The US/New Zealand/Australia conference and workshop on the Future Security of Infrastructure is being held in Wellington, New Zealand on August 8-11, 2005. The main purpose of the conference is to provide an international expert forum to examine the linkages and failure implications between infrastructure vulnerability economic consequences and human social impacts. The identification and evaluation of cascading failure of infrastructure systems requires better understanding of the interactions and interdependencies within the physical infrastructure components and their relationships to the economic and social infrastructure of a region. The goals of the conference and workshop are to develop a set of recommendations for moving forward in this area, producing a significant publication on infrastructure, and beginning joint collaborations.
This award provides support for United States participation in this important meeting. The funds will support a team of ten leading researchers from the fields of civil engineering, economics, and policy science. The team of six men and four women are esteemed infrastructure researchers. The proposal has strong intellectual merit in that New Zealand is one of the few countries where researchers can currently access information and study the implications of cascading failures across different infrastructure systems. Therefore, US participants will be able to learn from the New Zealand researchers and develop collaborative projects. The outcomes of the conference and workshop have the potential to make a significant impact upon understanding infrastructure system cascading failures.
This award is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering.
