Fact Sheet
NSF's Response to the Hurricanes

Hurricane Katrina approches landfall on Aug. 28, 2005. Credit and Larger Version

September 27, 2005

NSF Commitment to Researchers, Educators and Students Affected by the Recent Hurricanes

• After Katrina: A Message from the NSF Director:
  http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/issuances/in129.jsp

• Answers to Researchers' Frequently Asked Questions:
  http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=katrinafaq

• Supplemental Funding for Displaced Students
  Damage from Katrina has forced the temporary closure of three historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the New Orleans area: Xavier University of Louisiana, Dillard University, and Southern University of New Orleans. Supplemental awards made through NSF's HBCU Undergraduate Program are now supporting some 250 students displaced from those schools.

• EPSCoR Supplemental Funding
  Through its Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), NSF establishes partnerships with government, higher education and industry in jurisdictions that have historically received smaller amounts of funding from the foundation, and tries to make lasting improvements in the region's research infrastructure. In the aftermath of Katrina, NSF has awarded $200,000 apiece in supplemental funds for reconstruction in La., Miss., and Ala, the three EPSCoR states that were directly in the hurricane's path.

Disaster Research in the Field

• Rapid-Response Grants After Katrina
  http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2005/nsf05053/nsf05053.jsp
  Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) support small-scale, exploratory, high-risk research, including rapid-response teams that can investigate areas affected by disasters while evidence and memories are still fresh. In the case of Katrina, SGER recipients will explore topics that range from decision-making under crisis conditions to the storm's impact on the New Orleans levee system.
  • Katrina-related SGER grants to date.

• National Hazards Center
  http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/
  The center is funded in part by NSF and is headquartered at the University of Colorado, Boulder. It gives grants to teams of social and behavioral science researchers who stand ready to head into the field at a moment's notice whenever a disaster strikes.
  • Teams deployed in response to Hurricane Katrina:
            http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/qr/katrina.html

• The Earthquake Engineering Research Center at SUNY-Buffalo:
  http://mceer.buffalo.edu
  NSF has given the center supplemental funds to send reconnaissance teams to the Gulf Coast to study structural damage and societal response in the aftermath of Katrina.

News About Research Related to Hurricanes and Other Disasters

• "Gulf Warm-Water Eddies Intensify Hurricane Changes" : http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104483
• "Seeing Into the Eye of Hurricane Rita" : http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104468
• "Small, Unmanned Aircraft Search for Survivors in Katrina Wreckage" : http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104453
• "Hurricane Katrina: Scientists Fly Into Eye of the Storm" : http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104386
• "Rainbands Offer Better Forecasts of Hurricane Intensity" (The RAINEX Project):
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104329
• "Number of Category 4 and 5 Hurricanes Has Doubled Over the Past 35 Years" :
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104428
• "Hurricanes Growing More Fierce Over Past 30 Years" :
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104325 
• "Four-legged Family Members Must be Included in Emergency Plans" :  
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104330

Other Resources

• Understanding Disasters (NSF Special Report):
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/disasters/index.jsp
• After the Tsunami (NSF Special Report):
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/tsunami/index.jsp
• Human and Social Dynamics Priority Area:
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/priority_areas/humansocial/index.jsp
  http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=100685

-NSF-

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of $6.06 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to over 1,900 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 45,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

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