Protecting Coastal Infrastructure in a Changing Climate by Integrating Optimization Modeling and Stakeholder Observations

The over arching goal of this research project is to assist in the development
of a methodology for optimizing coastal protection for interdependent critical
infrastructure in New York City. The applicant will be expected to have
expertise in geographical information systems (GIS) and will help to better
incorporate the massive amount of data made available to the project team from
multiple sources. This would allow additional sites in the New York City area
to be included in the initial validations and eventually act as tests for the
optimization procedure. Currently the team has focused on the lower Manhattan
region as a testbed and are developing GIS models for this area. The REU
participant would under the guidance of the graduate student and project
leads work to also include the Brighton Beach neighborhood at the mouth of
Jamaica Bay as well South and Midland Beaches on Staten Island. Substantive
collaboration with researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research
(NCAR) would also be expected in order to accurately include stakeholder
information as provided.