partnered with CRC’s Dr. Rick Luettich in this year’s Summer Research Team (SRT) program.

CRC Projects: Oregon State University/Colorado State University

Dr. Dan Cox of Oregon State University provides an update for the Coastal Resilience Center project, “Experimental and Numerical Study to Improve Damage and Loss Estimation Due to Overland Wave and Surge Hazards on Near-Coast Structures.” Dr. John van de Lindt of Colorado State University is co-PI on the project.

American Planning Association adopts Scorecard tool developed by CRC researchers

Nashua, N.H., staff and community members deliberating during a Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard (PIRS) workshop session, held as part of a Resilient Nashua Initiative Stakeholder Meeting at City Hall Auditorium. Photo submitted.
Nashua, N.H., staff and community members deliberating during a Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard™ (PIRS™) workshop session, held as part of a Resilient Nashua Initiative Stakeholder Meeting at City Hall Auditorium. Photo submitted.

 

Past years have brought an increase in intense, landfalling hurricanes, loss of property from expansive wildfires and coastal flooding on days both rainy and sunny. These events have put greater emphasis on community resilience – and on making adjustments to the way communities plan for natural hazards.

In a new partnership, the country’s largest group of planning professionals will incorporate a planning scorecard that helps communities take steps to protect themselves from the impacts of these hazards into its offerings.

Phil Berke
Phil Berke

The American Planning Association (APA) has formally integrated the Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard™ (PIRS)™, developed by Department of Homeland Security Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (CRC) researchers, into a set of accessible tools for APA members. Dr. Phil Berke, a Research Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Jaimie Masterson, Associate Director of Texas Target Communities and Associate Director of Engagement for the Institute for Sustainable Communities at Texas A&M University, lead the PIRS™ project.

Jaimie Masterson
Jaimie Masterson

As part of the agreement, APA will designate PIRS™ as a national standard and resource for building local capacity to integrate resilience across planning sectors. The project will build on previous work developing and testing PIRS™ to expand its application and impact on a national scale.

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2020 ADCIRC Week to be held in Baton Rouge, La.

Attendees of the 2019 ADCIRC Users Group Meeting discuss computer models in between presentations. Photo by Chris A. Johns.

Coastal modelers and decision-makers will gather next month to share experiences with and discuss the latest developments on work with the ADCIRC model, and will have a chance to learn about the model and its uses from scratch.

Class learns about UNC’s district energy system

UNC-Chapel Hill’s cogeneration plant. Photo from the North Carolina Legislature.

Have you ever wondered how your physics class is heated? How the student union stays cool in the summer? Or even just what powers the lights in the library? These questions might not seem that interesting, but when you consider that a campus like the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has more than 175 buildings to heat, cool and power, these questions become vital for sustainability.

New report points to ways for better compliance with flood insurance rules, faster recovery process

Glossary:
FIRM: Flood Insurance Rate Map | SFHA: Special Flood Hazard Area | CRS: Community Rating System | Substantial Damage

 

Jaimie Masterson
Jaimie Masterson

Local officials struggle with enforcing where and how people build in flood zones, due to a variety of factors. Better coordination and tools, shared between federal, state and local authorities, could improve flood mitigation enforcement and save money for all involved, according to a new report from Coastal Resilience Center (CRC) researchers.

The report, authored by Dr. Paula Lorente and Jaimie Masterson, of Texas A&M University (TAMU), and Dr. Phil Berke of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “Research in Support of Floodplain Management Regulations Compliance,” lays out a series of recommendations based on interviews with local officials and a national advisory committee.

The report’s goal is to improve compliance with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) – managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) – by assessing the challenges and roadblocks that many communities face when enforcing the program’s regulations regarding substantial damages. The NFIP is the main instrument guiding flood mitigation and adaptation in the United States. Its operations are organized around mapping floodplains, issuing flood insurance, developing floodplain management regulations and providing grants for flood mitigation activities.

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CRC Impacts – Creating a More Diverse Homeland Security Workforce (Ismael Pagán-Trinidad)

The Coastal Resilience Center (CRC) is committed to increasing the representation of minority groups in the Homeland Security Enterprise (HSE), in emergency management, planning and engineering fields. To meet this goal, the CRC is partnering with four Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) to create undergraduate and graduate programs to improve access to the education needed to pursue … Read more

URI partners continue work with Rhode Island emergency managers

Representatives of Rhode Island emergency management agencies, along with government and public health departments met with University of Rhode Island researchers for training exercises this summer. Photo submitted.

  Coastal Resilience Center (CRC) researchers from the University of Rhode Island (URI), led by Principal Investigator Dr. Isaac Ginis, have partnered with area emergency managers to lead a series of training scenarios focused on coastal storms. Starting in May 2019, URI researchers began a series of workshops intended to gather new data for the … Read more