Katharine Mach
University of Miami, FL·Earth & Environmental Science
Floods cause billions of dollars in damage each year, and extreme weather is making them worse. Deciding where and how to improve levees, drainage and other infrastructure means comparing many possible options under many flood scenarios.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
Engineering
Social Science
- Topics
flood modeling
flood risk
fast flood simulation
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Identify flood simulation technologies that most speed up modeling of flood risk under multiple flood drivers and response options while keeping accuracy, and benchmark the maximum achievable speeds.
- Test whether much faster flood models make the design of flood infrastructure systems more efficient, lowering costs and improving performance in both extreme and normal conditions.
- Overcome technical barriers in flood risk simulation so impacts can be predicted at fine resolution across regional scales for a wide range of scenarios, supporting interactive community exploration.
- Measure whether linking a digital engagement platform to a fast flood simulation tool increases participation of marginalized populations, shortens planning timelines and distributes benefits more equitably.
More about the research
The computer simulations that predict flooding are too slow to make that comparison practical. Communities, especially overburdened ones, also have little chance to explore the options themselves. Across two projects, the lab combines civil engineering, adaptation science and planning. The aim is to make flood simulation fast enough to guide both engineering design and community decisions.
Why it matters
Faster flood models could let city, state and federal governments compare many infrastructure options quickly, which could lower costs and improve protection during both extreme and ordinary storms. Pairing those models with community engagement tools could help marginalized neighborhoods take part in adaptation planning and receive a fairer share of its benefits as climate change raises flood risk.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Avantika Gori
Rice University, TX·Engineering
Develop a flood-risk framework based on performance-based design, which judges solutions by how well they meet stated goals, and apply it in two rural Texas communities.
David Kaye
University of New Hampshire, NH·Social Science
Examine the shared water security and livelihood risks facing vulnerable communities in four watersheds in the United States, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom, where aging dams, reservoirs, canals and tidal protection are failing.
Hassan Davani
San Diego State University, CA·Engineering·Early-career
Determine how far sea-level rise-driven groundwater shoaling and more intense rainfall may increase groundwater flow into coastal combined and separate sewer systems along the U.S. West Coast.
The school
University of Miami: 30 labs on PI Pages, $559M a year on research, 297 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.