Troy Butler Costal Hazards Research Awarded $375,400 by the NSF

Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Associate Professor Troy Butler was recently awarded $375,400 by the National Science Foundation for the project, "Advancing the Data-to-Distribution Pipeline for Scalable Data-Consistent Inversion to Quantify Uncertainties in Coastal Hazards” Coastal hazards are a persistent threat to citizenry, industry, and governments worldwide. Of particular concern to US interests are storm surge and flooding from hurricanes in communities stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the western North Atlantic, interactions between Arctic storms and evolving sea ice coverage impacting North American coastal communities, and oil spill spread from sources such as tankers and deep-water drilling rigs. The ability to quantify uncertainties in the modeling and simulation of these coastal hazards is therefore critical to making data-informed decisions about how to best prepare, mitigate, and respond to such hazards. The research team aims to advance state-of-the-art mathematical, statistical, and computational capabilities to address these applications of societal importance. The mathematical, statistical, and computational research will be broadly applicable to a wide range of applications of interest to both the scientific and engineering communities. This research is a collaboration with the University of Texas Austin’s Clint Dawson, Professor and Chairs of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics.