Dr. Austin Becker
Dr. Austin Becker, a co-PI on a Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (CRC) project at the University of Rhode Island on a project led by Dr. James Opaluch, presented information on his DHS-funded work to the office of Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-RI) on June 12, 2017, in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Becker’s presentation, “Coastal infrastructure resilience to extreme events: Geoscience in planning, design and construction,” was part of the Geoscience and the U.S. Economy Briefing Series. The briefing highlighted critical applications of geoscience information in the development and maintenance of necessary infrastructure in the United States.
The presentation describes how geo and ocean science is used to plan for the impacts of severe weather on the maritime transportation system, which accounts for 99 percent of U.S. overseas trade.
In February, Dr. Becker, a professor of marine affairs at the University of Rhode Island, was named a Sloan Research Fellow in Ocean Sciences by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, one of the most prestigious fellowships available to early-career scientists in the United States. The two-year fellowship is awarded to stimulate fundamental research by scholars of outstanding promise in a variety of disciplines.
Dr. Becker’s CRC project with Dr. Opaluch, “Overcoming Barriers to Motivate Community Action to Enhance Resilience,” aims to improve the resiliency of communities by providing better information on the barriers people face to adapting to coastal storm hazards.
Read more about the briefing at the Consortium for Ocean Leadership blog.