North Carolina A&T State University is part of a major new research initiative from the National Science Foundation (NSF) aimed at improving scientists’ ability to predict potential consequences of climate change.
The work at N.C. A&T will focus on improving scientists’ ability to predict hurricanes and precipitation patterns. The university is one of five involved in the project.
The five-year, $10 million NSF Expeditions in Computing grant, “Understanding Climate Change: A Data-Driven Approach,” aims to advance climate science by taking advantage of the wealth of climate data collected by satellites, ground-based sensors and physics-based climate simulations.
The NSF grant includes $900,000 in funding for work to be performed at N.C. A&T by Dr. Abdollah Homaifar. Homaifar is the Duke Energy Eminent Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is a specialist in data mining, the process of analyzing extremely large databases to identify patterns and correlations.
“This effort will allow us to analyze climate variables together with geographical information about vulnerabilities and impacts,” Homaifar said. “This analysis can lead to an understanding of what we can do to protect communities at risk, key resources and critical infrastructure.
“The computational challenges comprise understanding the cascading relations of climate variables and geographical information (relationship mining), fusion of disparate data, as well as decision sciences for uncertainty quantification, risk assessment and allocation of resources based on cost-benefit tradeoffs.”
Homaifar’s goal is to develop new fusion and search algorithms to make allow scientists and public officials make better decisions and predictions of hurricane activity and other processes affected by climate change.
The project team is being led by Professor Vipin Kumar of the University of Minnesota. The other institutions involved are North Carolina State University, Northwestern University and a joint team from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
For more on research at North Carolina A&T, visit the Aggie Research blog, http://aggieresearch.wordpress.com/ or website, http://www.ncat.edu/~divofres/. Aggie Research also can be found on Twitter (@aggieresearch) and Facebook (Aggie Research).
North Carolina A&T is a public, high research activity, 1890 land-grant university committed to exemplary teaching and learning, scholarly and creative research, and effective engagement and public service. The University offers degrees at the baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral levels and has a commitment to excellence in a comprehensive range of academic disciplines. Our unique legacy and educational philosophy provide students with a broad range of experiences that foster transformation and leadership for a dynamic and global society.
The Division of Research and Economic Development (DORED) manages A&T’s $60 million-a-year research enterprise. DORED’s mission is to lead the university in:
Exploring possibilities by providing service to the campus and an enabling research environment that fosters creativity, collaboration and community;
Discovering the future by empowering faculty and students to achieve innovative solutions to the world’s most daunting challenges in energy, climate change, drug discovery, nanoengineering, and global health;
Becoming a brand name in research innovation leading to economic prosperity, and a place where scholars are globally engaged to seek solutions to local, national, and global social, health, and economic problems.
