UD disaster researchers receive $1.99 million NSF grant

The University of Delaware is well known for its work in disaster research. Now, thanks to a National Science Foundation grant of $1.99 million, UD researchers Rachel Davidson, a civil and environmental engineering professor, and Joseph Trainor, an associate professor of public policy and administration, will be able to ramp up their hurricane preparedness research to help lessen the impact of future storms.

From UDaily’s Julie Stewart:

The team is taking a holistic and comprehensive approach to disaster mitigation, using surveys, questionnaires, data on economic activity, and other resources. The team will start with meteorological and structural engineering data to predict where hurricanes will occur, how strong they will be, and what kind of damage they will cause, but the analysis won’t end there. Many engineering models show the optimal places to build from a structural perspective, but they don’t include other factors involved in human decision-making. That’s where the research team based at the University of Delaware is doing something special.

In addition to Davidsom and Trainor, the research team includes Jamie Kruse of East Carolina University and Linda Nozick of Cornell University.