Category: News Archive

Call for Applications: C-RASC Summer 2024 GRA Fellowship   

We are inviting applications for summer research assistance funding from Mason Master’s and doctoral students who do not already have Mason summer funding. If accepted, each awardee will receive a stipend of $6,500 (Master’s) or $8,500 (Doctor’s). Applying students should provide a short summary of what project they will be working on over the summer. Fellows must agree to a scope of research, schedule, and deliverable work products with C-RASC before the start of the summer term (Faculty Mentor will facilitate this process in Spring 2024). Fellows will have support for developing their research agenda in addition to the particular research goals that are co-identified with the partner organization.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:  

Applicants, please submit the following here by April 14th, 2024:

1. A project title and a 250-word proposal that describes your project; 
2. The student’s level of study (Master of doctoral), home department, and faculty mentor(s), one of whom must be a C-RASC core or affiliate faculty member; 
3. A CV. 

The application can be found here.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:  

–Applicants must be Mason students listed in university records as full-time during Spring 2024 and must plan to return as a graduate student in Fall 2024.  

–GPA 3.0 and good standing  

–Receive no other funding from Mason over the summer   

Mentors, please provide your quick endorsement here by April 14th, 2024. The endorsers must confirm that there are no alternative means of supporting the applicant over the summer.

FellowsRelease2024

The 17th Annual STAR-TIDES Capabilities Demonstration will take place on April 15th-16th, 2024 at George Mason University’s Mason Square campus located at 3351 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22201.

The Demo will showcase products and activities of the STAR-TIDES (Sharing To Accelerate Research – Transformative Innovation for Development and Emergency Support) global knowledge-sharing network.

The network includes thousands of members engaged in building sustainable resilience, promoting human security, and creating life-changing social and economic activities. STAR-TIDES is coordinated through GMU’s Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities (C-RASC).

This year’s theme is “Adapting to Climate Change,” emphasizing collaborative cross-sector approaches (such as energy + communications) to help communities adapt to the “new normal” of climate change in their region. As Thomas Friedman has pointed out, “it’s not the strongest, fastest, or smartest that survives, but rather the most adaptable.”

Click here to register.

STAR-TIDES 2024 Flyer

Linton Wells II
Kathryn Blackmond Laskey
Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities
George Mason University

Introduction
The purpose of this report is to provide recommendations, along with corresponding justifications, to policy and regulatory decision-makers and institutions for cross-sector regulatory standards to address and mitigate the risks of cascading infrastructure failures. A companion report [1] focuses on elements of five infrastructure sectors that are closely related to Department of Defense (DoD) planning and operations: energy, communications, transportation, information technology, and emergency services. That report reviews existing policy and regulatory standards for disaster response and resilience and then briefly describes the nature and importance of the cross-sector interactions in these areas and the components of resilience. It also examines available capabilities, and their limitations, for enabling coordinated, cross-sector planning and operation of critical cyber and physical infrastructures.

Recommendations Paper Final

Linton Wells II, Executive Advisory, Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities (C-RASC), George Mason University
Kathryn Blackmond Laskey, Director Emerita, Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities, George Mason University

Abstract
As climate change accelerates the frequency of disruptive events, and critical infrastructures become increasingly interdependent, there is a growing need to ensure the policies and standards for the nation’s critical infrastructure, including cyber-physical systems, are sufficiently robust and adaptable. This document focuses on elements of five infrastructure sectors that are closely related to DoD planning and operations: energy, communications, transportation, information technology, and emergency services. These have significant interdependencies and crosscutting cybersecurity vulnerabilities, which also are addressed in some detail. It reviews existing policy and regulatory standards for disaster response and resilience and then briefly describes the nature and importance of the cross-sector interactions in these areas and the components of resilience. It also examines capabilities that are available, and their limitations, for enabling coordinated, cross-sectoral planning and operation of critical cyber and physical infrastructures. A large amount of very good high-level guidance is available which emphasizes the need for cross-sector collaboration and the incorporation of cybersecurity. But turning these into effective plans and operations is hard. A regional area is used as a case study to illustrate the complex interactions that are needed to align public-private elements at the Federal, state, and local levels. The history and context of how existing policies were conceptualized, as well as their limitations are considered, along with emerging threats, including compound ones (cyberattacks in conjunction with man-made or natural disasters). Holes in capabilities and research topics are identified. A follow-on paper will provide recommendations with corresponding justifications to policy and regulatory decision-makers/institutions for cross-sectoral regulatory standards.

Cross Sector Infrastructure Policy Final

Recommendations with corresponding justifications to policy and regulatory decision-makers/institutions for cross-sector regulatory standards

Cross-Sector Infrastructure Policy

Abstract

As climate change accelerates the frequency of disruptive events, and critical infrastructures become increasingly interdependent, there is a growing need to ensure the policies and standards for the nation’s critical infrastructure, including cyber-physical systems, are sufficiently robust and adaptable. This document focuses on elements of five infrastructure sectors that are closely related to DoD planning and operations: energy, communications, transportation, information technology, and emergency services.  These have significant interdependencies and crosscutting cybersecurity vulnerabilities, which also are addressed in some detail. It reviews existing policy and regulatory standards for disaster response and resilience and then briefly describes the nature and importance of the cross-sector interactions in these areas and the components of resilience.  It also examines capabilities that are available, and their limitations, for enabling coordinated, cross-sectoral planning and operation of critical cyber and physical infrastructures. A large amount of very good high-level guidance is available which emphasizes the need for cross-sector collaboration and the incorporation of cybersecurity.  But turning these into effective plans and operations is hard. A regional area is used as a case study to illustrate the complex interactions that are needed to align public-private elements at the Federal, state, and local levels.  The history and context of how existing policies were conceptualized, as well as their limitations are considered, along with emerging threats, including compound ones (cyberattacks in conjunction with man-made or natural disasters).  Holes in capabilities and research topics are identified.  A follow-on paper will provide recommendations with corresponding justifications to policy and regulatory decision-makers/institutions for cross-sectoral regulatory standards.

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.