Researchers at MIT Develop Tool for Analyzing Risks Related to Infrastructure

Researchers have developed a computer modeling tool, the Socio-Environmental Triage (MST) platform, that analyses current risks to water, infrastructure, and more to identify hot spots and it is now publicly available. The tool resulted from efforts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where researchers have been developing an emerging discipline and accompanying computer modeling programs for the purpose of making infrastructure more resilient against future extreme weather and other contingency impacts. The emerging discipline MIT researchers are practicing is known as multi-sector dynamics (MSD). “Multi-sector dynamics explores interactions and interdependencies among human and natural systems, and how these systems may adapt, interact, and co-evolve in response to short-term shocks and long-term influences and stresses,” according to C. Adam Schlosser, joint program deputy director at MIT. “These systems can experience cascading effects or failures after crossing tipping points. The real question is not just where these tipping points are in each system, but how they manifest and interact across all systems.”

At a webinar presentation last month, MSD researchers at MIT described their research. One researcher, Xiang Gao, project examined the dynamics between climate, agriculture, and socioeconomic systems and how they affect water-quality in freshwater sources throughout the U.S. In short, the emerging MSD discipline in conjunction with advanced computer modeling provide infrastructure operators with another tool for improving their organizations’ resiliency and mitigating future risk. Read the full story here.