The role of structural engineers in the pursuit of community resilience in the face of multiple hazards

Jamie E. Padgett

Stanley C. Moore Professor and Department Chair

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Rice University

Friday, September 13, 2024 | 11:00 a.m. | 140 Ketter Hall

Reliable, effective functioning of structures and infrastructure systems during and following hazard events, like earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods, is essential to public safety, economic vitality, and quality of life. Risk-informed decisions that promote resilience (or the ability of infrastructure to withstand, adapt to, and recover from such stressors) require confident predictions of structure-to-system performance now and into the future. However, this future brings uncertainties regarding dynamic, evolving conditions; challenges with respect to a legacy of disparate impacts of natural hazards and infrastructure (under)investment; and opportunities related to smart systems and emerging data and algorithms. This lecture highlights the role of structural engineers in the pursuit of community resilience in the face of multiple hazards and the opportunity for a paradigm shift toward smart and equitable resilience modeling. We discuss the characteristics and dimensions of such a modeling framework intended to infuse intelligence and promote equity considerations in both algorithms and outcomes of infrastructure resilience pursuits. Case studies across hazards, systems, and scales are leveraged to highlight recent advances in risk and resilience modeling from the structure to community scale, such as hurricane risk assessment of coastal industrial structures and consequences in surrounding communities, or real-time risk assessment of transportation networks during flood events.

Jamie E. Padgett is the Stanley C. Moore Professor and Department Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University. Padgett is a structural engineer whose research is focused on multi-hazard risk and resilience modeling of structures and infrastructure systems, while understanding their impacts on communities. She has received such honors as the Duke Lifeline Earthquake Engineering Award (2024), TAMEST Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award (2023), and the Executive Leadership in Academic Technology, Engineering and Science (ELATES) Fellowship (2021-2022). Padgett serves in leadership roles within several large national research efforts, including the NIST-funded Center of Excellence for Risk-based Resilience Planning and the NHERI Cyberinfrastructure "DesignSafe."