Collaborative Research: CyberTraining: Implementation: Small: Broadening Adoption of Cyberinfrastructure and Research Workforce Development for Disaster Management

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

Disasters are prominent global issues which simultaneously pose threats to multiple countries or regions. Disaster management is gradually empowered by increasing geospatial big data awareness and growing computing capabilities to produce spatial vulnerability and situational understanding for supporting timely decisions. This project will establish an international CyberTraining for Disaster Management (CTDM) network in which disaster research communities can broaden their cyberinfrastructure (CI) and geospatial skills by participating in the proposed training activities. The project will establish a CI-enabled geospatial disaster science network among academic institutions, governmental agencies, hazards research centers, industry, and educational organizations to leverage the expertise of pertinent communities in developing training materials for preparing the next-generation workforce. A novel training curriculum is developed to consist of various training modalities such as summer schools, workshop sessions, and online webinars, which utilize CI and scalable geospatial analytics for effective disaster management practice. We aim to train over 2000 students, researchers, and educators through our diverse collaboration networks. The project will broaden access to CI for disaster research communities and help enhance workforce development among diverse disciplines such as disaster science, geosciences, transportation, engineering, social, behavioral, and economic sciences. A variety of disaster data, training materials, and CI resources will be provided to underrepresented communities through partnerships with Hispanic Serving Institutions (e.g., Texas A&M University) and Historically Black Colleges & Universities (e.g., Morgan State University). The project will help disaster research communities broaden their CI-enabled disaster management and computational skills, thus improving decision-making capabilities for enhancing community resilience. CTDM is designed to greatly improve the well-being of socially vulnerable communities significantly impacted by climate change and related disasters. The project will introduce advanced CI and geospatial analytics to disaster research communities by developing a CI-enabled disaster management curriculum. A key approach is to apply CI and geospatial analytics in disaster management by introducing four interconnected training modules from basic to advanced learning levels: CI-Enabled Computing Module, Disaster Data Module, Geospatial Analytics Module, and Disaster Problem-Solving Module. The Disaster Data Module provides best practices of the FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability) principles and cutting-edge geospatial data analysis and visualization techniques. The CI-Enabled Computing Module Introduces fundamental concepts and skills of CI and high-performance computing to lower the barriers to taking advantage of CI in disaster management research. Through the Geospatial Analytics Module, learners will be equipped with advanced geospatial data analysis and visualization techniques to better understand disaster patterns across various spatiotemporal scales. Finally, the Disaster Problem-Solving Module serves as an integration framework to ensure disaster management concepts and practices will be well connected with the other three modules for a holistic understanding of disaster management challenges addressed by advanced CI. This award by the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure is jointly supported by the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.