GOALI-Enhancing Critical Infrastructure Recovery Through Communication Network Visualization

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The critical infrastructure of the United States incorporates a wide array of systems and interconnected man-made and natural facilities and assets. The development of this infrastructure has occurred over the last century and represents various stages of technological advancement, environmental awareness, and of particular relevance to this research, resiliency. In terms of this last parameter, the resiliency of critical infrastructure is emerging as a primary concern and focus of Federal, state, and local jurisdictions as natural and man-made disasters begin to highlight the vulnerability of the infrastructure network. While planning for these disasters and their effects on critical infrastructure has received significant attention, enhancing the recovery time for these systems has received less attention. A critical aspect of this recovery process is the organization, management, and collaboration of the interdependent infrastructure experts within a recovery network. The proposed research effort emphasizes the use of Social Network Analysis (SNA) to visualize the relationships between high performance and under-performing recovery networks. Using the backdrop of mathematical graph theory, the network maps will visually identify the success factors that are statistically significant in influencing recovery team communications and performance. The research effort brings together University of Colorado (CU), Parsons Brinkerhoff (PB), and MWH International (MWH) investigators in a unique collaboration to study the use of these networks as a foundational element to enhance critical infrastructure recovery. Specifically, the research team will collaborate to focus on two interrelated research areas. First, the research will focus on understanding the communications that occur within interdependent infrastructure networks. Second, the research will focus on the translation of this understanding into the development of infrastructure recovery communication maps. In summary, the infrastructure recovery mapping and visualization effort will; 1) prove that network mapping and visualization can provide insights into the critical connections that are required on infrastructure recovery projects, and 2) establish an underlying communications and network-based theory on the relationship between project networks and enhanced infrastructure recovery outcomes.