Human-AI Teaming During an Ongoing Disaster

Human-AI Teaming During an Ongoing Disaster BY TARA TASUJI & KERI K. STEPHENS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN | JUL 22, 2023 Bringing research into the real world… of baseball In 2023, CBS Austin, Texas reported on a system being tested during the Round Rock...

Investigating Ways to Better Communicate Flood Risk

Summary There are very few current flood maps designed to actually help people understand their flood risk: they are designed as regulation and planning tools. In an effort to understand how flood maps can more accurately show and communicate the changing nature of...

How Residents in Texas Seek Flood Risk Information

Summary A recent study in Risk Analysis by researchers at the Technology and Information Policy Institute (TIPI) found that a shared sense of duty around seeking flood information — if your family or community thinks it’s important to do, so will you — is the most...
Bridging The Data Gaps For Rural Texas

Bridging The Data Gaps For Rural Texas

We don’t know what we don’t know. I’ve been reminded of this phrase so many times this summer while doing fieldwork for the Digital Risk Infrastructure Program (DRIP) for Underserved Rural Texas Counties. I still remember the first National Science Grant I applied...
Harvey Reminded Us of the Power of the Colorado River

Harvey Reminded Us of the Power of the Colorado River

Walking around La Grange, Texas and visiting communities in Fayette County, we were struck by the huge oak trees, including many of them in the middle of a paved road! Right on the edge of La Grange is the Colorado River, and that beautiful source of water is, in...
Small But Mighty

Small But Mighty

Leaders from the cities of Premont and Orange Grove committed  to addressing flooding issues who met with Sam and Keri.  Driving down Highway 281 about and hour west of Corpus Christi, Sam Brodyand I made a right hand turn onto Main Street in Premont Texas. The entire...

Mom and Pop Businesses: Reactive, but Resilient

By Andrea Martinez, Class of 2026 My community, Brownsville, Texas, is home to many small businesses and entrepreneurs. The local businesses in the community are frequently owned by Brownsville natives and are family operated. Brownsville, on the border of Mexico and...

Learning to Reframe Rejection in Community Interviews

By Daniel Guerra, Class of 2027 Although the send-off was the most difficult part of the process, I am now finding myself safely sailing and enjoying the view. In reality, nothing major changed from my previous approach at this interview process: I persistently...

South Texas’s Disaster Recovery

By José Manuel Vazquez, Class of 2026 Disasters strike in all parts of our Earth. On a smaller scale, my community has undergone a few natural disasters. Among the three biggest disasters, South Texas has endured a pandemic, a handful of flooding incidents, and a few...