The project will construct a new computer-based Resilient Infrastructure Simulation Environment (RISE) to allow individuals, groups (including students), and experts to test infrastructure network design configurations and crisis response approaches in three socio-technical infrastructure systems: electric power, water, and roadway networks. Researchers will link social and technical analysis with human subject research to discover the adaptive actions, ideas, and decisions that contribute to resilience. The project is comprised of two major parts. In Part I (Modeling), researchers will identify the structure, dynamics (functionalities), and vulnerabilities of the networks that make up water, roadway, and electric power systems in Phoenix, AZ and Indianapolis, IN. Researchers will analyze the resulting US-based network models in conjunction with those from international partners in Asia, Australia, and Europe to learn and adapt global resilience principles . The results will be combined with belief networks to develop realistic decision models for the RISE. In Part II (Simulation), researchers will construct the RISE to study how different experts, stakeholders, individuals, and groups act in simulated decision scenarios. Through observation, researchers will identify the problem-solving and response strategies that result in resilient action, and thus understandthe organizational and social processes of sensing, anticipating, adapting, and learning.

Taken together, this project will result in two principal research outcomes: 1) a measureable, testable description of resilience that fuses social, behavioral, and engineered elements for infrastructure system design, and 2) improved resilience among the students, managers, stakeholders and other participants participating in the study. The new knowledge will help policymakers design effective strategies to make America's water, power, and road networks more resilient.