FOCUS
Economically disadvantaged groups (which are disproportionately racial/ethnic minorities) are the most vulnerable to the financial, environmental, and health consequences of flooding. In addition, sea-level rise and recurrent severe storms have resulted in erratic and intensified flooding occurrences that U.S. water-mitigation infrastructure (e.g., dams, levees) cannot withstand long-term. Ciara’s research consists of using data science and geographical information systems (GIS) methodologies to measure how the presence of this infrastructure contributes to the flooding vulnerability of Black urban communities in the U.S. This research will be used to influence policy by providing evidence of the public health and environmental injustices that form from the relationship between the built environment and demographic disparities.
MORE ABOUT CIARA
Ciara’s passion for prioritizing social justice in her engineering research comes from her lived experiences as a Black woman in STEM and as a daughter of Black parents from Baltimore City, Maryland. She wants to utilize her engineering background and underrepresented perspective to influence policymakers to develop ethical, equitable, and culturally-competent policies that will assist historically marginalized groups.
DISSERTATION GRANT AWARDEE — SUMMER 2023
Methods for Quantifying Inequitable Social Impacts of Dam Failures on Marginalized Communities
As climate change exacerbates the rate of dam failures in the U.S., there needs to be preventive urgency in identifying methods that will regard race and class when quantifying diverse forms of social impact. This dissertation research consists of three studies where spatial analyses are implemented to quantify inequitable social impacts of life-threatening dam failures on racially and economically marginalized communities. Each study combines unique datasets from the hydrology, history, and public health fields that have yet to be used together to determine specific social impacts of dam failures.
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