Tak Igusa, a professor in the Whiting School of Engineering’s Department of Civil and Systems Engineering, is part of a team that has received a Johns Hopkins Nexus Convening Award. This award, from the $15 million Nexus Awards Program’s second round, funds research, teaching, and event programming at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, DC, supporting projects that address global challenges.
The project, “Humanitarian Frontiers: Bridging Climate, Conflict, and Displacement Analytics for Lifesaving Anticipatory Action,” aims to improve humanitarian responses by using data science to anticipate and adapt to crises stemming from climate, conflict, and displacement. The team also includes experts from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.
“While we cannot entirely prevent humanitarian crises, we can improve population resilience by limiting the harmful impacts,” said Igusa, an expert in systems engineering. “By anticipating future disasters, like conflict or long-term displacement, and developing informed strategies to provide humanitarian aid, we can stem some of the adverse consequences.”
Igusa will apply simulation models and develop AI algorithms to forecast the effects of climate change and conflicts on displacement and health outcomes. He will also lead modeling efforts to evaluate potential humanitarian health interventions that would improve health services and aid distribution.
“Ultimately, we want this work to provide policymakers and humanitarian practitioners with effective, data-driven strategies for humanitarian action,” Igusa said.
Collaborators include principal investigator, Paul Spiegel, and co-investigators Kathryn Falb; Ahmed Hassoon; Molly Lasater; and Samuel Myers—all of the Bloomberg School of Public Health; Youseph Yazdi of the School of Medicine; and Ben Zaitchik of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.