Department of Civil Engineering
Bob Benmosche Endowed Professor at the Glenn Dept. of Civil Engineering within the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, Clemson University
Monday, December 1, 11 am to 12 pm, 305 Frey Hall
Communities worldwide are increasingly exposed to complex, multi-hazard risks that span social, natural, and engineered systems. This talk introduces a human-centered agent-based modeling (ABM) framework designed to evaluate and enhance resilience under compound hazards—including Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake–tsunami events, the 2018 Mati (Greece) and 2023 Maui wildfires, and other fast-evolving disasters. By integrating human decision-making, infrastructure functionality, and hazard dynamics, the framework examines (1) behavioral responses under deep uncertainty, (2) disruption-driven mobility challenges, and (3) the spread of warnings across interconnected communication channels. Collaborations with the Oregon Office of Emergency Management, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, and the Hatfield Marine Science Center have enabled model validation and the translation of findings into improved evacuation planning and hazard-mitigation strategies.
The talk reflects on three core methodological challenges: (i) achieving genuine integration across social, natural, and engineered domains, (ii) validating socio-technical ABMs with limited real-time behavioral and infrastructure data, and (iii) characterizing agent–agent, agent–hazard, and hazard–infrastructure interactions amid dynamic uncertainties. Approaches such as participatory surveys, historical disaster datasets, and structured uncertainty quantification will be discussed. Looking forward, rapidly growing data streams—from social media to remote sensing—combined with AI, machine learning, and large language models offer new pathways for enhancing ABM realism, parameterization, and explainability. These advances open opportunities for deeper interdisciplinary collaboration, more transparent decision-support tools, and scalable strategies for community resilience. By sharing lessons learned, methodological insights, and emerging research directions, this talk invites dialogue on how to build next-generation ABMs that support resilient, equitable, and adaptive communities facing a rapidly intensifying risk landscape.
Dr. Haizhong Wang is the Bob Benmosche Endowed Professor at the Glenn Dept. of Civil Engineering within the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering ant Earth Sciences at Clemson University. Dr. Wang received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from University of Massachusetts, Amherst in Applied Mathematics and Civil Engineering (Transportation), and B.S. and M.S. degrees from Hebei University of Technology and Beijing University of Technology, China. His current research interests include (1) Community and Infrastructure Resilience to Extreme Events: Computational interdisciplinary agent-based models (ABM) and simulation framework to assess social-technical system resilience; (2) Heterogeneous Decision-making under Deep Uncertainty: Integrative risk assessment analytics through an interdisciplinary ABM framework, risk mitigation and quantification at individual/household/agency’s decision-making under deep uncertainty; (3)