Engineering for Professionals Distinguished Speaker Series: Jennifer Helgeson

Description

Jennifer Helgeson, a research economist and the associate program manager for National Institute of Standards and Technology's Community Resilience Program, will give a talk titled "The Economics of Community Resilience Planning—Beyond Benefit-Cost Analysis" as part of the Engineering for Professionals Distinguished Speaker Series.

There are methods of evaluation that move beyond traditional benefit-cost valuation to address the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of resilience and sustainability planning, especially in the built environment. Yet, these tend to be aimed at expert users and do not provide comprehensive tools that are relevant or accessible to community-level practitioners. This presentation will review recent advancements in developmental and environmental economics, disaster risk management, social sciences, and sustainability science that address critical gaps. It will highlight a set of key issues and emerging methodological considerations for improving the socio-economic evaluation of interventions and investments that involve both resilient solutions and sustainable development as primary or secondary objectives.

In addition to her work at the NIST, Helgeson has appointments at University of Maryland and Virginia Tech. Her research interests include survey assessments and economic analyses that consider behavioral aspects and approaches to dealing with environmental issues, and her research focuses on resilience to hazards (shocks and stressors) in the built environment, with consideration for cost-effectiveness of community-scale mitigation and adaptation efforts. Helgeson is a member of the National Construction Safety Team Technical Investigation of Hurricane Maria and its impacts on Puerto Rico. As part of her business resilience research, she leads a primary data collection effort in partnership with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This study focuses on decision-making processes for small- and medium-sized businesses in response to complex event impacts from natural hazards and COVID-19 impacts.