Technology transfer entails the systematic transference of scientific research results to practical tasks. The research product may be a novel design, an effective process, a tool or a set of tools. Effective technology transfer depends on many factors. It includes recognizing a gap in knowledge, focusing on the end user’s needs, long-term planning, effective communication and collaboration between researchers, standards organizations, and potential users, and a successful reduction of the knowledge or training burden required by the user. This Research Topic provides five examples of robust technology transfer from researchers seeking to mitigate the effect of natural hazards on the built and natural environment—transfers of knowledge that will significantly advance our nation’s resilience in the face of growing natural hazard threats.
In 2016, the National Science Foundation established the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) network. NHERI provides engineering and social science researchers with access to a world-class research infrastructure to support their efforts to improve the resilience and sustainability of the nation’s civil, natural and social infrastructure against earthquakes, windstorms and associated natural hazards such as tsunami and storm surge in coastal areas. Supported by the National Science Foundation, NHERI is a nation-wide network that consists of 12 university-based, shared-use experimental facilities, a computational modeling and simulation center, and a shared community cyber-infrastructure.
more »
« less
2022 Natural Hazards Research Summit
The 2022 Natural Hazards Research Summit drew researchers, practitioners, and federal agency representatives together to reflect on the accomplishments achieved by the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) community and to chart the path for the next decade of impactful natural hazards research. Convened in October, 2022 in Washington, D.C. with support from the National Science Foundation, the specific goals of the two-day Summit were to: (i) discuss and elucidate the research needs for the next 10 years, (ii) foster connections between the broader natural hazards community, and (iii) disseminate information on the resources and capabilities that NHERI offers to researchers focused on preventing natural hazards from becoming societal disasters. This report documents the findings and recommendations from the panel, town hall sessions, and visioning activities that took place at the Summit. The intended audience for the report is the natural hazards research community and the funding agencies that support its research. Accordingly, the report includes a research agenda developed with input from the Summit participants.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2129782
- PAR ID:
- 10503411
- Publisher / Repository:
- Designsafe-CI
- Date Published:
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Natural Hazards Research Reporting National Science Foundation Multidisciplinary Social Science Engineering Networking Convergence
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
This is the third edition of the NSF Science Plan for the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI). It was developed to focus natural hazards research on some of the major challenges communities face as they work to enhance their resilience to natural hazard events. It provides information for researchers, funding agencies, practitioners, students, and the public on the critical research needs and the process of conducting multi-hazard research to advance hazards engineering practice and community resilience. The Science Plan provides Grand Challenges and Key Research Questions.more » « less
-
The National Science Foundation-supported CONVERGE facility was established in 2018 as the first social science-led component of the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI). Headquartered at the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, CONVERGE identifies, trains, connects, and funds researchers across disciplines in the hazards and disaster field. This article provides an overview of one of our most widely used tools, the CONVERGE Training Modules. These free, interactive, online trainings are designed for students, early career professionals, and others who are new to hazards and disaster research and practice. Since July 2019, our team has released 10 modules that cover a range of foundational topics in hazards and disaster research, including Institutional Review Board procedures, conducting emotionally challenging research, cultural competence, collecting and sharing perishable data, social vulnerability, and disaster mental health. In addition, CONVERGE offers advanced trainings in specialized topics such as broader ethical considerations for hazards and disaster researchers, reciprocity, gender-based violence in fieldwork, and public health implications of hazards and disaster research. Between July 2019 and November 2022, 6,311 unique users registered for the modules, and these users logged 7,222 module completions. Of the module completions to date, the largest percentage of users completed only one (46.0%) of the available trainings, although a small group of “superusers”—whom we surveyed for this article—have completed all or almost all of the available modules. When asked why they planned to complete the modules at the time of registration, most users indicated that it was to fulfill a classroom or other educational requirement (51.2%), for personal interest/to learn more (9.0%), or to prepare for or to support research (7.1%) or practice-oriented activities (5.8%). In addition to providing more information regarding module users, this article details the development of the technology and discusses the impact and success of this tool for transferring knowledge and skills to the hazards and disaster research and practice community. We conclude with a discussion of future directions for this research-based educational intervention.more » « less
-
This is the second edition of the five-year Science Plan for the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI). It provides information for constituents, including practitioners, as well as guidance for members of the research community.This report is an overview of the research needed to support the Grand Challenges described by the report. It covers both the scope and the process of conducting multi-hazard research for improving civil infrastructure.more » « less
-
The 2022 Social Science Extreme Events Research (SSEER) Census summarizes the results of responses gathered from 1,521 social scientists who responded to the SSEER survey between its release date on July 8, 2018 and December 31, 2022. This report characterizes the diversity, disciplinary skills, and expertise within the research community. It is organized into the following categories: (1) number of researchers; (2) researcher geographic location; (3) disciplinary background and expertise; (4) educational and professional background; (5) level of involvement in hazards and disaster research (core, periodic, situational, emerging); (6) research methods and approaches; (7) disaster types, phases, number of extreme events studied, and names of specific extreme events studied; and (8) researcher demographic characteristics. The document concludes with references for further review and a brief description of the SSEER network. This annual report responds to longstanding calls to better characterize the skills and demographic composition of the hazards and disaster workforce. The 2018-2022 SSEER Census reports are available for download as color and black & white PDF files at: https://converge.colorado.edu/research-networks/sseer/sseer-census/. Social scientists who study hazards and disasters can become part of this network and annual count by joining SSEER at: https://converge.colorado.edu/research-networks/sseer/. More information on SSEER and the other National Science Foundation-funded reconnaissance and research networks is available on the CONVERGE website at: https://converge.colorado.edu/research-networks/.This project includes a survey instrument, data, and annual census reports from the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Social Science Extreme Events Research (SSEER) network, which is headquartered at the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) CONVERGE facility at the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. The SSEER network, which was launched in 2018, was formed, in part, to respond to the need for more specific information about the status and expertise of the social science hazards and disaster research workforce. The mission of SSEER is to identify and map social scientists involved in hazards and disaster research in order to highlight their expertise and connect social science researchers to one another, to interdisciplinary teams, and to communities at risk to hazards and affected by disasters. Ultimately, the goals of SSEER are to amplify the contributions of social scientists and to advance the field through expanding the available social science evidence base. To see the SSEER map and to learn more about the SSEER initiative, please visit: https://converge.colorado.edu/research-networks/sseer. All social and behavioral scientists and those in allied disciplines who study the human, economic, policy, and health dimensions of disasters are invited to join this network via a short online survey. This DesignSafe project includes: (1) the SSEER survey instrument; (2) de-identified data, which is updated annually as new researchers join the SSEER network and returning members update their information; and (3) SSEER annual census reports. These resources are available to all who are interested in learning more about the composition of the social science hazards and disaster workforce. SSEER is part of a larger ecosystem of NSF-funded extreme events research and reconnaissance networks designed to help coordinate disciplinary communities in engineering and the sciences, while also encouraging cross-disciplinary information sharing and interdisciplinary integration. To learn more about the networks and research ecosystem, please visit: https://converge.colorado.edu/research-networks/.more » « less
