Interested in the environmental, agricultural and economic impacts of natural disasters? Want to learn how new tools and technologies can help positively impact disaster preparedness and response?

Five new Bass Connections project teams starting this spring will tackle research to inform hurricane preparedness and resiliency efforts. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis through January 9. Follow the links below for more information on each project team and how to apply.

Developing Data Tools for Natural Disasters: Implementing Best Practices for Electricity-dependent Medicaid Enrollees
This project team will create real-time emergency preparedness tools to help first responders and local health departments prioritize storm recovery efforts for high-risk individuals with electricity-dependent medical equipment or important refrigeration-sensitive medications. (Spring 2019-Fall 2019, with additional summer opportunities)

Understanding Natural and Human Initiation and Transmission of Cascading Hazards (UNHITCH)
This project team will study the cascading disasters that occurred in North Carolina as a result of Hurricane Florence, with a focus on widespread power outages, coal ash spills and hog-waste lagoon overflows. (Spring 2019 only)

Ecological and Social Time Scales in Hurricane Response and Recovery
This project seeks to address the chemical, biological, economic, infrastructure and human impacts of Hurricane Florence as well as the post-hurricane recovery process. (Spring 2019-Fall 2019, with additional summer opportunities)

Developing Implementation Strategies that Maximize Carbon and Resiliency Benefits of Hurricane Recovery Efforts*
This project will help North Carolina land managers, advocates and public officials to prioritize practices that accomplish recovery while maximizing resiliency to severe weather events like Hurricane Florence through practices that also result in climate-oriented benefits. (Spring 2019 only)

Deep Learning and Remote Sensing for Coastal Resilience and Disaster Response
The project will use Hurricane Florence coastal impacts and recovery to develop a methodology for rapid and high-resolution monitoring of North Carolina’s coastline, leveraging convolution neural networks to automate change detection in satellite imagery. (Spring 2019-Fall 2019, with additional summer opportunities)

Wondering about Additional 2019-2020 Project Teams?

The information above relates to projects starting in Spring 2019.

New project teams that will begin in Summer or Fall 2019 will be posted on January 9. Applications will open on January 22 and will be due by February 15 at 5:00 p.m.

You can learn more about new project teams by talking to faculty team leaders at the Bass Connections Fair on January 22.

Learn More

• Check out how project teams work.
• Consult our FAQs.
• Learn about the project team experience through stories from students.

* Update: This project has been postponed.