Research Initiation Award: Development and Study of an Implicit Model for Rapid and Accurate Simulation of Hurricane Storm Surge

研究启动奖（RIAs）为传统黑人学院和大学（HBCUs）中开始建立研究项目的初级教师提供支持，也为需要重新定位和重建研究项目或需要建立研究项目的职业中期教师提供支持。期望该奖项有助于进一步提高教师的研究能力和效率，改善研究人员所在机构的研究和教学，并使本科生参与研究经验。田纳西州立大学（TSU）的项目是多学科结合工程和计算科学开发快速风暴潮模拟模型。该项目的目标是开发和研究一种能够快速准确模拟风暴潮的隐式风暴潮模型，方法是：(1)将主要研究者开发的隐式风暴潮模型并行化，(2)将模型的性能和精度与显式风暴潮模型进行比较。该项目的预期成果被描述为：(1)对风暴潮建模中隐式求解器的性能和准确性有了新的认识；(2)能够快速准确地模拟风暴潮的新型风暴潮模型。过去的飓风数据，包括卡特里娜飓风的数据，将被用作基准。建立一种有效的隐式风暴潮模型将对海岸工程界做出重要贡献。这项研究有望改变当前的风暴潮建模，并为多学科实践工程教育增加有价值的见解，具体如下：a)该研究将解决一个长期存在的工程问题——“风暴潮建模的隐式求解方法有多可行？”b)隐式求解技术将为类似问题（如洪水模型）建立计算基准。c)研究和教育计划将从代表性不足的社区培养一支独特的劳动力队伍，为多学科的全球挑战做好准备。d)教育方法和评估将是重要的，因为这项研究是基于一个真正的挑战。这种方法将有力地支持田纳西州立大学（TSU）的课程改革工作，并有望成为HBCU其他机构的典范。通过这个项目，在托国立建立了一个潜在的风暴潮研究社区和多学科、真实的教育生态系统。本项目为今后的研究奠定了基础知识。研究和教育计划是协同结合的。项目活动促进保留和吸引有能力的少数民族本科生，鼓励更高水平的学习。暑期活动旨在吸引有才华的高中生参加工程教育。教育目标是培养新一代全面发展的少数族裔工程师，以应对多学科的全球挑战。目标是通过在多学科教育生态系统中为学生提供边做边学的经验来实现，以应对真正的全球挑战-飓风风暴潮。学生将有机会参加以项目为基础的计算机课程。预期的结果是一种新的教育方法和新一代的全面发展的少数民族工程师的知识和认知技能，以承担多学科的全球挑战。将使用既定框架对教育计划进行评估。

Research Initiation Awards (RIAs) provide support for junior faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) who are starting to build a research program, as well as for mid-career faculty who need to redirect and rebuild a research program or need to build a research program. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, improves research and teaching at the researcher's home institution, and involves undergraduate students in research experiences. Tennessee State University(TSU)'s project is multidisciplinary combining engineering and computational sciences to develop rapid storm surge simulation models. The project's objectives are to develop and study an implicit storm surge model for rapid and accurate simulation by: (1) parallelizing the implicit storm surge model developed by the principal investigator, and (2) benchmrking the model performance and accuracy against that of explicit surge models. The expected outcomes of the project are described as (1) a new understanding of the performance and accuracy of the implicit solver in storm surge modeling and (2) a novel storm surge model capable of simulating surges rapidly and accurately. Past hurricane data, including data from Hurricane Katrina, will be used for benchmarking. An efficient implicit storm surge model will be a valuable contribution to the coastal engineering community. This investigation is expected to transform current storm surge modeling and add valuable insight into multidisciplinary hands-on engineering education as follows: a) The study will address a long-standing engineering question - 'how feasible are the implicit solvers for storm surge modeling?' b) An implicit solution technique will establish a computational benchmark for similar problems, such as flood models. c) The research and education plans will prepare a unique workforce from underrepresented communities ready for multidisciplinary global challenges. d) The educational approach and assessment will be significant since the study is based on a genuine challenge. The approach will strongly support the curriculum overhaul effort at Tennessee State University (TSU) and is expected to serve as a model for other HBCU institutes. Through this project the potential for a storm surge research community and multidisciplinary, authentic educational ecosystem is established at TSU. This project builds the foundational knowledge for future investigations. The research and education plans are synergistically integrated. The project activities promote retention and engage capable underrepresented minority undergraduate students, encouraging higher level study. Summer activities are designed to attract talented high school students to engineering education. The educational objective is to prepare a new generation of well-rounded minority engineers to take on multidisciplinary global challenges. The objective is achieved by providing a learn-by-doing experience to the students within an ecosystem of multidisciplinary education to address a real global challenge - hurricane storm surges. Students will have the opportunity to enroll in a project-based computer course. The expected outcomes are a novel educational approach and a new generation of well-rounded minority engineers with the knowledge and cognitive skills to undertake multidisciplinary global challenges. The education plan will be assessed using established frameworks.