Davids Announces New Statewide Research Initiative on Disaster Relief Infrastructure

Today, Representative Sharice Davids announced the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded $20,000,000 to support a new, five-year statewide initiative ensuring Kansas' infrastructure is equipped to support all communities before and after a disaster. The project, called Adaptive and Resilient Infrastructures Driven by Social Equity (ARISE), is a collaboration between 17 universities and colleges in Kansas, as well as business leaders, emergency planners, health professionals, and community-based partners. It will also benefit from nearly $4,000,000 in funding from the state of Kansas.

"This award is monumental. It brings together researchers from 17 institutions across our state who will work together to create real change that we all will benefit from," said Davids. "I am proud to have helped bring this federal funding home to build on the strong tradition of research at our nationally-recognized colleges and universities and create safer, more resilient infrastructure for all Kansans."

"With this funding, Kansas' brightest minds will be able to conduct research on how our rural and urban communities can be better prepared for natural disasters," said Governor Laura Kelly. "I'm looking forward to learning from our state's universities and community colleges about how we can continue making smart investments in our infrastructure to make Kansas more resilient in the face of extreme weather."

"The ARISE project lays out a case for infrastructure and community resilience to be guided by principles of social equity and active collaboration between government, industry, not-for-profits and communities," said Belinda Sturm, professor at The University of Kansas and ARISE principal investigator. "The project not only builds academic research that converges computer science, engineering and social science, but the project will support community-engaged research across Kansas to create sustaining relationships between universities and communities."

Map including all 17 partner institutions participating in the ARISE project.

The research will mainly take place at three sites, including The University of Kansas, Kansas State University, and Wichita State University.

"Kansans are rightly proud of their ability to recover from natural disasters, but the state faces disasters of a kind and at a frequency we've not seen before," said Simon Atkinson, Vice Chancellor for Research at The University of Kansas. "The factors that determine resilience are complex and can only be tackled by working across traditional disciplines and leveraging the intellectual resources of all the state's research universities. That's why this award from NSF is so important."

"This multi-university, cross-discipline collaboration to address very real challenges for Kansas families demonstrates the innovation and commitment of our research institutions," said David Rosowsky, Vice President for Research at Kansas State University. "Advancing fundamental and theoretical research to practical application can have a very positive impact here in Kansas and beyond."

"As Kansas' only urban, public research university, Wichita State's partnership with ARISE is supported by the university's overall efforts to create a more equitable and prosperous Kansas," said Rick Muma, President of Wichita State University. "We are thrilled with the NSF's confidence in the interdisciplinary research and collaboration we'll be doing alongside ARISE to build stronger and more resilient communities in our state."

Researchers from three institutions in Kansas' Third District—Kansas City Kansas Community College, Johnson County Community College, and Donnelly College—will join the initiative.

"Kansas City Kansas Community College is proud to be a part of the ARISE project," said Dr. Mosier, President of Kansas City Kansas Community College. "Working with the National Science Foundation, and partnering with colleges and universities across the state, ARISE helps provide additional educational opportunities, in interdisciplinary data-science projects, for our summer Kids on Campus program that serves over 100 children from historically vulnerable and underrepresented communities."

"Donnelly College, the most diverse college in the Midwest, is committed to social equity," said Monsignor Swetland, President of Donnelly College. "We enthusiastically are partnering with NSF, KU, K-State, Wichita State, Baker University, and others to help address the inequities in our state's infrastructure. Such attention will allow our communities to access and integrate new technologies that will make our area less vulnerable and more resilient, especially when facing increasing weather extremes."

The NSF's Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), the parent-program to the ARISE project, supports competitive research and development in states that have historically received a smaller share of federal funding, including Kansas. Davids has long advocated for Kansas to receive these federal dollars, and recently joined a bipartisan group of colleagues to advocate for increased EPSCoR funding in the Senate-passed supply chain and manufacturing bill. After EPSCoR funding was threatened in the House version of the bill, she once again fought to bring this federal research funding home to Kansas.

Background

ARISE seeks to advance the resilience of infrastructures that all Kansans depend on—such as water, energy, and transportation systems—by creating tools that ensure support for our most vulnerable communities in both rural and urban areas. The project will also create a pipeline of community leaders and decision-makers who will transform how a community invests in and manages its human and physical infrastructure.

ARISE will consider hazard threats in urban and rural regions in Kansas to produce a one-of-a-kind decision-support tool that can enhance disaster resilience in Kansas and beyond. It will enable decisions to be made with measurable impacts on equity-driven resilience and provide the fundamental steppingstone for Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) institutions to seek additional federal research funding to transition Kansas to a Smart State as envisioned in the Kansas Science & Technology plan.

The project aligns with the Kansas Science & Technology Plan, which was developed in 2021 and endorsed by the Kansas Board of Regents, who provided matching funds for the NSF proposal.

Kansas NSF EPSCoR marks its 30th anniversary in 2022 with ARISE as its eighth Track-1 program. For every dollar NSF EPSCoR pumps into research, Kansas gets back more than double that in non-EPSCoR funding for research.