Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Engineering Cities to Survive Extreme Weather

Wednesday, October 7, 2015, By News Staff
Share
College of Engineering and Computer Scienceresearch

Extreme weather events can cripple crucial infrastructure that enables transit, electricity, water and other services in urban areas. This leaves cities and their inhabitants cut off and in danger. With weather extremes becoming more common—from devastating hurricanes and flooding to record drought and heat waves—it will be increasingly important to develop urban infrastructure that is more resilient, sustainable and equitable.

A flooded city

A flooded city

That is the idea behind a new Urban Resilience to Extreme Weather-Related Events Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN), recently funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). College of Engineering and Computer Science Associate Professor David Chandler,  who teaches in the civil and environmental engineering department, has joined a team of 50 researchers from 15 institutions in nine cities spanning North and South America. The NSF awarded the network $12 million over five years through its Sustainability Research Networks program, which focuses on urban sustainability.

“The goal is to analyze information pertinent to sustainability and impacts of extreme climate events—mostly extreme precipitation or extreme heat. Syracuse will focus primarily on the issue of flooding and we will be teaming up with Valdivia, Chile, as they have many of the same challenges related to rain and snow.”

The team will be working with Esri, an extremely detailed geographic information system tool, to develop 3D, interactive models for all of the cities in the project.

When streets flood with disease carriers and waste, it isn’t just unhealthy—it’s dangerous. Aging infrastructure and flooding issues tend to be more of an issue in low-income neighborhoods, meaning that this project needs to assess more than just the physical infrastructure of these cities.

The team will evaluate the social, ecological and technical systems data related to infrastructure. This includes recognizing the values of all stakeholders, from city decision makers to the people who will use and be affected by infrastructure, understanding the natural environment in which infrastructure operates and evaluating available infrastructure technology. The result will be a suite of tools supporting the assessment and implementation of urban infrastructure that is resilient, “safe-to-fail” and tailored to a particular city.

In addition to Syracuse University’s team, the UREx SRN includes teams based in Phoenix; Baltimore; Miami; New York; Portland; Hermosillo, Mexico; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Valdivia, Chile.

 

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • Student Representatives to the Board of Trustees Have Been Named
    Monday, May 16, 2022, By News Staff
  • Senior Q&A: Tony Ruscitto ’22 Puts a New Mission on His Horizon
    Monday, May 16, 2022, By Stephanie Salanger
  • Karin Ruhlandt to Conclude Tenure as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Lois Agnew to Serve as Interim Dean
    Monday, May 16, 2022, By News Staff
  • Eleanor Maine Receives Wasserstrom Prize for Graduate Teaching
    Monday, May 16, 2022, By Dan Bernardi
  • Syracuse Views Spring 2022
    Sunday, May 15, 2022, By News Staff

More In STEM

Black Hole Image Shows Einstein Was Right, Once Again

Today a team of astronomers announced they successfully captured the first direct image of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Duncan Brown is the Charles Brightman Endowed Professor of Physics at Syracuse University’s College of…

Biomedical and Chemical Engineering Professor’s Research Team Receives Multiple Awards at Society for Biomaterials Conference

Biomedical and chemical engineering Professor Mary Beth Monroe attended the Society for Biomaterials (SFB) 2022 meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, with Ph.D. students Anand Vakil, Henry Beaman, Changling Du and Maryam Ramezani, master’s student Natalie Petryk ’21, G’22 and undergraduate students Caitlyn…

Viewing a Microcosm Through a Physics Lens

“What can physics offer biology?” This was how Alison Patteson, assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ physics department and a faculty member in the BioInspired Institute, began the explanation of why her physics lab was studying bacteria. In…

University’s Top Putnam Math Competition Finisher Awarded Inaugural Erdős Prize

Junior Connor Ritchie has won the Department of Mathematics’ inaugural Erdős Prize for being Syracuse University’s top finisher in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. The Putnam contest is the preeminent mathematics competition for undergraduate college students in the United States and Canada,…

Sasha Valitutti Selected as a 2022 SMART Scholar

Sasha Valitutti, a junior aerospace engineering major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, has been named a recipient of a Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The award will…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2022 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.