A Clearinghouse for Natural Hazards Research and Applications

About This Grant

This award will support research related to the Natural Hazards Center's role as an information clearinghouse for understanding societal dimensions of hazards and disasters. The Center develops and disseminates knowledge and connects hazards research communities with representatives from government agencies, nonprofit organizations, professional associations, the private sector, and the media. Natural hazards, including extreme weather events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, drought, and wildfires, as well as earthquakes, landslides, and other geological phenomena, pose significant and increasing threats to people, property, and the environment across the United States. To reduce risk, this project pursues four objectives: (1) advancing multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary hazards and disaster research to enhance societal resilience; (2) translating and sharing information across institutions and organizations; (3) building connections between researchers, practitioners, and policymakers; and (4) supporting the next generation hazards and disaster workforce. This project looks to advance research through the development of the Third Assessment of Natural Hazards. This assessment engages more than 100 of the nation's leading experts to review and synthesize over 25 years of research. It takes stock of what has been learned and applied in the hazards and disaster field and identifies knowledge gaps that remain. The effort promises to offer a new framework for understanding the impacts of disaster on people and civil infrastructures. Further, the assessment intends to set an agenda to guide the next decade of hazards research and establish a plan to strengthen the workforce. This project also supports training and funding for researchers to ethically collect perishable disaster data through the Quick Response Research Award Program. Awardees produce research reports and research briefs that inform and improve disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. Additional supported activities will include convening the annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop and Researchers Meeting; coordinating the Social Science Extreme Events Research (SSEER) network; publishing the Disaster Research: News You Can Use newsletter and Research Counts series; and maintaining the Natural Hazards Center website, which is a key source of information and resources for the hazards and disaster field. 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.