Extreme Weather Adaptation Lab - News

On February 24th Sawyer McCarley presented his research on The Viaduct Plan: A Social and Built Analysis of the Impacts and Preparation of Hurricane Helene for Design Intervention.

On March 10th Marc Coudert presented his insights as an expert and Climate Resiliency & Adaptation Manager with Austin Climate Action & Resilience.

On March 24th Dr. Eva Noyola, a Data Analyst for the Texas CPA, spoke on the Analysis of Public Datasets for Texas Environmental Programs.

On March 31st Trevor Brooks presented his work on Urban Heat Mitigation and Hotspot Identification. 

On April 7th Professor Dean Almy, who will be speaking on his work on Speculations on the Prairie Archipelago: A Projective Atlas. 

On April 14th Do Yun Lee presented her research on “Extreme Heat as Dynamic Impedance: Thermally Conditioned Pedestrian Access to Public Transit.”

On April 21st Professor Keri Stephens shared her latest research on Transforming Texas with Improved Flood Risk Communication.

On April 22nd students from the LBJ school and from the School of Architecture explored the latest extreme weather trends and the innovative strategies being developed across Texas to address them.

From May 5th to May 7th the Extreme Weather Adaptation Lab participated in the Govtech 4 Impact World Congress that brings together governments and academics seeking to reimagine public service delivery and pioneer new and sustainable governance models.

On February 17^th Professor Estrella Sanchez Corchero from University of the Basque Country visited the lab to talk about Ecocentric Environmental Planning for Weather Extremes and Integrating Ecological Economics, Biomimicry, and Rights of Nature into Urban Adaptation Policy.

On February 10^th Professor ChangHoon Hahn shared with the lab and PAL lunch participants his latest research on how AI driven causal inference tools can improve our understanding of flood mitigation effectiveness. 

On February 2nd, the Extreme Weather Adaptation Lab participated in a panel titled "Rebuilding Trust and Improving Communications for Future Resilience" at the Texas Flood Organizing Group and Flood Inundation Mapping Third Annual In-Person Workshop, sharing insights on communication strategies and community-focused flood planning.

On January 28th, the Extreme Weather Adaptation Lab participated in the second Transatlantic Forum for Nature and Environment workshop, focused on nature-based solutions for heat adaptation. The workshop brought together local and regional leaders from Germany and the United States to exchange lessons on how green and blue infrastructure can help communities respond to rising temperatures, heatwaves, and related public health and infrastructure challenges.

The Extreme Weather Adaptation Lab is kickstarting its Policy and Planning for Adaptation Lunches (PAL). These discussions bring together academics, planners, and policy makers across disciplines to devise, discuss, and advance research on extreme weather adaptation.

The Extreme Weather Adaptation Lab will participate at the Texas Flood Organizing Group Annual Workshop, The Flood Organizing Group (FLOG) was formed in July 2021 to facilitate coordination between state and federal agencies on flood activities in Texas. The goal of the FLOG is to share information about flood projects in Texas, collaborate and coordinate flood activities. See for more details https://texasfloodorganizationgroup2026.splashthat.com/

A project by Dr.Cano Pecharroman at the Extreme Weather Adaptation is amongst the six projects selected after a Good Systems call for proposals to select interdisciplinary teams for research projects that mobilize human-AI partnerships. The project will delve into the use of new AI architectures to center community values and needs when measuring the effectiveness of flood preparedness.

The Extreme Weather Adaptation Lab participated in an international seminar in Bilbao Spain titled Reimagining Urdaibai: A living lab for complex socioecological transitions.

The seminar sought to build collaboration between the academic and local stakeholders to enhance local understanding of the complex socioecological transitions that the region is experiencing, including communities’ resilience and preparedness. See more details at https://www.agirrecenter.eus/en/work/seminar-community-listening-at-the-service-of-socioecological-transition-processes.html

The lab released new research capitalizing on AI tools to better understand vulnerability to flooding, heat, and other extreme weather events in cities across the globe. The findings identified previously unknown factors that lead to exposure and shows that these factors can vary greatly across cities and hazards. See full article here https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/climate/articles/10.3389/fclim.2025.1521507/full