Cloud Hosting

An LSU civil and environmental engineering assistant professor is working with the U.S. Coast Guard to conduct hurricane reconnaissance in an effort to better prepare Louisiana for storms.

Over the past year, LSU assistant professor Navid Jafari has worked alongside the U.S. Coast Guard in New Orleans to leverage drones to facilitate its search and rescue operations immediately after a hurricane.

In early 2020, Jafari received a $180,000 National Science Foundation grant to work with researchers from both Texas A&M University and the LSU Department of Environmental Sciences to find a way to more quickly gather infrastructure data after a natural disaster strikes and help emergency operations centers make data-driven decisions to save lives.

Jafari has found that drones can help lead boat operators to specific locations for rescue, but further research is needed to make improvements such as making the small drones more visible to boat operators and ensuring communication isnt lost the further out the boat goes. Read more about Jafaris research here.

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LSU engineering professor works with Coast Guard on hurricane preparedness - Greater Baton Rouge Business Report