News Archive

Straub, CRC student and grant recipient, named Knauss Fellowship finalist

Jessamin Straub

Jessamin Straub, a graduate student in marine sciences who took part in the Coastal Resilience Center (CRC)’s education programs, and who received a Department of Homeland Security-funded Education & Workforce Development grant through the CRC, has been named a finalist for a prestigious fellowship. Straub, who will graduate in August from the University of North … Read more

CRC announces new and updated projects

The Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (CRC) has updated project information for the fifth year of its grant through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Science & Technology Directorate (DHS S&T), Office of University Programs, as it continues work on research and education to protect coastal residents and property. Among the changes is the addition … Read more

2019 COE Summit to feature CRC work on community engagement

Summit

The Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate, Office of University Programs’ nine Centers of Excellence (COE) will convene in late July for the Centers of Excellence Summit 2019. This year’s event, held at George Mason University’s Arlington, Va., campus, will focus on “Homeland Security Challenges: Evolving Threats and Dynamic Solutions.” The event includes … Read more

23rd ADCIRC Users Group Meeting gathers modeling community to discuss latest improvements

Clint Dawson of the University of Texas-Austin instructs a group on the basics of ADCIRC modeling during Texas ADCIRC Week. Photo by Jason Fleming.

As Subtropical Storm Andrea formed in the Atlantic Ocean – 12 days before the official start of Atlantic hurricane season – a community of coastal modelers gathered to discuss the latest research and uses of the ADCIRC computer model. The model, part of the ADCIRC Prediction System™, provides decision support for hazards like storm inundation during tropical cyclones.

CRC prepares for annual summer research exchanges

CRC researchers from Oregon State University, along with OSU students and University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez students taking part in the SUMREX exchange program, test the strength of a model structure in the OH Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory in the summer of 2018. Students from UPRM will return there this summer. Photo submitted.

This summer, the CRC will continue its two annual summer exchange programs by facilitating research collaborations involving two Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and by sponsoring a student exchange program between May and August. The SUMmer Resesearch EXperience, or SUMREX, enters its fourth year with students from CRC-funded education programs visiting the campus sites of CRC … Read more

Study: Mitigation investments yield returns in eastern NC

A lower percentage of low-to-moderate-income households and mobile homes, and a higher percentage of home ownership, make a community more resilient to natural hazards like hurricanes, according to a new study published on the Coastal Resilience Center website. Conducted by the firm AECOM, the “Hurricane Floyd/Hurricane Matthew Empirical Disaster Resilience Study” compares the impacts of … Read more

CRC student leads regional disaster recovery partnership

Lindy Betzhold from Baldwin Group / NOAA Office for Coastal Management facilitates a breakout group during the Southeast Disaster Recovery Partnership workshop in January 2019. Photo submitted.

Students involved in Coastal Resilience Center (CRC) projects have been key to a regional partnership that assists Southeastern states with training, resources and access to organizations that help coastal communities recover from disasters. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) doctoral candidate Amanda Martin is director of the Southeast Disaster Recovery Partnership (SDRP), a … Read more

Students learn about Charlotte flood buyout program

Mecklenburg County Storm Water Engineering & Flood Mitigation Program Manager Tim Trautman explains the county’s buyout program to students in CRC researcher Dr. Gavin Smith’s “Natural Hazards and Climate Change” course during a trip to Charlotte on Nov. 9, 2018. Trautman explained the process by which half of an apartment complex east of downtown Charlotte was bought out and converted to a public park in the floodplain, increasing the value of some nearby homes. Photo by Josh Kastrinsky.

Shortly after Hurricane Florence came through North Carolina, causing record rainfall and floods, students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill visited a county where years of investments in flood control measures have yielded clear results. The students on the field trip were enrolled in a class taught by Dr. Gavin Smith, a … Read more

Center releases reports on Matthew recovery, rebuilding for six communities

 

Fair Bluff report
One of the released reports, a Recovery Plan for Fair Bluff, N.C.

 

Communities across eastern North Carolina have a long road to recovery after experiencing two significant hurricanes in the past three years, but recent reports from the Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (CRC) point toward several steps that communities can take to make themselves more resilient to future storms.

The Hurricane Matthew Disaster Recovery & Resilience Initiative (HMDRRI), an 18-month effort led by CRC researcher Dr. Gavin Smith, has produced final reports on efforts to aid the recovery process in six eastern North Carolina communities hit by Hurricane Matthew in October 2016. HMDRRI was funded by the State of North Carolina (through disaster-recovery appropriations and through the N.C. Policy Collaboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, through Office of University Programs and the Flood Apex program.

