Implementing the Risk Plan

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Risk Community of Practice

The purpose of the Risk Research and Applications Community of Practice is to convene like-minded scientists and staff from across USGS to discuss issues relevant to risk research and applications. Monthly virtual meetings include a mix of presentations, training, discussions, and announcements about relevant resources, events, and activities.

Risk Awards

Every year, the USGS issues a bureau-wide request for proposals to award seed funding to projects that focus on innovative risk research and applications. Project teams interact with the USGS Risk Community of Practice; foster cross-center, cross-mission area, and interdisciplinary research; strengthen user engagement; demonstrate lessons learned; and, identify new resources. Below is a list of awarded projects.

2022 Risk Research Projects and Lead Principal Investigators

• Mapping Semantic Networks in Risk Informed Decision-Making to Improve Integrated Science Communication
  
  Katharine Dahm, Rocky Mountain Region ​

• Stakeholder Engagement for Natural Hazards Investigations in the Caribbean (SENHIC) (Co-funded with USAID-BHA)
  
  Donya Frank-Gilchrist, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center ​

• Flood Risk and Reward: Quantifying differences in flood events under alternative management strategies in vulnerable communities of the Cape Fear River Basin, North Carolina
  
  Laura Gurley, South Atlantic Water Science Center ​

• Drought Vulnerability Assessment of Public Water Supplies in West Virginia
  
  Matthew Kearns, Virginia-West Virginia Water Science Center ​

• Historical Trends and Future Projections of Snow in Glacier National Park and Vicinity: Implications for avalanches, water resources, and habitat
  
  Erich Peitzsch, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center ​

• Co-production of satellite-derived vegetation health reports with Marshall Islands stakeholder communities (Co-funded with USAID-BHA)
  
  Gabriel Senay, Earth Resources and Observation Science Center ​

• When the earth sends you a trend request: Developing a social media listening platform to assist multi-hazard response and research
  
  Wendy Stovall, Volcano Science Center ​

2021 Risk Research Projects and Lead Principal Investigators 

• Co-production of lahar hazard products with Mount Shasta emergency managers and communities
  
  Jessica Ball, Volcano Science Center 

• User needs assessment of southern California emergency managers to improve post-fire debris flow inundation hazard products
  
  Katherine Barnhart, Geologic Hazards Science Center 

• Difficult disease decisions: how to reduce risk when dealing with multiple competing objectives and opposing risk tolerances
  
  Graziella DiRenzo, Massachusetts Cooperative Research Unit

• Wind erosion risk on Navajo Nation lands of the Colorado PlateauSeth Munson, Southwest Biological Science Center  

• Coastal Vulnerability Assessments in Puerto Rico: focused stakeholder engagement to foster equity and inclusion
  
  Legna Torres-Garcia, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center 

• Predicting risk of plant invasion following wildfires in the United StatesJanet Prevey, Fort Collins Science Center 

• Perceived and realized risks to vegetation communities on lands managed along the US-Mexico border: identifying restoration needs in human-altered drylands
  
  Daniel Winkler, Southwest Biological Science Center

2020 Risk Research Projects and Lead Principal Investigators 

• User perspectives on volcanic risk: Evaluating the effectiveness of co-produced risk communication products intended for public outreach
  
  Joseph Bard, Volcano Science Center
• Developing community-scale earthquake hazards and risk modeling in Westport, WA
  
  Alex Grant, Earthquake Science Center
• Science translation: Bridging user engagement with product communication and design
  
  Emily Himmelstoss, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
• Open innovation playbook for risk
  
  Sophia Liu, Science and Decisions Center
• Integrating decision analysis and risk analysis: Using utility theory to help DOI decision makers understand their context-specific risk tolerance
  
  Michael Runge, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
• Evaluation criteria to measure the impact of USGS real-time web applications for flood decision support and risk communication
  
  Sachin Shah, Texas Water Science Center
• Answering to stakeholders: Sensitivity of liquefaction hazard to groundwater change from sea-level rise
  
  Anne Wein, Western Geographic Science Center

2019 Risk Research Projects and Lead Principal Investigators

• Quantifying Rock Fall Hazard and Risk to Roadways in National Parks: Yosemite National Park Pilot Project 
  
  Brian Collins, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Menlo Park, CA
• The State of Our Coasts: Coastal Change Hazards Stakeholder Engagement & User Need Assessment 
  
  Juliette Finzi-Hart, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Manhattan Beach, CA
• Re-visiting Bsal risk: how 3 years of pathogen surveillance, research, and regulatory action change our understanding of invasion risk of the exotic amphibian pathogen Batrochochytrium salamandrivorans
  
  Dan Grear, National Wildlife Health Center, Madison, WI
• Assessing the Risk of Global Copper Supply Disruption from Earthquakes 
  
  Kishor Jaiswal, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Golden, CO
• Communications of risk - uranium in groundwater in northeastern Washington state 
  
  Sue Kahle, Washington Water Science Center, Tacoma, WA
• Cascading communication: exploring how scientific research affects policy and earthquake preparedness communication in areas of induced seismicity 
  
  Sara McBride, Earthquake Science Center, Menlo Park, CA
• Hazard Exposure Analyst Tool (HEAT) 
  
  Jason Sherba, Western Geographic Science Center, Menlo Park, CA
• Ecological Forecasts for Risk Management 
  
  Jake Weltzin, National Phenology Network, Fort Collins, CO