International and Academic Affairs Office

Latin America and the Caribbean is the world’s most urbanized region, where about 80 percent of the population lives in cities. By 2050, UN-Habitat predicts that the cities in the Americas will include 90 percent of the region’s population. As urbanization expands, cities are faced with a broad range of challenges that become more complex in the face of extreme events such as fires, droughts, hurricanes and floods. Strengthening the capacity of cities to respond to these threats can improve their ability to prepare for and anticipate hazards, adapt to changing conditions, withstand adverse phenomena and rapidly recover from disruptions. 

To learn more, please visit the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas.

"[Last] summer, I participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program at NIST. Upon being accepted, I was assigned to a project titled 'Additive Manufacturing of Cement.' I was intrigued by the title alone, as I had experience with 3-D printing—but I had not, however, worked with cement or concrete. I found this project to be a good opportunity for expanding my knowledge of materials and their applications in manufacturing. My advisor, Scott Jones, told me that he had not even studied cementitious materials until he started his Ph.D., which was reassuring to me."

Keep reading the blog post from SURF student Austin Thomas.