Dear NHERI Community,

Our NHERI mission, to prepare and protect our communities from the damages caused by natural hazards, continues to rise in importance, and we are grateful for your dedication to this mission. We are entering the most active period of hurricane season, continuing to monitor seismic activity in the Pacific Northwest, and mourning the tragic losses from recent flooding and fires. Through the use of NHERI resources, the natural hazards community has advanced new knowledge and innovations to mitigate the harmful impacts of natural hazards. Collectively, we demonstrate our positive societal impact in research publications such as the NHERI 2016-2020 Ebook in Frontiers in Built Environment, the NHERI Impact 2020 book, the NHERI Technology Transfer special collection in Frontiers in Built Environment, and the NHERI Science Plan.

You may recall that on August 13th, 2024, NSF announced plans to support NHERI operations from FY 2026 to FY 2035, “providing the natural hazards engineering community access to research infrastructure, education and community outreach activities related to civil infrastructure.” Today, despite delays in NSF releasing the new NHERI solicitation, to our understanding, those plans remain unchanged.

The delays will create a gap in funding between existing NHERI awards and the next generation of awards. To help bridge that gap, the Network Coordination Office, SimCenter, DesignSafe, and the RAPID Facility have received one-year no-cost extensions and supplements to September 30, 2026, to continue to support users. Also, several NHERI experimental facilities have received no-cost extensions and supplements to September 30, 2026, to support previously scheduled user-testing during FY2026.

This communication is to update you on our outlook and to reassure you that NHERI support and resources remain available for your research needs during this transitional year. DesignSafe remains operational, with all data storage and data publication services accessible during the no-cost extension. SimCenter tools, CONVERGE training modules and other resources, and DesignSafe HPC resources remain available, as well. The NHERI RAPID will continue providing support for vital reconnaissance missions. And the NCO will continue to provide important network-wide communications, such as this one.

Please continue to submit proposals leveraging NHERI components, to include the DesignSafe Data Depot in your Data Management Plans, and to take advantage of the SimCenter tools and NHERI experimental facilities for your research. The transition period may affect user costs at some experimental facilities. Until the new NHERI awards are made, we recommend that you reach out to the NHERI experimental facilities included in your proposals to ensure that your budget and budget justifications are accurate.

Most importantly, please stay engaged with NHERI to be informed of the latest developments and to continue leveraging the investment of NSF in support of your efforts to reduce the impact of natural hazards on society.

Thank you for all that you do!

Members of the NHERI Council

Related Links

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NHERI 2016-2020 Ebook (Frontiers in Built Environment)

NHERI Impact 2020 book

NHERI Technology Transfer special collection (Frontiers in Built Environment)

NHERI Science Plan.