Author: Sarah Bassil

Wanru Li, Mekuanent Muluneh Finsa, Kathryn Blackmond Laskey, Paul Houser, and Rupert Douglas-Bate

Predicting groundwater levels is challenging, especially in regions of water scarcity where data availability is often limited. However, these regions have substantial water needs and require cost-effective groundwater utilization strategies. This study uses artificial intelligence to predict groundwater levels to provide guidance for drilling shallow boreholes for subsistence irrigation. The Bilate watershed, located 80 km north of Arba Minch in southern Ethiopia and covering just over 5250 km², was selected as the study area. Bilate is typical of areas in Africa with high demand for water and limited availability of well data. Using a non-time series database of 75 boreholes, machine learning models, including multiple linear regression, multivariate adaptive regression splines, artificial neural networks, random forest regression, and gradient boosting regression (GBR), were constructed to predict the depth to the water table. The study considered 20 independent variables, including elevation, soil type, and seasonal data (spanning three seasons) for precipitation, specific humidity, wind speed, land surface temperature during day and night, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). GBR performed the best of the approaches, with an average 0.77 R-squared value and a 19 m median absolute error on testing data. Finally, a map of predicted water levels in the Bilate watershed was created based on the best model, with water levels ranging from 1.6 to 245.9 m. With the limited set of borehole data, the results show a clear signal that can provide guidance for borehole drilling decisions for sustainable irrigation with additional implications for drinking water.

Click here to read the full research article.

Karina V. Korostelina, Jocelyn Barrett

Native American reservations are faced with a growing need for High-speed Internet and broadband access but face a variety of barriers to broadband infrastructure deployment. This paper discusses the difficulties tribal nations have faced in developing their education, economy, and access to healthcare and public safety due to the roadblocks in building this infrastructure within their tribes. Using case studies and interviews from over 30 Native American tribes, we reveal the shift of responsibility from federal institutions to Native American communities, stressing a tendency to downplay structural factors of exclusion and inequality affecting tribes’ resilience practices. Our article advances the understanding of external and internal factors of roadblocks that Native American tribes have not yet been able to overcome, stemming from limitations of support by state and government institutions, limited capacities and knowledge among tribal members, and complex terrain that also has a sacred value to tribes. Results indicate that resilient communities can produce and sustain practices to overcome internal obstacles, during which resilience practices continue expanding the community’s capacity to develop its digital systems and leadership.

Click here to read the full research article.

The Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities (C-RASC) is excited to be collaborating with Sharing To Accelerate Research–TransformativeInnovation for Development and Emergency Support (STAR-TIDES) on its 16th Annual Tech Demo at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. The three-day conference is scheduled for April 17-19, 2023 and will feature a number of panels, speakers, and exhibits. The theme of this year’s program is Sustainable Resilience in the Face of Climate Change. Exhibits will include areas such as energy; housing & infrastructure, water, sanitation & hygiene; mobility & transportation; health care and public health. Additionally, companies and organizations that exhibit at George Mason University will be invited to participate in the TIDES follow-on event at the Pentagon Center Courtyard from April 20-21, 2023. For more information and registration for the free and public event, please click here.

C-RASC Member Dr. Karina V. Korostelina and C-RASC Graduate Research Fellow Jocelyn Barrett  have recently published their research article titled “Bridging the digital divide for Native American tribes: Roadblocks to broadband and community resilience.”

As the abstract notes, the paper “discusses the difficulties tribal nations have faced in developing their education, economy, and access to healthcare and public safety due to the roadblocks in building this infrastructure within their tribes.”

Click here to read their research.

Meet C-RASC’s graduate research fellows: Ms. Jocelyn Barrett and Mr. Babak Aslani. 

Jocelyn Barrett is a doctoral candidate at the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, where she focuses on Conflict Analysis and Genocide Prevention Studies. Since 2021, Ms. Barrett has served as a graduate research fellow at GMU’s Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities (C-RASC).

Working with Dr. Katherine Laskey and Dr. Karina Korostelina at C-RASC, Ms. Barrett’s research focuses on empowering Native American communities through access to broadband development. Her work is a result of the many roadblocks in broadband that these communities faced before and during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. For reference, the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates that in 2020, 18% of people living on tribal lands couldn’t access broadband service, compared to 4% of people in non-tribal areas. In the future, Ms. Barrett hopes to expand her research to include additional underserved communities on a global scale.

Outside of her research at C-RASC, Ms. Barrett is the Visiting Scholars Program Coordinator at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC and loves to travel.

Babak Aslani is a doctoral candidate at the College of Engineering and Computing at George Mason University, where he focuses on Systems Engineering and Operations Research. His research interests include optimization, evolutionary algorithms, machine learning, and multi-criteria decision-making. Since 2020, Mr. Aslani has served as a graduate research fellow at GMU’s Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities (C-RASC). 

Working with Dr. Shima Mohebbi at C-RASC, Mr. Aslani’s research is focused on protecting critical infrastructures, such as water and transportation, from natural disasters and cyber-attacks. In essence, his research helps infrastructure management restore the affected systems faster to standard service level. In addition, Mr. Aslani’s work aims to identify and empower vulnerable communities, which are severely impacted by disastrous situations, in efforts to prepare for future incidents.

Outside of his research, Mr. Aslani is a fan of soccer and movies. 

Dr. Lance Sherry is a Co-Director at the Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities and an Associate Professor in the Systems Engineering and Operations Research Department at the College of Engineering and Computing at George Mason University. 

Dr. Sherry brings over 30 years of experience in strategic planning, system engineering, project management, and product commercialization. In the aviation industry, Dr. Sherry held positions as flight-test engineer, flight control engineer, system engineer, lead system architect, program manager, strategic planning and business development. 

Dr., Sherry’s research focuses on climate-related financial risks, climate adaptation modeling, and cost/benefit analysis. Furthermore, Dr. Sherry’s team develops and applies agent-based models, big data analytics, and AI/ML to develop actionable plans and practical solutions. Topics include aircraft contrail mitigation, renewable energy, CO2 recovery, EV charging station planning, and city-wide digital-twins. 

Dr. Sherry has conducted award winning work, published over 100 papers and journal articles, and holds several patents. 

Dr. Celso Ferreira is a Co-Director of the Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities and an Associate Professor of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering at the Volgenau School of Engineering at George Mason University.

Having experienced extreme weather events in Brazil, his work in investigating and developing solutions for flood related natural hazards has focused largely on coastal communities.

Dr. Ferreira’s work is concentrated on flood hazards from coastal, riverine, and urban environments and includes real time flood forecasting, monitoring storm surges, and supporting incorporation of natural systems into coastal flood defenses.

After several years at Mason, he recently joined the leadership team of C-RASC in efforts to continue and advance much needed research in this transdisciplinary field. As the global community faces the ramifications of climate change, Dr. Ferreira’s contributions on empowering coastal communities elevates the integral mission of C-RASC.

“My work with C-RASC is an opportunity to work in a diverse, interdisciplinary research center focusing on helping the coastal communities most affected by flooding and other extreme weather,” said Dr. Ferreira.

Outside of his professional work, Dr. Ferreira is an avid surfer and enjoys spending time on the beautiful hiking trails of Northern Virginia with his two young children.