Texas Tech Professor Receives NSF Grant For Hurricane Study

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - Texas Tech University professor Daan Liang has been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to study the economic resilience of communities after hurricanes.

According to a news release from Texas Tech University, Liang, assistant professor of construction engineering, received about $280,000. The award is effective September 1.

"In this research, we'll focus on investigating the long-term impact of hurricane damages on communities," Liang said. "Specifically, we'll examine key factors affecting the speed and magnitude of disaster recovery with respect to local economy and built environment. The result of this work could be used to facilitate policy changes for making coastal communities more resilient in facing future disasters."

The project is titled Development of a Quantitative Model for Measuring Regional Economic Resilience to Hurricanes. The co-principal investigators are Bradley Ewing, area coordinator for the Department of Information Systems & Quantitative Sciences in the Rawls College of Business and Kishor Mehta, Horn Professor of Civil Engineering.

Liang has studied probability models to determine how the construction of buildings affects their vulnerability against severe windstorms. Recently, his research has focused on the advancement of remote sensing technology in documenting and assessing wind damages to residential structures