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Project Description:  Our interdisciplinary team analyzed how communication approaches from utilities and the communities happened when they were exposed to the Winter Storm 2021 events in Texas. Our results identified resilience gaps across different dimensions (economic, environmental, governance, infrastructure, social) in both water and power utilities, and critical vulnerabilities in the communication approaches within communities.

This project was funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant: RAPID: Implications of Utilities Preparedness and Communication Strategies in Urban Populations’ Response under Extreme Weather Events, Award #2129801, and a Japan Science & Technology (JST) Grant: Resilience-based governance framework and practical models to build back better even before: Systems approach with the focus on cascading disasters.

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Project Description:  Our interdisciplinary team is working on ways to help utilities communicate better with the public during disasters. When people lose access to water, it can be very dangerous, so it’s crucial for utilities and the community to work together to reduce this risk. Unfortunately, utilities often don’t have the resources or expertise to effectively communicate with the public.

With the rise of social media, text messaging, and wireless emergency alerts (WEAs), it’s more important than ever for utilities to reach people through various channels. Our project aims to improve America’s water infrastructure by focusing on cultural interventions for Spanish-speaking and older adult populations. We are designing and testing messages that can influence people’s behavior during emergencies.

This project was funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant: CALM Before the Storm: Culturally Appropriate Language and Messaging for Influencing End User Behavior During Impending Infrastructure Failures, Award #2228706.

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Project Description:  At the end of 2021, the United States passed the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act, allocating billions of dollars to rebuild America’s roads, bridges, and rails. This act aims to expand access to clean drinking water, ensure every American has high-speed internet, tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, and invest in communities that have often been left behind (Whitehouse, 2021).

To fully realize these goals, we must clearly explain them and involve a broad population in the implementation. Many vulnerabilities in our systems exist at the socio-technical interface, requiring cooperation and communication to rebuild and strengthen America’s infrastructure.

This handbook highlights communicative practices and sets the stage for interdisciplinary scholars to address two growing concerns in the U.S.: helping the public better understand and value infrastructure, and helping organizations communicate more effectively about infrastructure. We integrate physical/built environment, technical, digital, and social policy forms of infrastructure, showing how communication humanizes and connects them. We emphasize equitable practices, sustainability, innovation, and repair as essential to generating new scholarly knowledge while making a real difference in people’s lives.

With over 30 chapters from top interdisciplinary scholars and community-engaged leaders, this handbook is poised to set a new interdisciplinary research agenda. We anticipate this being published in early 2026, so stay tuned for more updates as the handbook is finalized.