CRC - Coastal Resilience - University Programs

Coastal Resilience Center

Disaster losses continue to rise rapidly in the United States, particularly in coastal areas where more than 50% of the US population resides. As a result, it is increasingly important to build resilience in coastal communities. The Department of Homeland Security Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (CRC) led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) collaborates with multiple partners from across the United States -- including universities, state, local and federal agencies, and the private sector -- to address unique challenges facing communities that are vulnerable to coastal hazards. The CRC will conduct and transition research and develop education programs that directly address key challenges associated with increasing the resilience of our coastal communities.

Center Activity

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Education Projects

Robert Whalin, Jackson State University - PhD in Engineering (Coastal / Computational) at an HBCU

Helen Chen, Johnson C. Smith University - Preparing Tomorrow’s Minority Task Force in Coastal Resilience through Interdisciplinary Education, Research, and Curriculum Development

Barry Keim, Louisiana State University - LSU’s Disaster Science and Management Program

Meherun Laiju, Tougaloo College - Institutionalization, Expansion, and Enhancement of Interdisciplinary Minor: Disaster and Coastal Studies

Sandra Knight, University of Maryland - Development and Testing of a Project Management Curriculum for Emergency Managers

Gavin Smith, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Expanding Coastal Resilience Education at UNC-CH

Ismael Pagan-Trinidad, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez - Education for Improving Resiliency of Coastal Infrastructure

Research Projects

Robert Twilley, Louisiana State University - Integrated Approaches to Creating Community Resilience Designs in a Changing Climate

Scott Hagen, Louisiana State University - Development of an Optimized Hurricane Storm Surge–Wave Model for the Northern Gulf of Mexico for use with the ADCIRC Surge Guidance System

Casey Dietrich, North Carolina State University - Improving the Efficiency of Wave and Surge Models via Adaptive Mesh Resolution

Larry Atkinson, Old Dominion University - A Tool to Measure Community Stress to Support Disaster Resilience Planning and Stakeholder/End User Engagement

Dan Cox, Oregon State University & John van de Lindt, Colorado State University - Experimental and Numerical Study to Improve Damage and Loss Estimation Due to Overland Wave and Surge Hazards on Near-Coast Structures

Victoria Bennett, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Establishment of Remote-Sensing Based Monitoring Program for Health Assessment of the Sacramento Delta

Al Wallace, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Decision Technologies to Support Coastal Infrastructure Resilience

Jen Horney, Texas A&M University - Implementing the Disaster Recovery Tracking Tool

Phil Berke, Texas A&M University - Local Planning Networks and Neighborhood Vulnerability Indicators

Rachel Davidson, University of Delaware - An Interdisciplinary Approach to Household Strengthening and Insurance Decisions

Brian Blanton, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - A Multi-tiered ADCIRC-based Storm Surge and Wave Prediction System

Don Resio, University of North Florida - The Incorporation of Rainfall into Hazard Estimates for Improved Coastal Resiliency

James Prochaska, University of Rhode Island - Communicating Risk to Motivate Individual Action

James Opaluch, University of Rhode Island - Overcoming Barriers to Motivate Community Action to Enhance Resilience

Isaac Ginis, University of Rhode Island - Modeling the Combined Coastal and Inland Hazards from High-Impact Hypothetical Hurricanes

Landscape Survey to Support Flood Apex National Flood Decision Support Toolbox: Definitions and Existing Tools by Aaron Strong and Debra Knopman (developed under contract with the DHS Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence to support the Flood Apex program)

“Pre- and Post-Disaster Conditions, their Implications, and the Role of Planning for Housing Recovery” by Dr. Gavin Smith (from Coming Home After Disaster: Multiple Dimensions of Housing Recovery, Eds. Ann-Margaret Esnard and Alka Sapa. CRC Press, 2017)

“Social Media and Emergency Management” by Josh Kastrinsky (from Technology and Emergency Management, 2nd Edition, Ed. John C. Pine. Wiley, 2017)

“Intensification of landfalling typhoons over the northwest Pacific since the late 1970s” by Wei Mei and Shang-Ping Xie. Nature Geoscience (2016).
“Evaluation of Networks of Plans and Vulnerability to Hazards and Climate Change: A Resilience Scorecard”by Philip Berke, Galen Newman, Jaekyung Lee, Tabitha Combs, Carl Kolosna, and David Salvesen (winner of Best Paper in Vol. 81, 2015, of the Journal of the American Planning Association)
“The Role of States in Disaster Recovery” by Gavin Smith, Lea Sabbag, Ashton Rohmer (training guide; video and background on project page)

For more publications, visit the the Publications and Products page on the CRC website.

Learn more about our students, through their stories, on the CRC students page.

CRC Partners

Colorado State University

Cornell University

East Carolina University

Florida State University

Jackson State University

Johnson C. Smith University

Louisiana State University

North Carolina State University

Old Dominion University

Oregon State University

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Texas A&M University

Tougaloo College

University of Central Florida

University of Delaware

University of Maryland

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

University of North Florida

University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez

University of Rhode Island

University of Texas at Austin

CRC Resources

Visit the Coastal Resilience Center website.

Read News from the CRC.

See where the CRC is in the news.

Read the CRC blog.

Coastal Resilience

Research Areas

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