The project has produced several reports focusing on the unique needs of each of the six focus communities: Princeville, Fair Bluff, Seven Springs, Windsor, Kinston and Lumberton. Reports include Homeplace booklets, which offer proposed design standards for rebuilt or retrofitted homes in each of the six communities, and were developed by North Carolina State University’s Design Lab. Other reports include downtown flood retrofit reports, land suitability analyses and market/financial analyses. Each of these reports can be found by community on the HMDRRI Resources page.

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For third year, summer programs pair education projects with research

OSU Wave Tank: Model house vs. tsunami July 19, 2018

In a continuation of its exchange programs, the Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (CRC) facilitated exchanges between students, faculty and research projects this past summer.

As part of the SUMmer Research Experience (SUMREX) Program, Bryan Acevedo-Marerro and Jorge Santiago-Hernández, civil engineering undergraduate students at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM) were hosted by PI Dr. Dan Cox of Oregon State University. Additionally, DaChawn Kincaid, a rising junior at Tougaloo College, traveled to Old Dominion University to work with co-PI Dr. Wie Yusuf.

Through SUMREX, CRC Education & Workforce Development partners arrange for one or more students to visit the home institution of participating CRC Research PIs for a summer research internship lasting between six and 10 weeks. Key to the program’s success is making the best match between the student interns and the research PIs, so that the students have the opportunity to become fully immersed in a research project.

CRC researchers from Oregon State University, along with OSU students and University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez students taking part in the SUMREX exchange program, test the strength of a model structure in the OH Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory in the summer of 2018.
CRC researchers from Oregon State University, along with OSU students and University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez students taking part in the SUMREX exchange program, test the strength of a model structure in the OH Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory in the summer of 2018. Photo submitted.

Acevedo-Marrero and Santiago-Hernández worked with Dr. Cox to build a 1:6 scale house for use in OSU’s wave lab, where researchers are trying to develop a more accurate method of creating damage and loss estimates for structures impacted by overland waves. The students performed quality control on data from the wave lab tests and developed a digital house model to test their conclusions.

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Lessons learned from hurricanes Irma and María

  Professors Ismael Pagán-Trinidad and Ricardo López, who lead a Coastal Resilience Center education project at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, recently discussed the lessons learned by the university, the territory and themselves after hurricanes Irma and María hit the island in September 2017. To read more about the UPR-M project and its path since … Read more

Puerto Rico project perseveres in the wake of María

Damage at the El Mani coastal community in the aftermath of Hurricane María in September 2017. Photo by Ismael Pagán-Trinidad.

Last spring’s graduating students at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPR-M) ended their semester a month later than usual, which was reflective of a school year that was far from normal. Plunged into darkness for weeks beginning in September 2017 and fighting a daily battle to return to normalcy, Puerto Ricans have been living an abnormal existence for a year since Hurricane María tore through the island last fall.

After the flood: A community’s struggle with substantial damage mitigation

Debris on the side of the road in a Houston area neighborhood affected by Hurricane Harvey. Photo courtesy of FEMA.

In 2017, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria were reminders of how vulnerable communities can be to flooding and natural hazards. Strong winds, torrential rains and storm surge caused severe damage that blocked roads and inundated entire communities. If structures in these areas are “substantially damaged,” local governments participating in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) … Read more

CRC students win honors, start careers in Homeland Security professional fields

Welch, right, visited the Maeslantkering storm surge barriers, which contains a two-armed flood control system spanning 360 meters (1,180 feet) across. Photo submitted.

Students involved in Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (CRC) projects have been busy in the last several months – earning awards for their papers and presentations, interning with organizations in the homeland security arena and finding post-graduation positions that increase the nation’s resilience and that of coastal communities as a whole. Below are some snapshots … Read more

Maryland researchers host project management training for disaster responders

Participants in “A Project Management Framework for HM Disaster Functions,” a training course delivered by the University of Maryland, work through group assessment activities. Photo by Don Bouchard.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s Insurance and Mitigation Readiness Division (IMRD) worked with the University of Maryland’s Center for Disaster Resilience to lead a workshop, “A Project Management Framework for HM Disaster Functions,” on May 15, 2018, in Emmitsburg, Md. The training centered around introducing a framework for project management for Hazard Mitigation Disaster Cadre mid-level managers. … Read more

NC State project aims to create faster storm surge forecasting

Contours of water levels (meters relative to NAVD88) and vectors of wind speeds (meters per second) during Hurricane Matthew along the U.S. southeast coast.

