A new interdisciplinary $2 million National Science Foundation effort at the University of Washington is examining networks and communication under emergencies. Professor Cynthia Chen, interim chair of the UW’s Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISE), is leading the research team that includes UW professors Dan Abramson (Urban Design & Planning), Kurtis Heimerl (Computer Science & Engineering), Tyler McCormick (Sociology and Statistics) and Shuai Huang (ISE).
Chen and the team will first gather insights into current local sharing and social ties that connect people to their communities. They will then design and build off-grid community-based communications infrastructure that allow individuals to stay connected, even during disasters. Following that step, they will focus on mobilizing social ties and communications infrastructure to develop optimized practices in emergency information and resource-sharing methods. The researchers will lastly co-design and pilot-test applications with two communities in Washington state (i.e., Seattle and Westport).