Total of Funding Awarded $4M per year – Ten Selected Projects
The Social Science Program at the Weather Program Office (WPO) funds social, behavioral, and economic science research that advances science and stewardship to save lives, protect property, and enhance the national economy.
The program is delighted to share the ten social science projects selected for funding as part of its 2023 competition. The list represents a diverse range of research priorities developed in collaboration with the National Weather Service (NWS).
These projects aim to: develop and test methodologies to understand end users’ information ecosystems, understand how to personalize visual and verbal risk communication, and enhance emergency managers’ integration of climate scale considerations in short-term weather planning.
The award total* for the 10 selected projects is: $4 M in cooperative agreements. The two-year projects will begin August 2023.
*Award totals are distributed over the life of the projects and conditional on appropriations
Projects Selected
Project Title | PI’s /Co-PI’s | Project Description |
---|---|---|
Under-reached, under-informed: Improving information and early action for under-represented population in US disasters | Dr. Evan Easton-Calabria (Tufts College) PI Dr. Erin Coughlan de Perezr (Tufts College) Co-PI | Tufts University and the American Red Cross, with guidance from NOAA collaborators, will develop and publish a methodology for mapping information ecosystems in relation to weather hazards among migrant and refugee populations in the United States. The study’s results will inform and influence NOAA’s work, including the design of impact-based forecasts and warning products, choice of message and communication channels, and support for early action that would provide the greatest socioeconomic value to under-represented populations. |
While you were sleeping: Improving warning reception and response to nocturnal rapid-onset hazards in the Southeast *Supported collaboratively by both the WPO Social Science Program and the VORTEX-USA program. | Dr. Jennifer First (University of Tennessee) PI Dr. Kelsey Ellis (University of Tennessee) Co-PI Dr. J. Brian Houston (University of Missouri) Co-PI | The Southeast region experiences a high proportion of rapid-onset hazards (e.g., tornadoes, flash floods) that occur quickly with little warning. When rapid-onset hazards occur at night, they increase fatality odds as they are difficult to forecast and difficult for the public to respond to, as much of the population may be sleeping when they occur. This project seeks to provide much-needed research into nocturnal rapid-onset hazard (tornado and flash flood) risk and vulnerability factors in the Southeast, and develop multilingual visual and verbal risk communication products that can enhance nocturnal warning reception and decision-making among diverse populations. |
Hurricane Naming Conventions and Bilingual Audiences: Characterizing Spanish-Speaking Broadcast Meteorologists’ Challenges Communicating Multiple Hazards in Landfalling Tropical Cyclones | Dr. Jen Henderson (Texas Tech University) PI Dr. Rodolfo Hernandez (Texas Tech University) Co-PI Dr. Erik Nielsen (Texas A&M University) Co–PI | One significant challenge that has emerged in the last decade is the development of linguistically and culturally diverse risk information for various audiences, especially Spanish-speaking populations who may receive English-only messaging. This project will develop three interrelated knowledge outcomes: first, create new knowledge about how bilingual and Spanish-speaking broadcast meteorologists address challenges in communicating complex, multi-hazard information for their audiences; second, understand how the use of the Saffir Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale and naming conventions for landfalling tropical cyclones remnants are tailored to multi-language audiences; and third, develop strategies to identify new processes and prototypes of tested and validated Research to Operations for broadcast meteorologists. |
Making FIMs Work for Multiple Users: Understanding the Value and Function of Flood Inundation Mapping to Support Decision Support | Rachel Hogan Carr (Nurture Nature Center) PI Dr. Kathryn Semmens (Nurture Nature Center) Co-PI Keri Maxfield (Nurture Nature Center) Co-PI | The Nurture Nature Center proposes to conduct a social science research project about Flood Inundation Mapping (FIM) products available through the National Water Model, River Forecast Centers and Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service systems. The project will provide research-guided recommendations for product design and delivery and address questions related to barriers to use and understanding. |
