Rice University and Lehigh University have announced the launch of the Consortium for Enhancing Resilience and Catastrophe Modeling (CERCat), a research initiative designed to advance catastrophe risk modeling and resilience assessment.
CERCat serves as a dynamic hub connecting leading university researchers, private industry experts and public sector innovators to tackle some of the most pressing challenges posed by natural and human-made hazards. The consortium will unite academic rigor with practical expertise, improving the field of catastrophe modeling and ultimately driving real-world solutions that improve disaster resilience.
“Catastrophe modeling is at the heart of ensuring safer, more resilient communities,” said Jamie Padgett, CERCat deputy director and professor and chair of civil and environmental engineering at Rice. “I’m excited about our consortium model. CERCat provides a much-needed bridge between academia and industry stakeholders in the broader risk, resilience and cat modeling space. By combining the intellectual capital of our universities with the expertise of industry and government, we can advance the field and deliver insights that directly benefit industry and society.”
CERCat officially launched in April and held its inaugural industry advisory board meeting in August with representatives from its member companies. The board, currently comprised of representatives from insurance and reinsurance companies, catastrophe modeling vendors and engineering and consulting firms, will play a critical role in shaping the consortium’s research agenda.
Some of the first projects prioritized by the board are focused on building tools that either don’t exist today or fall short of current needs. One effort is the development of multihazard fragility curves to predict how buildings perform when exposed to overlapping threats such as hail and wind. Unlike single-hazard models, these will capture compounding effects that better reflect real-world risks.
The consortium is also creating the wildfire fragility curves for residential buildings using past event data to fill a major gap in risk modeling. Similarly, a project to link climate variability to localized tropical cyclone hazards will provide community-level insights, moving beyond the broad, coarse models available today.
Another priority is using artificial intelligence and remote sensing for post disaster damage assessment, replacing slow, manual methods with faster, more accurate tools that can guide response and recovery. The researchers will also work to improve understanding of the joint probability of hazards that occur during hurricanes by moving away from outdated stationary assumptions and building models that account for a changing climate.
“This consortium is not just about advancing models — it’s about advancing their practical applications,” said Paolo Bocchini, CERCat director and professor of civil and environmental engineering at Lehigh. “Our work has the potential to improve everything from insurance frameworks to building codes to how communities plan for recovery. The insights we generate here will translate into better risk communication, safer infrastructure, more efficient disaster response and more resilient economies.”
CERCat brings together 18 interdisciplinary faculty experts from fields spanning civil engineering, statistics, Earth sciences, mathematics, computer science, social sciences and public policy. The consortium will also engage students and postdoctoral fellows, fostering the next generation of risk and resilience leaders.
Collaborating institutions include Columbia University, Florida Atlantic University, Missouri University of Science and Technology and Washington State University, expanding the reach and impact of the consortium’s work.
“CERCat is a game-changer,” Padgett said. “By working together across sectors, we’re creating tools and knowledge that can help to mitigate hazard risks and enable communities to recover faster.”