Projects

Projects

Project Quick Links by Principal Investigator (PI)/Author

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Examining the 100-year Floodplain as a Metric of Risk, Loss, and Household Adjustment
Duration: 2011-2013
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Funding Amount: $312,801
PI: Sam Brody; Co-PIs: Wesley E. Highfield, Michael Lindell
Research Assistants: Russell Blessing, Joshua Gunn, Tak Makino, Patrick Doty

Abstract
As flood losses continue to increase in the United States, recent evidence suggests that the 100-year floodplain (the primary marker of flood risk and mitigation) is neither accurate nor sufficient in guiding communities and household decisions to mitigate the adverse impacts of floods. The inability of the floodplain designation to effectively capture the likelihood of property loss has left potentially millions of property owners unaware of the flood risk and has made it more difficult for local decision makers to ensure community development occurs in a resilient manner. This project examines the effectives of the 100-year floodplain in predicting property damages from floods and offers improved criteria for assessing risk of inundation in low-lying coastal areas. First, we will spatially examine the record of insured property damage at the household level from 2000-2009 for a sample of coastal counties along the Gulf of Mexico. Second, we will analyze statistical models to predict insured property damage from floods using proximity and built environment measures not traditionally used to determine floodplain boundaries. Finally, we will conduct a survey of households claiming losses both in and out of the floodplain to understand the perceptions of flood risks and motivations to mitigate their potential adverse impacts.
This research will provide important information to decision makers on how to implement more precise strategies to reduce the costs of floods at the local level. An improved understanding of flood risk will enable localities to better protect themselves against loss of property and lives in coastal areas. Research findings will also help individuals living outside the floodplain, but still at high risk for flood damages reduce the chances they will experience devastating losses in the future. To this end, a major part of the research project will be to deliver findings that can be easily accessed and understood by both public officials and local residents. First, we will integrate our data on flood loss and areas of risk an existing web-based GIS system that currently serves as a technical assistance and outreach tool. Second, we will work with local neighborhoods that have become hotspots of flood loss to increase awareness of the problem and provide options for reducing future loss. Third, we will bring results from our study into the classroom as part of graduate and undergraduate studies across two college campuses. Through these approaches, we will ensure our research findings assist local governments and individual households on how to better reduce the negative impacts of coastal flooding in the U.S.