Streamlining Development of the Brief Vulnerability Overview Tool (BVOT) and Assessing the BVOT’s Impact on Tailored Messagingys for Improved Monitoring of Weather and Climate Principal Investigator | Dr. Daphne LaDue (University of Oklahoma) PI Dr. Elizabeth Hurst (University of Oklahoma) Co-PI Dr. Michelle Saunders (Mississippi State University) Co-PI Alex Marmo (University of Oklahoma) Co-PI | This two-year project delves into the crucial roles that development, maintenance, and use of the Brief Vulnerability Overview Tool (BVOT) have on consistent personalization and localization of forecasters’ weather messaging to emergency managers. The BVOT is unique among decision tools because meteorologists and their core partners co-design and co-produce the set of particular discrete, spatially-specific, and—crucially—hazard-specific vulnerabilities. This project streamlines the process of creating a BVOT and improves the personalization and tailoring of messaging to emergency managers. |
Leveraging Efforts to Provide Localized Probabilistic and Timing Guidance for NWS Core Partners | Alex Marmo (University of Oklahoma) PI Dr. Daphne LaDue (University of Oklahoma) Co-PI | Emergency managers and National Weather Service (NWS) partners need localized guidance describing forecasted timing and location of potential severe weather to properly understand risk and optimize local decision-making. This project will gather information to assist SPC in creating a new proof-of-concept prototype for emergency managers, then test its features in Integrated Warning Team tabletop exercises. |
Quantifying the socio-economic benefits of augmented hurricane observations | Dr. Renato Molina (University of Miami) PI Dr. Ivan Rudik (Cornell University) Co-PI | This project seeks to estimate the socio-economic benefits generated by augmented aircraft hurricane observations. To achieve this objective, the project plans to evaluate how the type and frequency of aircraft hurricane observations, including tail doppler radar, stepped frequency microwave radiometer, Global Positioning System (GPS) dropsondes, and standard flight level observations, affect the overall precision and accuracy forecasts, as well as how these changes translate into direct benefits to society. |
Baseline Heat Knowledge: A National Survey | Dr. Michele Olson (University at Albany) PI Dr. Jeannette Sutton (University at Albany) Co-PI | The purpose of this study is to improve National Weather Service (NWS) heat communication by providing the NWS a baseline assessment of how their current heat information is accessed, and how the hazard, its impacts, and vulnerable populations are understood by public(s) in the continental United States (CONUS), including heat vulnerable populations. Determining the extent of public(s) knowledge and understanding about heat risk and vulnerabilities overall, as well as how they obtain that information, can help ensure heat information and products are disseminated effectively and communicated clearly. |
Improving Emergency Communications and Preparedness among the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community | Dr. Chongming Wang (Jacksonville State University) PI | People who are deaf and hard of hearing require specific adaptations for emergency communications to be effective, understandable, consumable, and actionable. This proposed project focuses on the deaf and hard of hearing populations and seeks to illuminate their communication needs and preferences to grow the understanding of how and why the current warning system framework has placed deaf and hard of hearing individuals at a particular disadvantage. |
Extreme Heat during Pregnancy: Identifying, Developing and Testing a Media Toolkit | Dr. Lisa Zottarelli (University of Tennessee Knoxville) PI Dr. Robyn Stassen (San Antonio College) Co-PI Dr. Shamshad Khan (University of Texas at San Antonio) Co-PI Dr. Andrea Shields (University of Connecticut School of Medicine) Co-PI Dr. Thankam Sunil (University of Tennessee Knoxville) Co-PI | Communicating extreme heat as a hazard is complicated, as risk factors are often based on individual characteristics such as age, medical condition, and access to air conditioning, rather than spatial demarcations where information can be messaged to the general population, such as avoiding locations prone to street flooding or seeking shelter due to a tornado. For some populations, extreme heat heightens risk for a limited time period in their lives. People who are pregnant are one such population. This project will support weather-aware decision making among pregnant people during extreme heat events by 1) generating new knowledge through the identification of the weather information ecosystem for English- and Spanish-speaking pregnant people in a major metropolitan area, and 2) using that knowledge to support the development and 3) testing of an Extreme Heat & Pregnancy media toolkit. |