Disaster Reconnaissance
A Catalyst for Discovery, Collaboration, Commitment, and Impact, with Dr. Elaina Sutley

About the Webinar

There is nothing like the lessons learned from the field – standing with destruction all around you, talking to disaster victims about what comes next, and connecting these outcomes to the failures created by the status quo. This talk will share stories from the field providing examples on how those data and experiences have led to new partnerships and have been combined with computational modeling and experimental tests in state-of-the-art facilities to change building codes, standards, and federal disaster guidelines to improve community disaster resilience. The presentation will conclude by describing the partnerships and physical and cyber infrastructure critical for these research investigations and translations.

Presenter

Elaina Sutley | Director, Self Engineering Leadership Fellows Program; Associate Dean for Impact and Belonging; Thomas and Eileen Washburn Scholar and Associate Professor in Structural Engineering; University of Kansas

Dr. Elaina Sutley leads an interdisciplinary research program focused on enhancing the performance of built structures exposed to natural hazards, and developing socio-technical models for risk-informed decision-making. Dr. Sutley’s research integrates experimental, field-based, and computational methods to advance knowledge on community disaster resilience and long-term housing recovery. Sutley received early career awards in 2019 from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and from the National Science Foundation. KU recognized Sutley with the University Scholarly Achievement Award in 2025, and Sutley has been named a finalist for the Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists in the Physical Sciences and Engineering category. Sutley has served in various national leadership roles, including on the SEI Board of Governors, the Executive Committee of the Infrastructure Resilience Division of ASCE and on the Board of Directors of the Applied Technology Council. Sutley is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Kansas.