Jul 8, 2015 -- Learn about a significant new effort by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), through its Community Resilience Program, to improve the resilience of communities to natural, technological and human-caused hazards. The National Institute of Building Sciences Multihazard Mitigation Council (MMC) will host a webinar, “NIST Resilience Initiatives,” on Wednesday, July 29, from 1:00 to 2:00 pm EDT, to provide a brief overview of the Community Resilience Program and its activities.

The NIST Community Resilience Program is working to convene a diverse body of stakeholders—a Disaster Resilience Standards Panel—to develop a community-centric Community Resilience Planning Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems and produce Community Resilience Implementation Guidelines to improve the way that communities prepare for, resist, respond to and recover from disruptive events such as natural hazards. The program will conduct research to develop tools to assess resilience at the community scale and to provide economics-based tools to assist communities in making decisions on alternatives to improve their resilience. A research component of the program aims to develop tools to assess resilience at the community scale, as well as support decision-making on alternatives to enhance resilience. In addition, a Center of Excellence, led by Colorado State University, is working with NIST to develop the science basis for measuring resilience. 

Stephen Cauffman, who manages the NIST Community Resilience Program, will present this one-hour MMC webinar as an open-forum discussion. Cauffman has served in a number of capacities during his career with NIST. He was the program manager for NIST’s World Trade Center Investigation; led NIST’s study of the performance of structures following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita; and was a member of the team that studied the collapse of the Dallas Cowboys Practice Facility. Cauffman also served as leader of the Structures Group, as well as Deputy Chief and Acting Chief of the Materials and Structural Systems Division of the Engineering Laboratory.

Sign up now to attend the free “NIST Resilience Initiatives” webinar on July 29. Space is limited. Only the first 125 participants will be admitted, so don’t wait. Register today!