Partners

Interdisciplinary Partnerships

Our researchers work across the university to ensure cross-disciplinary engagement on all the projects and research we tackle.

• School of Environment, Arts and Society

  The FIU School of Environment, Arts and Society is one of three interdisciplinary schools in the College of Arts, Sciences & Education, uniting faculty in the sciences, social sciences and humanities to conduct solutions-oriented research that addresses environmental and socioeconomic challenges, such as sea level rise.

• Geographic Information Systems Center

  In their efforts to facilitate teaching and research by the FIU community in the areas of geographic information systems, remote sensing, geospatial web visualization and geospatial data management, the FIU Geographic Information Systems Center will be able to provide the tools to visualize and understand the complexity of sea level rise impacts beyond just the obvious flood impacts. The GIS Center is the host for GIS courses in two state-of-the-art teaching laboratories. It is equipped with 25 high-end workstations and distance learning accessories, including camera, microphone, and Elluminate software to provide instruction, information, and recommendations related to GIS, remote sensing, and spatial and statistical analysis of sea level rise impacts.

• College of Business

  The FIU College of Business educates leaders and builders with an innovative mindset, not only in MDC and South Florida, but throughout the global community; it is driven to promote the study of entrepreneurial thought leadership, sustain and nurture emerging businesses, and foster entrepreneurial practice within all organizational settings. As MDC and South Florida faces the various impacts of climate change including impacts on real estate values, the College of Business will energize the business community through professional education, collaboration, and research to build a competitive advantage for Greater Miami industries and by providing qualified graduates for global, regional, and local corporations.

  Learn more information on College of Business' work on Land Erosion and Home Value.

  Sea Level Solutions Center and FIU Business School Publications

  Most recently, the Sea Level Solutions Center and the FIU School of Business have collaborated to publish a report that outlines the impacts and consequences of climate change and flooding on the South Floridian economy. The report looks at what it will take to become a "resilient economy."

• College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts

  The FIU College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts understands that true design innovation is inseparable from social engagement and thus inseparable from public service and community engagement. CARTA faculty and students bring academic research and applied urban design expertise to critical design, planning and investment decisions made by governments, neighborhoods, community development organizations, and design professionals in MDC and South Florida.

  CARTA is home to a nationally ranked, evidence-based design program in the School of Architecture and is driven by its engaged mission to use the power of architecture and the arts to create, innovate, and inspire solutions to social, health, economic, and environmental challenges. The Innovation for Sustainable Built Environments program will engage in a highly interdisciplinary research group assembled to tackle adaptation issues related to a rising sea level and other coastal impacts to the built environments.

  CARTA will be available to help to organize an international consortium of academic partners to analyze unique ways that people live in the tropics and subtropical communities and the urban design many issues that need to be addressed given climate change and impacts. CARTA faculty members have produced a remarkable exhibit that is now being shown at the Coral Gables Museum along with lectures and presentations about sea level rise and climate change. It is sponsored by the NFS and Cejas Foundation and is entitled: Miami 2100: Envisioning a Resilient Second Century.

  The college includes the School of Communication + Journalism, which includes the Department of Journalism + Media, where the Eyes On The Rise project lives. The Miami Beach Urban Studios is also involved in climate change projects. The climate change work of the all the schools and departments of the college are collected in the CARTA Climate Change Initiative website.

  You can read about their work on communicating sea level rise and resilient urbanism strategies: adaptation, mitigation and engagement.

• College of Engineering & Computing

  The FIU College of Engineering & Computing faculty has been engaged in research over a large number of engineering subjects related to sea level rise impacts. Specifically, hurricane wind damage, prevention strategies and improved building standards are addressed with the Wall of Wind facility. In addition, the CEC's Accelerated Bridge Construction Center is involved in promoting and expanding the use of accelerated bridge construction technologies and techniques. The ABC Center will be identifying needed research and resources and developing new technologies that will be one of those items in the sea level solution tool chest.

  Further, CEC's High Performance Database Research Center has been working on a TIGER Discretionary Grant entitled University City Prosperity Project (University City) with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Florida Department of Transportation, National Science Foundation's Industry-University Cooperative Research Center for Advanced Knowledge Enablement at FIU, CFO Ken Jessell and the FIU Office of Finance and Administration, FIU's Facilities Management, and the CEC Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. These $11.4 million in TIGER funds will help design, build and deploy the three University City components: an electronic wayfinding system referenced as the Informed Traveler Program and Applications; the pedestrian-oriented transit access infrastructure including a signature pedestrian oriented bridge and plazas; and smart community transit/parking systems.

  When these components are combined as an integrated whole, they establish a very smart advanced transit oriented development. Such efforts will help to reinvent multi-modal transportation as a highly innovative and adaptive solution that can improved transportation options and address rising sea levels in Florida or elsewhere. You can read about their work on Infrastructure System-of-Systems: A Holistic Approach for Infrastructure Resilience and Sea-Level Rise Adaptation.

• Extreme Events Institute

  The FIU Extreme Events Institute is engaged in multiple projects with the aim of improving resilience in the face of natural disasters.

• College of Law

  The Sea Level Solutions Center works with the FIU College of Law to ensure environmental equity when it comes to climate change and resiliency. 

• Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work

  The Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work supports the Sea Level Solutions Center when it comes to sea level or climate change-related projects that include an element of human behavior and psychology.

• Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management

  Many sea level and climate change-related threats include impacts on hospitalities business. The Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management works with the Sea Level Solutions Center on projects that address these threats.

• Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs

  The Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs works alongside the Sea Level Solutions Center to address the consequences of sea level and climate change at both a global and national governmental level.

• Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine

  The Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine supports the Sea Level Solutions Center on research about sea level rise and climate change in terms of how it related back to human health and wellness. 

Local & Regional Partnerships

The Institute is involved in several local and regional initiatives that include partners closer to home. Specifically, researchers in the Sea Level Solutions Center are invested in numerous research projects working on climate and sea level rise issues throughout the southeastern Florida area.

• Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

  Together with the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, we are engaging the Keys community to support a vibrant economy, educational opportunities and the environment. This partnership allows FKNMS to strengthen research and outreach programs.

• Rookery Bay Research Reserve

  Our collaboration enhances the environmental understanding necessary to manage Rookery Bay Research Reserve's 110,000 acres. We are improving our joint ability to provide field-based instruction in environmental studies to students while promoting shared use of facilities, vessels, vehicles and resources. Our partnership provides shared access to long-term water quality, fisheries and biological data for analysis and joint research.

• Resilient305 Collaborative

  The Resilient305 Collaborative is a joint academic-government research partnership among Florida International University (FIU), Miami-Dade College (MDC), University of Miami (UM), and government and non-government organization (NGO) leaders of Greater Miami & the Beaches. The Collaborative began in 2016 as an outcome of the MetroLab Network and was created to work together in support of comprehensive resilience research and learning. Within the universities, the team includes faculty across disciplines of physical, environmental, and social sciences, including public and mental health, information technology, communications, disaster risk management, engineering, architecture, planning, and education.   Find out more about the research we are doing with the Resilient305 Collaborative.

• SE Florida Regional Climate Change Compact

  The Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact unites counties in Southeast Florida to articulate a proactive plan for increasing resilience to climate change. SLSC researchers are advisors to the Compact and work with counties to develop science-based plans around exposure data. At the city level, we work with experts from the City of Miami Beach to address sea level rise in the area. This project will inform and transform the city’s outlook for the future, serving as a model for building socio-ecologically resilient systems in vulnerable regions globally.

• Sea Level Rise Solutions Conference

  The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce presents the annual Sea Level Rise Solutions Conferences, which focus on building a business case for Sea Level Rise in South Florida and include constructive dialogue on ways to confront the important issue. The conferences focus on solutions, business opportunities and showcase examples of resiliency methods implemented in other geographic regions.

• Coral Gables Sea Level Rise Discussion Series

  This discussion series allows individuals to learn from experts about the potential impacts of sea level rise in the community, review potential adaptation and mitigation strategies and discuss public policy implications of sustainable development. Learn more about the discussion series

• Miami Beach Partnership

  In 2014, Florida International University and the City of Miami Beach forged a partnership leveraging unique assets within their organizations. The four anchors of this collaboration include Arts, Culture, and History; Florida Coastal Resilience and Adaptation; Youth and Education Development and Transportation. Since the beginning of this partnership many milestones were reached with regards to sea level rise and resiliency. Learn more about the Miami Beach partnership

State & National Partnerships

• Florida Climate Institute

  The Florida Climate Institute and FIU partnership allows for both organizations to work together to tackle regional climate challenges. 

  The Institute is a host member of the Florida Climate Institute, a multi-disciplinary network of national and international research and public organizations, scientists and individuals concerned with developing a better understanding of climate variability and change. Over 200 individual affiliates, including university researchers and representatives from government and industry, have joined FCI. We also work closely with the Florida Consortium of Metropolitan Research Universities (USF, FSU and FIU) and the neighboring South Florida universities (e.g., UM, FAU and Nova Southeastern University) as the first-of-its-kind collaborative organized research unit.

  FCI fosters interdisciplinary research, education, and extension to:

  1. Improve our understanding and the impact of climate variability, climate change, and sea level rise on the economy, ecosystems, and human-built systems;
  2. Develop technologies and information for creating opportunities and policies that reduce economic and environmental risks; and
  3. Engage society in research, extension and education programs for enhancing adaptive capacity and responses to associated climatic risks.

  
  Documents

  • FCI and SE FL Regional Climate Compact Agreement
  • Miami Dade County SE FL Climate Change Compact Update
  • Broward County Commission - Adoption of FCI and SE FL Regional Climate Change Compact Partnership
  • Broward Resolution to Adopt Partnership - Exhibit 1
  • Palm Beach County, Board of County Commissioners Agenda - Adoption of FCI and SE FL Regional Climate Change Compact Partnership
• South Florida and Caribbean Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit

  The South Florida and Caribbean Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (SFC CESU) hosted by the Institute of Environment at Florida International University is one of the 17 CESUs created by the federal government under the leadership of the Department of the Interior to provide assistance to managers in federal land management, environmental and research agencies. The SFC CESU, formed in 2000, is a partnership between nine federal agencies and 21 academic institutions and NGOs. The ecosystems covered by the SFC CESU include the terrestrial and coastal ecosystems of South Florida (Everglades, Florida Bay, Ten Thousand Islands Area, Biscayne Bay), the marine resources including the Florida Keys from the Dry Tortugas to West Palm Beach, and the marine and terrestrial resources of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The members of the SFC CESU have an international reputation for excellence in the study of the marine environment. This includes the 9 federal partners as well as the 21 non-federal partners.

  FInd out more about the partnership and how you can get involved.

• Southeast Regional Acoustics Consortium

  The Southeast Regional Acoustics Consortium (SEAC) is a working group that brings together academic institutions, federal and regional fisheries and environmental management agencies, and private industry that conduct acoustics research in the coastal environments of the U.S. from North Carolina to Texas and the U.S. Caribbean.