A research team at Wayne State University recently received a four-year, $1.57 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for its project, "Water and Health Infrastructure Resilience and Learning."
The project — which includes examining drinking water and public health systems — will provide new insights as to how these systems interact, with a focus on crisis events.
The team will also explore how these systems learn about and adapt to changes and how the public engages with these systems.
Shawn McElmurry, Ph.D., associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering, and Matthew Seeger, Ph.D., professor of communications and dean of the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, will lead the multi-institutional team.
"This project builds on previous work conducted in Wayne County and Flint, Michigan," said Seeger.
This grant will allow us to extend that understanding."
The project also aims to understand how tightly coupled interdependent systems such as water and public health can help enhance resilience.
It will also include a national survey to understand how well water and public health infrastructures can adapt to future challenges.
"Our multidisciplinary team gives us the ability to study these systems from multiple perspectives," said McElmurry.
"We learned the value of this in Flint, where changes in water quality impacted more than just the water distribution system.