RAP opportunity at National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST
Community Resilience -- Systems modeling
Location
Engineering Laboratory, Materials and Structural Systems Division
| opportunity |
location |
|
| 50.73.11.C0687 |
Gaithersburg, MD |
NIST only participates in the February and August reviews.
Advisers
| name |
email |
phone |
|
| Kenneth Watson Harrison |
ken.harrison@nist.gov |
240.762.2584 |
Description
Computer-based tools, including the NIST Alternatives for Resilient Communities model, or NIST ARC, are being developed to support community resilience planning [1, 2, 4]. The goal of NIST ARC is to decrease a community’s burden in developing viable, sound alternatives for stakeholder consideration and to provide useful starting points for further, more detailed analysis.
Research areas include, but are not limited to: working with the modeling team, incorporate multidisciplinary resilience research (e.g., 3, 5) into extensions of the mathematical programming model underlying NIST ARC, a mixed integer linear programming model, so as to capture more systems and factors affecting resilience, and to incorporate other considerations such as uncertainty and economic valuation. Development of infrastructure system metrics to aid in the prioritization of investments. See https://www.nist.gov/services-resources/software/nist-arc-nist-alternatives-resilient-communities-tool.
1. Faiz, Tasnim Ibn, Kenneth W. Harrison, and Zeinab Farahmandfar. “Risk-Averse Community Resilience Planning Considering Retrofit and Insurance Incentives.” Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, February 8, 2026, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/15732479.2026.2626405.
2. Hughes, William, Tasnim Ibn Faiz, Marc Levitan, and Kenneth W. Harrison. “An Optimization Model to Inform Alternatives for Resilient Communities for Tornado Building Retrofits.” Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure, January 6, 2026, 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/23789689.2025.2597164.
3. Harrison, Kenneth. Accounting for the Slow Pace Buildings Are Brought up to Current Code in Benefit-Cost Studies. National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2026. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.RB.11.
4. Faiz, Tasnim Ibn, and Kenneth W. Harrison. “A Risk-Averse Stochastic Optimization Model for Community Resilience Planning.” Socio-Economic Planning Sciences 92 (April 2024): 101835. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seps.2024.101835.
5. Meyer, Michelle, Leonardo Duenas-Osorio, Maria Dillard, Elaina Sutley, and John van de Lindt. The Lumberton, North Carolina Flood of 2016, Wave 5: A Community Impact and Recovery-Focused Technical Investigation Following Successive Flood Events. Special Publication NIST SP-1230-5. 2024. https://www.nist.gov/publications/lumberton-north-carolina-flood-2016-wave-5-community-impact-and-recovery-focused.
key words
Buildings; Infrastructure systems; Social systems; Community resilience; Decision making; Systems modeling; Engineering; Operations research; mathematical programming; optimization; systems analysis; risk analysis; statistics; hazards and disaster research; Decision support
Eligibility
citizenship
Open to U.S. citizens
level
Open to Postdoctoral applicants
Stipend
| Base Stipend |
Travel Allotment |
Supplementation |
|
| $82,764.00 |
$3,000.00 |
|
|