RISE 2019 Conference: Transforming University Engagement in Pre- and Post Disaster Environments: Lessons from Puerto Rico; Albany, New York; November 18-20, 2019

飓风玛丽亚袭击波多黎各，造成近3000人死亡，经济损失超过900亿美元，这是美国历史上最严重的灾难之一。作为回应，来自全国高等教育机构的教职员工前往波多黎各提供研究、服务学习、人道主义救援和学生交换。虽然这些努力是为了帮助有需要的社区，但玛丽亚后的经历展示了与灾前和灾后相关的大学-社区关系的几个方面，这些方面在灾害文献中很少分析，迫切需要研究。2018年6月，波多黎各大学的研究人员在波多黎各马亚圭斯召集了来自大陆大学和学院的代表，讨论高等教育机构和受极端天气影响或威胁的社区面临的挑战和关键问题。RISE 2019年全国会议题为“改变大学在灾前和灾后环境中的参与：来自波多黎各的经验教训”，是在首次会议的基础上召开的。在25所高等教育机构的带领下，纽约州立大学奥尔巴尼大学与波多黎各大学和国家科学与环境委员会（NCSE）合作，将于2019年11月18日至20日在奥尔巴尼大学举行为期3天的会议。会议将探讨大学和学院如何在弹性规划和灾难恢复中发挥更有影响力的作用，同时在一个综合框架下发挥高等教育的力量。RISE 2019将通过在学术界与社会众多部门之间建立相互联系，从而促进知识创造、知识交流和未来能力建设，从而促进科学进步。此外，会议将通过多种方式加强我们的国家安全，包括：1)增加未来跨领域、跨部门研究、培训和资源共享的机会，以应对气候变化和极端天气带来的日益严峻的挑战；B)建立一个由学术界、政府和产业界合作伙伴组成的全国性联盟，旨在通过大学创新中心（包括数字连接社区）转变高等教育，解决弹性问题；c)提高对弹性资源的认识，以帮助地方政府和政策制定者推进减轻极端天气和气候变化不利影响的战略。RISE 2019会议计划将包括3个圆桌会议、5个主题/扶手椅讨论、12个群组会议和28个小组讨论。每次会议都将探讨关键问题，讨论现有的和新颖的研究方法和科学方法，吸引全国的学者和实践者，同时绘制新的路径，通过RISE合作伙伴联盟可以领导会议后的努力，为高等教育开发一个国家电子学习框架。在此过程中，RISE 2019将通过极端事件研究（EER）网络、自然灾害工程研究基础设施（NHERI）等项目，以及NSF内外的其他外部支持研究项目，扩大对NSF支持的研究和奖学金的认识并为其提供信息。“CONVERGE”就是NSF支持的一个重要项目的一个例子，该项目用于协调灾害和灾害研究人员，并将他们与现有的NHERI科学计划、设施、网络基础设施和技术资源联系起来。通过RISE 2019会议的审议，以及此后的讨论，希望促进和支持由公共和私营部门合作伙伴组成的国家跨学科和大学间网络的发展，以应对备灾、响应、恢复、适应和整体社区复原力等多方面的挑战。为期三天的会议结构旨在促进知识和发现的传播和交流，以及建立新的科学合作和实践者伙伴关系。因此，RISE 2019将产生可操作的信息，这些信息将导致会后发展一个可持续的国家框架，使高等教育与政府、行业和非营利组织相互联系——一个融合最佳实践、案例研究、新知识、新研究、共享资源和协作机制的框架，在灾前和灾后环境中发挥更大的作用。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The devastation afflicted by Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths and over $90 billion of economic loss - one of the deadliest disasters on record in US history. In response, faculty and staff from institutions of higher education nationwide traveled to Puerto Rico to provide research, service-learning, humanitarian relief, and student exchange. While these efforts were well intended to help communities in need, the post-Maria experience demonstrated several aspects of the university-community relationship associated with pre- and post-disasters that are seldom analyzed in the disaster literature, and urgently in need of study. In June 2018, University of Puerto Rico researchers spearheaded a gathering of representatives from mainland universities and colleges in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico to discuss the challenges and critical issues facing institutions of higher learning and the communities affected or threatened by extreme weather. The RISE 2019 National Conference, entitled Transforming University Engagement in Pre- and Post-Disaster Environments: Lessons from Puerto Rico, builds upon that initial meeting. Led by 25 institutions of higher education, the University at Albany, State University of New York, in collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico and the National Council of Science and the Environment (NCSE), will hold a 3-day conference at the University at Albany on November 18-20, 2019. The conference will explore how universities and colleges can play a more impactful role in resilience planning and disaster recovery, while bringing to bear the power of higher education under an integrated framework. RISE 2019 will promote the progress of science by building interconnections between academia and numerous sectors of society resulting in knowledge creation, knowledge exchange and future capacity building. Moreover, the conference will fortify our national security in a variety of ways including through 1) enhancing opportunities for future cross-domain, cross-sectorial research, training, and resource sharing that address the growing challenges posed by climate variability and weather extremes; b) fostering a nationwide coalition of partners across academia, government, and industry aimed at transforming higher education in addressing resilience through university hubs of innovation, including digitally connected communities; and c) raising awareness of resiliency resources to help local governments and policy makers advance strategies to mitigate the adverse impacts of extreme weather and climate variability. The RISE 2019 Conference program will incorporate three roundtables, five keynote/armchair discussions, twelve cohort sessions, and twenty-eight panel discussions. Each session will be aimed at exploring key questions, discussing existing and novel research methodologies and scientific approaches, engaging scholars and practitioners nationwide, while charting new pathways through which the RISE consortium of partners can lead post conference efforts to develop a national e-learning framework for higher education. In so doing, RISE 2019 will serve to broaden awareness of and inform NSF supported research and scholarship through programs such as the Extreme Events Research (EER) Networks, the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI), among other extramurally supported research programs at NSF and beyond. "CONVERGE" is one such example of a significant NSF supported initiative, which serves to coordinate hazards and disaster researchers and link them to the existing NHERI scientific plan, facilities, cyberinfrastructure, and technological resources. Through RISE 2019 conference deliberations, and thereafter, hopes to promote and support the development of a national interdisciplinary and inter-university network of public and private sector partners to tackle the multi-faceted challenges of disaster preparedness, response, recovery, adaptation and overall community resilience. The three-day conference structure is designed to foster the dissemination and exchange of knowledge and discovery, as well as the forging of new scientific collaborations and practitioner partnerships. As a result, RISE 2019 will generate actionable information that will lead to the post conference development of a sustainable national framework for higher education interconnecting with government, industry and nonprofit organizations - one that incorporates best practices, case studies, new knowledge, novel research, shared resources and collaboration mechanisms to be more impactful in pre- and post-disaster environments.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.