Spotlight: NIST Researcher Studies How Communities Can ‘Bounce Back’ After a Disaster

Meet Jennifer Helgeson, a research economist at NIST who studies community resilience. 

In a major disaster like a flood or an earthquake, it’s important not just to survive the storm, but to get things back to normal as quickly as possible. That’s called community resilience. “It's about bouncing back and moving forward,” says Jennifer. 

The ability to bounce back depends on many choices made by individuals, organizations and governments — sometimes many years before a disaster occurs. The options for disaster preparedness often have complicated trade-offs that make it hard to weigh the costs and benefits. For example, prohibiting people from building houses in a low-lying area could reduce the risk of flooding, but it might also make housing more expensive in the short term. As an economist, Jennifer finds ways to help communities understand the trade-offs and make informed decisions.  

Jennifer says one important factor that is easy to overlook is social values: “Not every community is the same; some communities might be much more risk averse or much more risk tolerant.” One of her research goals is to include social values in the decisions community leaders make by finding ways to measure and communicate those values. 

Jennifer is also helping communities plan for future climate-driven changes that might be slow-moving, like sea level rise, but equally devastating over time as more acute disaster events. Because as the climate changes, so will environmental hazards. 

Learn more at nist.gov/community-resilience.