Resilient Infrastructure & Disaster Response Center

RIDER promotes disaster resilience for our communities in Florida and across the American Southeast. Researchers probe the underlying causes of disaster vulnerability in communities while accounting for infrastructure characteristics and assessing their significance through various computational methods such as machine learning, causality and regression models. These goals are dependent on the available network, infrastructure, land use and other localized conditions.

Researchers at RIDER work on advancing the quality of life of our communities by identifying disaster vulnerability, improving infrastructure, investigating ways to minimize negative impacts of natural disasters and developing new methods for economic efficiency and environmental management.

Your generous support helps RIDER in key areas, including:

• Data Collection: Funding equipment and travel for storm-related data collection. For example, we need a storm-ready vehicle for faculty researchers to safely gather data during extreme weather events.
• Lab Maintenance: Keeping our research labs on par with the latest technology to stay competitive in the area of disaster resilience and management research.
• Community Awareness: Hosting workshops and other educational outreach events to share RIDER’s latest findings and involve residents in disaster preparedness and response planning.
• Student Scholarships: Supporting educational and research opportunities for our students.
• Faculty Development: Providing professional development workshops for our researchers.