Dr. Payman Dehghanian is the PI on a two-year National Science Foundation grant (in collaboration with the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) on "Foundations for Improving Resilience in the Energy Sector against Wildfires on Alaskan Lands (FIREWALL)". The total grant amount is $250k (GW portion is $125k). Dr. Dehghanian is the PI at GW working with 3 co-PIs at GW School of Law (Donna Attanasio), GW School of Business (Miguel Lejeune), and GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (Hana Akselrod).
This project enables creative brainstorming, builds synergistic models, and guides multidisciplinary discussions that will generate knowledge on better understanding, navigating, planning, and adapting to evolving Alaskan wildfire regimes. Through the lens of energy resilience, the project supports building stronger ties and facilitates a two-way dialogue among researchers, local communities, and stakeholders to provide solutions for emergency preparedness, operational endurance, and enhanced resilience to wildfires. A diverse team of advisory board members from Alaska Fire Science Consortium (AFSC), California Fire Science Consortium (CFSC), Alaska Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), Renewable Energy Alaska Project (REAP), GW School of Education and Human Development, iScience Interdisciplinary Press, GW Sustainability, and electric industry and academic institutes in wildfire-affected regions around the world (California, Brazil, and Australia), will frequently interact with the project team to disseminate the lessons learned and best practices in different parts of the world recently affected by wildfires.