Biology

Members of WKU’s CLIMBS project team are (top row, from left) Dr. Zac Suriano, Dr. David Oliver, Dr. Jerry Brotzge, Dr. Josh Durkee; (bottom row, from left) Dr. Xingang Fan, Dr. Greg Goodrich, Dr. Jason Polk, Dr. Cathleen Webb.

A five-year, $20 million National Science Foundation project -- Climate Resilience through Multidisciplinary Big Data Learning, Prediction & Building Response Systems (CLIMBS) -- will support research opportunities for Western Kentucky University faculty and students.

WKU is one of eight Kentucky institutions participating in the project designed to enhance Kentucky’s long-term growth trajectory as a national leader in climate resiliency and hazard management that will promote industry-university partnerships and attract future funding. CLIMBS is funded by the NSF’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR).

WKU will receive $2.1 million over the next five years to provide research opportunities for 30 undergraduate and 10 graduate students and to support the hiring of a new faculty member in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences.

“The CLIMBS project award has the potential to fundamentally change the trajectory of the WKU Department of Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences, the Ogden College of Science and Engineering and WKU collectively,” said Dr. Zac Suriano, Assistant Professor and Assistant Kentucky State Climatologist. “This substantial investment in our research, faculty and students will provide a strong foundation to support long-term growth and facilitate future efforts that can benefit Kentucky’s communities and industries.”

During the five-year project, WKU and the other institutions “will contribute to scientific research objectives and workforce development initiatives that will advance our understanding of climate science and natural disaster management aimed at yielding improved resiliency for communities across the Commonwealth,” Dr. Suriano said. “These themes are closely linked to Kentucky’s Vision 2030: Science and Technology Plan. The plan, and subsequently the project, were motivated by the recent severe weather and flooding events experienced in 2021 and 2022.”

Dr. Cathleen Webb, Associate Dean in WKU’s Ogden College of Science & Engineering, serves as executive chair of the Kentucky EPSCoR Committee. The new five-year Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII Track-1) award for the CLIMBS project will advance Kentucky’s climate resiliency using a collaborative, statewide approach and will strengthen sustainable research capabilities and competitiveness across the entire Commonwealth, she said.

“CLIMBS reflects an extensive two-year statewide collaborative effort involving eight institutions of higher education in Kentucky and over 50 faculty members,” Dr. Webb said. “KY EPSCoR has been a catalyst for stimulation of research capable of attracting lucrative federal grants and other support while raising Kentucky’s research infrastructure and competitiveness for over two decades leading science and technology efforts in Kentucky. The Kentucky EPSCoR Jurisdictional Steering Committee, in partnership with the University of Kentucky and the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation, completed the most recent Kentucky Science and Technology Plan, Vision 2030. The Track-1 award aligns with key state research and economic development goals in Vision 2030.”

As the home of the Kentucky Climate Center, including the State Climate Office and Kentucky Mesonet, the Disaster Science Operations Center, and the largest and most successful Meteorology program within the Commonwealth, WKU is well positioned to take a leading role within key aspects of the project’s objectives, Dr. Suriano said. Both the Kentucky Climate Center and the Disaster Science Operations Center are part of the WKU Applied Research and Technology Program.

WKU researchers are leading two of the seven primary science objectives for the project, which are focused on (1) evaluating the variability, trends and forcing mechanisms of Kentucky’s hazardous weather conditions in the past, present and future, and (2) evaluating and improving weather-warning systems and risk assessment models used by Kentucky communities. 

WKU also is hosting one of the project’s Learning Hubs, which will develop pathways for Kentucky undergraduate and K-12 students in earth and atmospheric science and engineering to pursue advanced degrees. It further will provide technical training for students on a variety of geoscience-related subjects. These efforts in enhancing workforce development will play a critical role in sustaining the positive impacts to Kentucky communities beyond the five-year life of the project.

Six faculty members from WKU’s Department of Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences and one staff member from WKU Environmental Health and Safety are contributing to the research and workforce development efforts of the project.

• Dr. Suriano serves as the PI for WKU’s portion of the project and additionally is leading the research team efforts on the weather and climate variability, trends, and forcing mechanisms objectives.
• Dr. David Oliver, WKU Emergency Manager and Director of WKU Environmental Health and Safety, is leading the research efforts associated with advancing risk assessment tools within Kentucky’s communities.
• Dr. Jerry Brotzge, Professor, Kentucky State Climatologist and Director of the Kentucky Climate Center, will contribute to dimensions of both WKU research objectives, leading team efforts on the evaluation of weather warning systems.
• Dr. Josh Durkee, Professor, Director of the Disaster Science Operations Center and University Meteorologist, will contribute to dimensions of both WKU research objectives, leading team efforts on the assessment of weather and climate forecast products.
• Dr. Xingang Fan, Professor, will contribute to dimensions of both WKU research objectives, leading team efforts on modeling and downscaling simulations of Kentucky weather and climate.
• Dr. Greg Goodrich, Associate Professor and Meteorology Program Lead, will contribute to the weather and climate research objectives, including evaluation of the large-scale causes of high-impact weather.
• Dr. Jason Polk, Professor and Director of the Center for Human GeoEnvironmental Studies and HydroAnalytical Lab, will serve as the Learning Hub Collaborator at WKU, training and overseeing students in alignment with workforce development objectives.

In collaboration with CLIMBS, WKU will hire a new faculty member within the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences with experience in disaster science and emergency management who will be able to collaborate with the project team in evaluating socioeconomic and human impacts of natural disasters. CLIMBS will support the position with a highly competitive start-up package.

During the five-year project period, WKU undergraduate and graduate students will be directly involved with conducting cutting edge basic and applied science with WKU researchers across the spectrum of climate, weather, natural disaster and emergency management themes. They further will have opportunities to present their research results at state and national conferences and publish their findings within academic journals.

“Specifically through the Learning Hub dimensions of the project, Kentucky students, including those from inner-city, urban households and Appalachian rural households, will engage with faculty and graduate students through applied, hands-on training, with the goal of building technical skills and career preparation,” Dr. Suriano said.

The NSF EPSCoR Program is also supported and overseen by the Kentucky Statewide EPSCoR Committee, a federal-state partnership with five federal agencies having EPSCoR or EPSCoR-like (i.e. NIH IDeA Program) research stimulation programs.

Kentucky NSF EPSCoR is a statewide program to build research infrastructure and increase national competitiveness in obtaining research funding to tackle the Commonwealth’s most important issues. The University of Kentucky will lead an eight-institution collaboration including University of Louisville, Western Kentucky University, Northern Kentucky University, Morehead State University, Eastern Kentucky University, Murray State University and Thomas More University. (Read more about the grant award)

• Read more from NSF at https://new.nsf.gov/news/nsf-announces-new-epscor-track-1-award-combat

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Western Kentucky University prides itself on positioning its students, faculty and staff for long term success. As a student-centered, applied research university, WKU helps students expand on classroom learning by integrating education with real-world applications in the communities we serve. Our hilltop campus is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was recently named by Reader’s Digest as one of the nicest towns in America, just an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee.