3:00pm |
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Clifford W. Randall Distinguished Lecture
(Academic)
The climate is changing globally and across the U.S., with different types and extent of change in different regions. Observed changes include sustained
deviation from long-term trends in atmospheric temperatures, water temperatures, precipitation amounts, drought duration, storm frequency, wind velocities,
snow melt timing, flood frequency and characteristics, permafrost melting, and other phenomena. These changes are affecting civil and environmental
infrastructure and leading to demand for infrastructure modification. The capacity for existing infrastructure to accommodate expected climate change is not
well understood. Also not well understood are the types of alterations needed in current design guidelines and codes for new infrastructure to account for
climate change impacts. Climate change adaptation for infrastructure is critical for civil and environmental engineering, and for sustainable communities, in
the 21st Century. Climate change adaptation is an area of significant focus in the earth science and climate science academic communities. However, there
has been limited engagement by engineers in climate change adaptation, mostly in relation to coastal issues. Much more engagement and leadership of civil
and environmental engineers is needed across the broad spectrum of relevant infrastructure issues. Civil and environmental engineers need to be prepared
to lead in answering questions about risks of and sustainable responses to climate change.
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