Wednesday, December 1, 2021, 6:30 - 7:30 PM ET
Stronger Than Storms: How Stevens Research is Leading to Coastal Resilience

Online registration for the Dinner and a Forum is now closed. To register for this event, please email Alyson McCarthy at amccart1@stevens.edu.

Low-lying areas of New Jersey were flooded by several feet of water by the storm surge from Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Sea level rise could magnify the impacts of such storms by raising the base on which storm surges build. Climate change is likely to bring more frequent and heavier rainfall to coastal areas, which would also increase runoff and flooding. Stevens Flood Advisory System (SFAS), developed and maintained by the Davidson Laboratory, is an unmatched resource for predicting storm surge in coastal areas. SFAS is the only tool of its kind that integrates real-time observations and river and coastal flood models forced by an ensemble of meteorological European, Canadian and North American models at various scales to provide street-scale flood forecasts over urban terrain during extreme rain events or storm surges. SFAS predictions are continuously used by industries and government agencies and have resulted in saving human losses and reducing economic losses.

This program will discuss research efforts in the Davidson Laboratory at Stevens Institute of Technology that are addressing climate change and its impact. These efforts address flood risk in coastal areas, enhancing community resilience to hydrometeorological disasters under a changing climate, development of novel renewable energy for highly populated coastal areas, evaluation of living shorelines projects, assisting communities in planning for and adapting to coastal hazards, and participation in working panels charged with creating the sea level rise guidance.

Presenters:
Muhammad R. Hajj, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering
Director of Davidson Laboratory
George Meade Bond Professor

Alicia M. Mahon, Ph.D. ’12
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Lidar Buoy Program Manager, Offshore Wind and Ocean Dynamics Team Leader