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Debris Management After Severe Hurricanes and Storms
Duration: Spring/Summer 2011
Funding Agency: Houston Advanced Research Center
PI: Wesley Highfield
Students/staff Employed: Carland Holstead
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Examining the Relationship Between Land Use Change, Wetland Alteration, and Carbon Sequestration in the Gulf of Mexico
Duration: 2011-2013
Funding Agency: NASA
Funding Amount: $400,000
PI: Patrick Louchouarn
Co-PI: Anna Armitage, Wesley Highfield, Samuel Brody
Students/staff Employed: TBD
Abstract
Our proposed study will examine the relationship between land use change, wetland vegetation shift/loss, and carbon (C) sequestration on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). By combining field calibration with analysis of remote sensing imagery to detect land cover change, we aim to better understand the amount of carbon sequestration capacity lost from the alteration of naturally occurring estuarine wetlands over the last decade.
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Dickinson Bayou On-Site Sewage Facilities (OSSF) Optimization Model
Duration: Spring/Summer 2011
Funding Agency: TCEQ & Texas Coastal Watersheds Program
Funding Amount: $136,016
PI: Wesley Highfield
Co-PI: Samuel Brody
Students/staff Employed: Russell Blessing, Patrick Doty, Kevin Crosby
Abstract
This project will assemble and incorporate data layers into a Geographic Information System. Specifically, we will assemble a geodatabase of pertinent spatial data for the Dickinson Bayou watershed, including by not limited to soil characteristics, hydrography, topography, wetlands, wastewater treatment plants, and current OSSF locations. We will also construct a GIS model that evaluates and prioritizes mitigation of failing OSSF locations. This model will be based on the location, density, and age of OSSF sites. These spatial OSSF measures will be evaluated against the risk of water quality deterioration using factors such as proximity to natural drainage and wetlands, low soil infiltration rates, and impervious surface.
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Coastal Communities Planning Atlas for Decision Makers and Local Residents: Phase II
Duration: 2008 - 2010
Funding Agency: National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Sea Grant Award
Funding Amount: $291,274
PI: Samuel D. Brody
Co-PI: Walter Peacock, Doug Wunneburger, Forster Ndubisi, June Martin
Students/staff Employed: Himanshu Grover, Sri Harsha , Rob Gatlin, Doug Wunneburger
Abstract
This project develops a coastal communities planning atlas to help local jurisdictions in Texas understand the implications of development decisions and plan appropriately for the future. It will provide an easily accessible, graphically represented, interactive database on environmental, hazard, and land use related issues for local communities. Specifically, the project will create an Internet-based spatial decision support system that will allow users to identify and visualize critical hotspots related to environmental degradation, natural hazard risks, and significant changes in land use patterns. In addition, users will be able to query data and create custom maps based on multiple development scenarios. Communities will be able to use this educational tool to guide future decisions on growth in a sustainable manner such that the need for economic development is balanced with priorities associated with environmental protection and human health, safety, and welfare. The system will also help address important research questions related to where future growth will occur in the Texas coastal zone, the impacts of this growth, and the usefulness of WebGIS in facilitating sustainable planning.
Website: Texas Sustainable Coastal Initiative
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Modeling Watershed Flooding and Adaptive Flood Management: An Integrative Plan for Research, Teaching, and Learning
Duration: 2004 - 2010
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award
Funding Amount: $515,500
PI: Sam Brody
Research Assoc: Wesley Highfield Employed: Anita Hollmann, Wes Highfield, Jun Eun Kang,
Hee Ju Kim
Abstract
This research project addresses coastal flooding problems by implementing an interactive research and educational program on flood mitigation, sustainable watershed management, and policy learning. It develops a framework for adaptive decision making for coastal flood hazards by integrating research, education, and information dissemination. The research component focuses on the impacts of wetland development on coastal watershed flooding and policy learning at the community level to mitigate the adverse impacts of flood damage to the human and natural environment. A two-phase longitudinal research design employs both quantitative and qualitative analyses to investigate flooding problems in Texas and Florida. Phase one will use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to examine the spatial pattern of wetland development over a ten-year period and correlate this development with coastal watershed flooding. Phase two will identify thresholds of policy learning by examining how communities adjust and adapt to repetitive flooding. Both research phases will use multivariate analysis to measure the effects of wetland development on flooding and the effects of flooding on policy adjustment while controlling for socioeconomic, biophysical, and other contextual factors.
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Advancing the Resilience of Coastal Localities: Developing, Implementing and Sustaining the Use of Coastal Resilience Indicators
Duration: 2007 - 2010
Funding Agency: National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Coastal Services Center (CSC)
Funding Amount: $299,922
PI: Walter Peacock
CO-PI: Sam Brody, Bill Seitz, Bill Merrell, Bob Harris
Students Employed: Josh Gunn
Abstract
Texas A&M University (TAMU), Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG), and the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) are working together to develop a suite of Community Resilience Indicators (CRIs) (Activity 1) and a comprehensive strategy for not only gaining community support and input into their development and implementing but also undertake future training (Activity 2) in the use of CRIs to enhance coastal community resilience along the Gulf Coast. Our project will also be closely integrated with the University of New Orleans's project in Louisiana. Drawing on two projects whose strengths are complementary on indicator development and yet offer two unique approaches for gaining and sustaining community involvement will yield implementation strategies that include a collaboratively-developed plan to develop and implement CRIs in a range of community settings. The PIs will work closely with the Coastal Services Center (CSC) to develop strategies that fully address the available and future resource and services support of these communities.
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Developing a Living Laboratory for Examining Community Resiliency and Recovery After Disaster
Duration: 2009 - 2011
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Funding Amount: $374,036
PI: Shannon Van Zandt
CO-PI: Sam Brody, Wesley E. Highfield, Yu Xiao, Walter Peacock.
Abstract
The proposed research will build upon several existing research initiatives along the Texas coast to provide a “living laboratory” for examining community recovery after a disaster. Prior to Hurricane Ike, the Texas Coastal Communities Planning Atlas documented the physical, environmental, regulatory, and social development patterns present along the Texas Coast (see coastalatlas.tamug.edu). Data collection under NSF SGER # 0901605 built on this background information to provide immediate data on impact, dislocation, and early repair and rebuilding decisions associated with Hurricane Ike. These data provide the baseline measures for our proposed research measure community recovery at multiple scales over a three-year period. Using the original sample analyzed from our quick response grant referenced above, we will establish a series of panel studies of households, housing units, business owners, businesses, and business structures to track recovery trajectories and adaptive learning. A geo-coded parcel-level dataset allows us to aggregate units to draw conclusions at multiple scales, including the household, neighborhood, and community.
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Natural and Human Hydrologic Interactions: Development of an Integrated Conceptual Model and Empirical Testing in the Greater Houston –Galveston Region.
Duration: 2009 - 2010
Funding Agency: Houston Advanced Research Center
Funding Amount: $40,000
PI: Sam Brody
CO-PI: Wesley E. Highfield
Abstract
The interactions of humans with hydrologic systems are comprised of a constant and dynamic set of complex relationships. In many cases these relationships are often quite overt, including activities such as harvesting and extraction of natural resources and damage and loss of life from meteorological events. Other relationships are more subtle, such as human released pollutants entering the system from non-point sources and the introduction of invasive species. Nonetheless, the human-natural relationships and interactions across the hydrologic system are critical to overall environmental health, human threats (to and from) hydrologic systems, and social-system support. Expanding our knowledge of these relationships is a vital first-step to better proactive planning and management of both human and hydrologic systems. The objectives of this proposal are twofold:
1) assemble researchers and experts to develop a broad conceptual model of water use, water quality, and water quantity issues in the Greater Houston-Galveston Region, and 2) begin to empirically test specific aspects of the overall conceptual model. The following describes the proposed study area, provides a general approach to the collaborative development of a conceptual model, and outlines broad ideas for empirical testing of specific research questions identified by the conceptual model.
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Galveston Futures: Developing a Disaster Resilient Community
Author: William Merrell
Co-Authors: Tanveerul Islam and William Seitz
Abstract
Galveston futures is a cooperative venture, involving residents, architectural experts, urban planners and elected leaders, that strives to envision a resilient, sustainable and unified community on Galveston Island by encouraging civic participation in municipal planning. For Galveston’s survival, it is essential to the livability and resilience, especially to coastal disasters, into the concept of sustainability.
Link: Galveston Futures(PDF File) This Paper describes different projects that have been taken to accomplish the mission of the Galveston Futures.
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The Ike Dike: A Coastal Barrier Protecting the Houston/Galveston Region from Hurricane Storm Surge
PI: William Merrell
Link: Ike Dike Homepage
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