In the past few years, the United States has faced multiple levels of distress, from a surprise terrorist attack to monstrous natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and California’s many forest fires. At each incidence the country’s relief services were strained to provide help such as electricity, water, and access to roadways to helpless parties.
As a result, the Department of Homeland Security has granted RPI researchers $1.1 million over six years to investigate ways of improving civil infrastructure in order to alleviate some of the strain on independent counterpart companies that provide relief during natural disasters.
Specifically, the team of RPI researchers (including undergraduate and graduate fellows) will be developing open-source software that can identify areas of weaknesses in city infrastructure to increase prevention capabilities and provide assessment through mathematical formulations. The goal is to allow managers of infrastructure systems to use the software “to model different event scenarios to determine how the services they provide impact and are impacted by other systems and organizations” according to an Institute press release.
Despite the numerous types of damage—such as from hurricane, tornado, fire, earthquake, and terrorism—the effects of these disasters are similar, and the processes of providing relief can be detailed specifically for each city.
Professor of Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems William Wallace, who is leading the project, has worked on earlier projects detailing infrastructural irregularities in Manhattan and has already accomplished some of this detailing. The software will be compatible with any city, so that any realistic data entered will yield answers to resolve relief delays. This specific project will mainly be dealing with coastal cities.
The hope is that the software will “help people make better and more timely decisions, eventually enhancing post-catastrophic recovery, improving information sharing and communication and critical supply chain resiliency,” Wallace said.
The project is using data collected in the National Science Foundation research following the events of September 11, 2001 and, through various Institute alumni connections, realistic data from Verizon. The challenge now remains in recruiting more companies’ confidential data, which is protected due to potential misuse for terrorist activities. Currently, a list of RPI contacts is being generated to resolve this dilemma. This research, according to Wallace, is extremely important; while it will not directly prevent disasters, it will lessen the damage felt afterwards.
