June 29, 2015

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill officially launched the Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (CRC) on June 23, an effort made possible through a five-year, $20 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate, Office of University Programs.

Dr. Rick Luettich (photo by Dan Sears)

Dr. Rick Luettich (photo by Dan Sears)

Richard Luettich, ScD, professor of environmental sciences and engineering at UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and Sewell Family Term Professor of Marine Sciences and director of UNC’s Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, N.C., serves as a principal investigator at the center.

Led by Gavin Smith, PhD, research professor of city and regional planning in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, the CRC initiative will include collaboration with more than a dozen partner universities to address unique challenges facing U.S. communities that are vulnerable to coastal hazards.

The CRC, which will receive an initial $3 million grant for its first operating year, is charged with helping to conduct research and education that directly addresses key challenges associated with growing coastal vulnerability. Specific examples include:

  • Developing more accurate storm surge models and timely delivery of accurate predictions of storm surge prior to storm land-fall;
  • Assisting the Federal Emergency Management Agency, states and local governments in the development of better predictions of coastal hazards and pre-disaster plans;
  • Improving understanding of why individuals choose (or choose not) to implement risk-reduction measures at the household level and which risk-reduction measures they employ;
  • Improving ability to communicate risk to multiple audiences and take action based on that understanding; and
  • Educating the next generation of students who will become hazards researchers and practitioners, emphasizing the development of certificate and degree programs in minority-serving educational institutions.

“The Coastal Resilience Center will improve our readiness through groundbreaking multidisciplinary research, the development of best practices, and the education of the next generation of researchers and policy makers,” said Congressional representative David E. Price (NC-04) during a press conference announcing the launch of the initiative. “I am thrilled to help celebrate this grant and the continued expertise UNC-Chapel Hill provides to the Department of Homeland Security. I look forward to following the center’s important work for many more years.”

“Our nation’s university system is a constant source of innovation and fresh ideas where many of the best and brightest minds reside,” said Robert Griffin, PhD, DHS Deputy Under Secretary for Science and Technology, who also spoke at the CRC launch press conference. “DHS Centers of Excellence are vital partners in our mission to develop solutions to some of the most complex and dangerous natural disasters that we face.”

The launch of the CRC expands on the existing DHS Coastal Hazards Center begun in 2008 and led by UNC-Chapel Hill and Jackson State University. That center’s work has informed the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on operational decisions during recent hurricanes.

Critical to the initiative are collaboration and partnership.

“We have partnerships that range from the West Coast to the East Coast, from the Gulf to the Great Lakes,” Luettich said. “This is like a hub here in North Carolina, and the spokes go out from here to coastal locations across the U.S.”

Another critical goal of the CRC is educating the next generation of scholars and professionals who study the ever-changing nature of coastal hazards.

“The research that we’re getting and some of the knowledge that we’re developing is translating itself into undergraduate and graduate courses,” center director Smith said. “We are educating another generation of students and future scholars who come through the program, preparing them for various careers in the field.”


Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu
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