Planning for a hurricane is a complicated process involving many stakeholders and varying degrees of uncertainty. Accurate predictions of storm surge and wave heights are vital to decision-making before, during and after the storm. Creating these predictions through modeling software can be expensive and time-consuming. When dealing with hurricanes, time is critical for emergency managers and … Read more

ADCIRC Week introduces new tools, honors top contributors

Coastal modelers and decision-makers gathered April 9-13, 2018, to learn, discuss, plan and build capacity for ADCIRC, a tool that provides decision support for hazards like storm inundation during tropical and extratropical cyclones. The 22nd ADCIRC Week, a gathering of professionals, academics, students and officials, was hosted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) … Read more

Colloquium focuses on ‘rethinking flood analytics’

Floods are the most common, most frequent and most costly type of disaster in the United States. A flood-resilient nation uses state-of-the-art analytics and data tools to help reduce or eliminate fatalities, minimize disruptions and reduce economic losses, according to a new report co-authored by the Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (CRC). Recommendations for advancing … Read more

New standard helps predict and evaluate erosion caused by storms

Mohammad Kayser, left, and Yulian Kebede, students of Dr. Gabr at North Carolina State University funded by the Coastal Resilience Center, test the in-situ erosion evaluation probe. Photo submitted.

A Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (CRC) researcher has established a new ASTM International standard using a portable, vertical water-jet probe to measure sand detachment and evaluate erosion related to storms. The standard describes the components and recommended testing scheme for the “in-situ erosion evaluation probe” (ISEEP), including how to monitor the rate of advancement … Read more

Students in the Workforce – Lea Sabbag, North Carolina Emergency Management

Lea Sabbag, one of the Coastal Resilience Center’s Education and Workforce Development grant recipients, was part of CRC work from 2014-2016. She spoke about her current role with North Carolina Emergency Management and how the CRC shaped her career path.

 

Can you describe the work you did with the Coastal Resilience Center?

Lea Sabbag
Lea Sabbag

From 2014-2016, I was a research assistant at the Department of Homeland Security’s Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (CRC). During that time, I supported [CRC Director] Dr. Gavin Smith on a FEMA-funded project investigating the role of governors and state agencies in disaster recovery, and explored how these actors influence the degree to which resources address local needs, timing of assistance and inter-organizational coordination across the disaster recovery network. Through literature reviews of congressional testimony and academic literature – as well as personal interviews with two former governors who were heavily involved in state disaster recovery efforts – we assessed the importance of gubernatorial leadership and the role that pre-event planning had long-term recovery outcomes. Not only was I provided the opportunity to present our preliminary findings at the 2015 Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop in Broomfield, Colo., but our research is now published in the peer-review journal Risk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy.

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FEMA Administrator to speak at UNC as part of CRC speakers series

Brock Long, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Brock Long will speak at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s campus on Monday, April 16, as part of the Coastal Resilience Center’s (CRC) Natural Hazards Resilience Speakers Series. Administrator Long will speak about lessons learned from the 2017 hurricane season and a vision for emergency management … Read more

Flood Apex Program increases flood resilience through emerging tech

Flood Apex program

The Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (CRC) is partnering with the Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate (DHS S&T) on a program that aims to save lives, reduce property loss and enhance resilience to disruptive flood events. DHS S&T created the Flood Apex Program in 2014 to bring new and emerging technologies together … Read more

CRC project expands emergency preparedness intervention program to high school students

Dr. Pam Rubinoff

A new project between the University of Rhode Island (URI) – with the URI Coastal Resources Center and Rhode Island Sea Grant as partners – and Westerly High School of Westerly, R.I., is focused on encouraging students – and by extension, their families and school community – to assess how well prepared they are for weather emergencies, such as hurricanes, or the longer-term change that comes from sea level rise.

This month, ninth- and 10th-graders at Westerly High School will make use of a new online program so they can assess their readiness for themselves. The information will help URI researchers learn more about behavior change in terms of emergency preparedness and better gauge which tools best support this change.

Dr. James Prochaska
Dr. James Prochaska

“Students Creating Change: Reducing Our Risk from Natural Disaster,” is a voluntary project and engages students who receive parental or guardian permission. Students taking part in the program receive information about preparedness and readiness activities that can be applied by a family and carried out at home with little or no cost.

The project team is led by Dr. James Prochaska as an extension of his work for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence, which focuses on risk communication to motivate individual actions. URI CRC Coastal Manager and Sea Grant Extension Agent Pam Rubinoff, who is also part of the DHS work, is helping lead the outreach effort.

“In the past we have helped high school students reduce health risks, such as inadequate exercise and unhealthy eating,” said Dr. Prochaska, a URI psychology researcher and director of the university’s Cancer Prevention Research Center. “Now we are researching how such students can help their families reduce their risks by becoming better prepared for severe storms.”

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ADCIRC Week expands tracks to accommodate wide range of applications

Attendees of the ADCIRC Users Group Meeting. Photo by Shangyao Nong.

  Coastal modelers and decision-makers will gather this spring to teach, learn, discuss, plan and build capacity for a tool that provides decision support for hazards like storm inundation during tropical and extratropical cyclones. ADCIRC Week, a gathering of professionals, academics, students and officials, will be held April 9-13, 2018, at the National Oceanic and … Read more