A team of researchers including Weihsueh Chiu, professor in the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences’ (CVMBS) Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences (VIBS), has been awarded a three-year Healthy Ecosystems grant by The Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to address the risk of flood-induced chemical spills at Gulf Coast facilities.
In a partnership between the CVMBS, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Galveston Bay Foundation, and Texas A&M’s College of Engineering, School of Public Health, and College of Architecture, researchers will conduct modeling and analysis to identify facilities that are the most at risk and the solutions, such as natural infrastructure, that might reduce those risks and lessen impacts to nearby communities and ecosystems. By mapping and modeling potential floods at-risk facilities, the team will support efforts to mitigate pollution through natural infrastructure.
This unique collaboration leverages expertise across multiple disciplines that will inform strategies for other vulnerable coastal areas with heavy industrial footprints, such as in neighboring Louisiana.
Continue reading at Texas A&M University
Image via Texas A&M University