One of the NHERI NCO’s fundamental responsibilities is to oversee the development of a formal Science Plan. The NHERI Science Plan serves as a roadmap to guide future research and help ensure that researchers in related disciplines work together to achieve common research goals — all aimed at keeping the civil infrastructure, and its human inhabitants, safe.

The plan is designed to be read by all hazard community stakeholders and researchers — including faculty, staff, students, practitioners and policy-makers. Researchers preparing grant proposals to NSF are urged to consider tenets of the plan when developing their proposals.

The Science Plan describes Grand Challenges, Key Research Questions and examples of needed research. Appendices describe the NHERI experimental facilities and examples of research that can be conducted at each. The appendix incorporates descriptions of the CyberInfrastructure and SimCenter, as well.

The plan, now available on the DesignSafe website, was developed by members of the NHERI Science Plan Task Group. Input was provided by the community during a public comment period. A living document, the plan will be assessed and periodically updated.

Click here to view the NHERI Five-Year Science Plan