Coastal Resilience
Research Areas
Disaster Dynamics
Building Resilient Communities
Coastal Infrastructure Resilience
Education and Workforce Development
About Us
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
100 Europa Drive, Suite 540
Campus Box 7581
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
Tel: 919-962-0344
Fax: 919-445-9669
Email: coastalresiliencecenter@unc.edu
Website: coastalresiliencecenter.unc.edu
Anna Schwab, Program Manager
akschwab@email.unc.edu
Josh Kastrinsky, Communications Coordinator
joshk@unc.edu
Leadership:
Dr. Rick Luettich, Principal Investigator (UNC-CH)
Dr. Gavin Smith, Director (UNC-CH)
Mr. Tom Richardson, Associate Director & Transition Coordinator (Jackson State University)
Dr. Robert Whalin, Education Coordinator (Jackson State University)
Ms. Anna Schwab, Program Manager (UNC-CH)
Mr. Josh Kastrinsky, Communications Coordinator (UNC-CH)
Project Search
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
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
Coastal Resilience Center (2015-)
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“Intensification of landfalling typhoons over the northwest Pacific since the late 1970s” by Wei Mei and Shang-Ping Xie. Nature Geoscience (2016).
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“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)
Related publications:
- Gao, K. and I. Ginis, 2016: On the equilibrium-state roll vortices and their effect in the hurricane boundary layer. J. Atmos. Sci., 1205- 1222.
- Liu, Q., L. M. Rothstein, Y. Luo, D. S. Ullman, and D. L. Codiga, 2016. Dynamics of the periphery current in Rhode Island Sound, Ocean Modelling, 105, 13-24.
- Reichl, B. G, D. Wang, T. Hara, I. Ginis,, T. Kukulka, 2016: Langmuir turbulence parameterization in tropical cyclone conditions. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 46, 863-886.
- Sun, Y., C. Chen, R. C. Beardsley, D. Ullman, B. Butman, and H. Lin, 2016. Surface Circulation in Block Island Sound and Adjacent Coastal and Shelf Regions: A FVCOM-CODAR comparison, Progress in Oceanography, 143, 26-45.
- Tahsin, S., S.C. Medeiros, A. Singh (2016). “Resilience of coastal wetlands to extreme hydrologic events in Apalachicola Bay.” Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 43, doi: 10.1002/2016GL069594.
- Horney, J., Dwyer, C., Aminto, M., Berke, P., & Smith, G. (2016). Developing indicators to measure post-disaster community recovery in the United States. Disasters. Advance online publication. doi:10.1111/disa.12190
- Shankman, D., and B.D. Keim. 2016. Flood Risk Forecast for China’s Poyang Lake Region. Physical Geography 37(1):88-91.
- Irish, J.L., Weiss, R. and D.T. Resio, “Physical Characteristics of Coastal Hazards and Risks”, Chapter 25, Springer Handbook of Ocean Engineering, Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York, M. Dhanak and N. Xiros (Eds.), 549 – 562.
- Resio, D.T., Tumeo, M.A., and J.L. Irish, “Statistical Characterization of Hazards and Risk in Coastal Areas,” Chapter 26, Springer Handbook of Ocean Engineering, Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York, M. Dhanak and N. Xiros (Eds.), 567 – 593.
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