The University of Oregon is joining a new $15 million National Science Foundation center that will unite researchers across the country to better understand and prepare for natural hazards like landslides, flooding, debris flows and river erosion.
Led by the University of Michigan, the Center for Land Surface Hazards, or CLaSH, will bring together scientists and engineers from multiple disciplines to study how those threats, known as land-surface hazards, are interconnected and how to reduce their impact.
The center also plans to focus on programs that broaden and grow a workforce of experts in land-surface hazards as well as foster community engagement in the interest of national welfare, especially in communities most affected by those hazards.
"This new center is so exciting because it recognizes how surface hazards are increasing in frequency and impact," said Josh Roering, professor of earth sciences at the UO. "We hear more and more about catastrophic events that result from interconnected processes like landslides, outburst floods, fires, earthquakes and thawing permafrost. By bringing together a community of scholars to study these surface hazards, we will improve our knowledge and, more importantly, help translate that knowledge to reduce risk and improve public safety."
UO researchers will focus on how climate change and shifting storm patterns influence landslides and debris flows. In partnership with academic and tribal groups in Alaska, the UO team will use seismic sensors, satellite imagery, drone surveys and computer modeling to track hazards and predict when and where they are most likely to occur.
"Our partners are directly affected by these processes, and our goal is to turn science into tools that communities can use," Roering said. "That means working with emergency managers, tribal and municipal leaders, and other groups to build hazard maps and online dashboards that help people be safer."
CLaSH also will provide workforce programs to help educate the next generation of scientists, including outreach into communities most impacted by land surface hazards.
Within those communities, the center hopes to implement programs that set the foundation for future hazard research as well as translate that knowledge into action to improve disaster preparation and response. To do that, the center will provide training for instructors at two-year community colleges and undergraduate institutions as well as concentrating on public outreach.
CLaSH will be funded through NSF's Centers for Innovation and Community Engagement in Solid Earth Geohazards program. The center includes 17 funded partner organizations, including universities, government organizations and tribal partners as well as dozens of other U.S. and international collaborations with a variety of academic, government, nonprofit and business organizations.
