26 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN In May 2014, San Diego County was hit with unprecedented wildfires fueled by drought. relevant problems in the field. Some of these problems are related to the influence of climate change on catmodels, rapid response and recovery after disasters, as well as climate, environmental and social justice applied to disaster resilience. Resilience refers to a community’s ability to withstand and recover from a disaster. The role insurance companies play in resilience is critical, Bocchini said. “Insurance companies are really fueling the recovery effort,” he said. “Making sure that they are still in the black after these events, and they can provide resources, is important. In the past, we had examples where some insurance companies went bankrupt before catastrophe modeling became a science.” Center researchers have decided to continue their efforts from a public sector perspective, but also add new focus on the private sector, specifically the insurance industry, he said. Bocchini’s background is in probabilistic modeling applied to civil engineering. Since his early research years, Bocchini has applied probabilistic modeling to natural disasters. “I saw students get immediately excited when I pitched this type of application, because we are dealing with the biggest threats to our society,” Bocchini said. He and his colleagues realized such models could be applied to other events as well. They began trying to predict epidemics before the COVID pandemic hit. “These are measures of threats our society faces, and in some cases they are existential threats,” Bocchini said. “Trying to do something about it, for me as an engineer, is very fascinating. I’m not trying to cure diseases, but I think this is the best approximation of trying to help our society defend against its threats.” AN INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM The catastrophe modeling group at Lehigh has also catalyzed a broader catastrophe modeling coordination network, for which Lehigh’s University Research Center will serve as hub. It includes founding members from Rice University in Houston, Stanford University in Palo Alto and Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. There are additional members from Washington State, Missouri University of Science and Technology and Columbia University in New York. Lehigh currently has eight core faculty members involved in the center from across various disciplines, including engineering, mathematics, science and social sciences. Bocchini hopes to at least double the number of center-affiliated researchers in the next few years. The center is also in the process of hiring an industry liaison to work with those in the insurance sector. A master’s degree program in catastrophe modeling and resilience ADDITIONAL CORE FACULTY MEMBERS BRIAN DAVISON, professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering DANIEL CONUS, associate professor and associate chair of the Department of Mathematics MARYAM RAHNEMOONFAR, associate professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering BENJAMIN FELZER, associate professor of Earth and environmental sciences THOMAS MCANDREW, assistant professor, Department of Community and Population Health
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