Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure: Network Coordination Office 2021-2025

The Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a distributed, multi-user national facility to provide the natural hazards engineering research community with access to research infrastructure that includes earthquake and wind engineering experimental facilities, cyberinfrastructure (CI), computational modeling and simulation tools, high-performance computing resources, and research data, as well as education and community outreach activities. Originally funded under program solicitations NSF 14-605 and NSF 15-598, NHERI has operated since 2015 through separate, but coordinated, five-year research infrastructure awards for a Network Coordination Office (NCO), CI, Computational Modeling and Simulation Center, and Experimental Facilities, including a natural hazard and post-disaster reconnaissance research facility.

Information about NHERI resources is available at the NHERI web portal (https://www.DesignSafe-ci.org). Awards made for NHERI contribute to NSF's role in the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) and the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP). This award will renew the NHERI NCO from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2025, at Purdue University, with its partner institutions (University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas Tech University, and University of Hawaii at Manoa).

The NCO will continue to serve as the leader and focal point for NHERI, building a global, multi-hazard, collaborative research community and research infrastructure focused on mitigating the impacts of earthquakes, windstorms, and the related hazards of tsunamis and storm surge on civil infrastructure and on cultivating the next generation of natural hazards researchers and educators.

The NCO will provide the following activities for NHERI: (1) convene and support NHERI governance for network leadership (Council, Network Independent Advisory Committee, and User Forum); (2) update the NHERI Science Plan; (3) deploy transparent procedures for users to access the NHERI experimental facilities and field resources through a centralized scheduling platform on the NHERI web portal; (4) conduct educational and outreach activities, including a Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, Summer Institute for early career researchers and practicing engineers, and monthly graduate student meetings; (5) disseminate knowledge and accelerate the transfer into practice of research conducted in earthquake, coastal, and wind engineering and social sciences conducted by NHERI users; (6) communicate information about NHERI resources, events, and research and education accomplishments to the natural hazards community; and (7) form national and international strategic partnerships that can leverage and broaden NHERI resources to achieve a global, multi-hazard community. Through the NCO's community coordination of NHERI's human, experimental, field, cyberinfrastructure, and computational modeling and simulation resources, researchers will be empowered to build new knowledge and innovation for national resilience and sustainability of civil infrastructure with fewer fatalities, less interruption to societal functions, and reduced economic loss.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.