Extreme Events: Mitigation and Response
Core Focus of the Strategic Strength
- Critical Infrastructure and Lifelines
As human populations grow and become increasingly urbanized, we face growing risks from natural and human-caused hazards. These hazards include hurricanes and terrorist attacks, to name but two recent examples. The challenges posed by extreme events of this nature are diverse in character and resistant to simple solutions. This Strategic Strength focuses on mitigation and response to extreme events; that is, to events that pose grave risks to human populations and that occur as brief, abrupt episodes that are separated in time by intervals of relatively much longer duration. In addition, we propose to focus mitigation and response efforts on increasing the resiliency of communities to extreme events by reducing the effects these events have on critical facilities and lifelines.
This focus identifies a field of multi-hazard research that is a logical and natural extension of past UB activities and existing strengths. This approach will maximize our ability to make meaningful and lasting contributions to disaster prevention, to meet the evident need for planning to avoid hazards that can be avoided, and to reduce the effects of hazards that cannot be avoided.
This Strategic Strength brings together experts from a broad spectrum of departments at UB, including engineering, the natural and social sciences, management, and the Medical School. This Strategic Strength benefits from the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER), unique state-of-the-art experimental facilities, experience in national, federally funded multi-campus and multi-disciplinary research management, and a demonstrated capability to bring research results into practice in a speedy manner.
Committee Leadership
Coordinating Committee:
- Harvey Stenger (Coordinating Dean)
Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Brian Carter
Dean, School of Architecture and Planning - Mary Gresham
Dean, Graduate School of Education - Lynn Kozlowski
Interim Dean, School of Public Health and Health Professions - Bruce D. McCombe
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences - Nancy Smyth
Dean, School of Social Work - John Thomas
Dean, School of Management
Faculty Advisory Committee:
- Michel Bruneau (Chair)
Professor, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering - Michael Constantinou
Professor, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering - Steven Dubovsky
Professor and Chairman, Department of Psychiatry - Catherine Dulmus
Associate Professor and Research Center Director, School of Social Work - Mark Frank
Associate Professor, Department of Communication - Michael Moskal
Vice President of Information Exploitation Group, Calspan, CUBRC; Professor, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Christian Renschler
Associate Professor, Department of Geography - William Ruyechan
Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology - Michael Sheridan
Director of Center for Geohazards Studies; Professor Emeritus, Department of Geology - Natalie Simpson
Associate Professor, Department of Management Science and Systems - Ernest Sternberg
Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning - A. Scott Weber
Professor and Chair, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering
Last updated: May 9, 2008