Heavy rainfall and other coastal events that lead to flooding of streets and neighborhoods are common in New Jersey, New York, and neighboring states due to their coastal geography and waterfront. This negatively affects the livelihoods of those who call these places home, as it damages homes, schools, parks, and sometimes entire communities. Recently, Stevens has acquired a grant to fund research meant to predict future floods and weather events and create innovations to mitigate their effects on Hoboken and neighboring cities in New Jersey. Information about this research is provided by Muhammad Hajj, the director of Stevens’s Davidson Lab, which leads environmental and naval research. He spoke to Stevens news writers about the funding and how the research being done will impact communities of New Jersey and states close by.
Stevens received $900,000 in government funding to address the constant flooding of Hoboken. As reported by Stevens News, the funding allocation is “part of the Fiscal Year 2024 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill signed into law by U.S. President Joe Biden earlier [last] month”. Those who were influential in this effort include “U.S. Congressman Robert Menendez (NJ-08) and Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ)”. These funds will go directly to Davidson Lab as they work to address the trends of flooding in the city and make the community safer.
Muhammad Hajj spoke to Stevens News about how his lab intended to use the funding and what specific components had emphasized the importance. As reported, he stated that “The funding will be used to acquire equipment and sensors that will collect data aimed at benefiting New Jersey communities […] by helping predict coastal storm impacts, validating the accuracy of models, assessing damage after storms and—importantly—developing best-practice mitigation strategies for future hazards to New Jersey’s coastal regions, including significant regional population centers such as Hoboken, Jersey City and Bayonne.” With this money, Hajj and his team hope to collaborate to produce a very unique and effective “‘multi-platform, rapidly deployable, coastal extreme event- observing system.’” They work to collect data before, during, and after extreme coastal events in order to improve the accuracy of their weather-tracking technologies and bring about new methods people can use to keep themselves and loved ones safe during these disasters.
This past month marks the second time Stevens has received a grant of this size for weather-based research. In 2023, President Biden and Congress provided a $960,000 grant to fund the enhancement of computing technologies to help with tracking and monitoring coastal events. As stated by Hajj, Stevens developed a four-day advanced flood prediction system that collaborates with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and government agencies in New York City. This tracking system monitors individual streets in order to best inform residents of impending danger and help them plan evasive measures if need be. Data collected by these tracking systems is also used by the U.S. Coast Guard, “aiding in hundreds of life-saving search-and-rescue missions each year,” as reported by Stevens News. The new grant will lead to the development of a new tracking system dubbed the Stevens Extreme Event Coastal Preparedness and Response System (SEECPRS). This system builds upon the preexisting sensing and predicting systems to give a more in-depth view of flooding and other coastal damage.
Stevens will soon acquire various drones equipped with advanced imaging cameras and LiDAR systems, ultrasonic sensors, vehicle-mounted LiDAR systems, and additional ultrasonic sensors and “cameras and data-streaming gateways for deployment in selected vulnerable coastal areas across New Jersey,” according to Stevens News. Hajj also stated that Stevens hopes to work with local communities to determine the best way to monitor weather and collect data. The research and all components of it will help keep communities safe and save lives. Hajj credits Jon Miller, Laura Kerr, Marouane Temimi, Philip Orton, Raju Datla, Mahmoud Ayyad, and David Runnels for their influence in the development of these plans and securing the grants mentioned, as reported by Stevens News.
