News Articles

Housing expert discusses work in bayou
For Reinhard Goethert, principal research associate in architecture, heading to Louisiana after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck last summer seemed only natural given his extensive work on settlement housing around the world. As director of MIT's Special Interest Group in Urban Settlement (SIGUS), Goethert has been working on Lift House, a housing design and building initiative in Houma, La., where many homes were destroyed by the hurricanes and their aftermath.

New Orleans needs 'development bank' and jobs to fuel economy
MIT political economist Alice H. Amsden applies issues of development from a global perspective to the challenges facing the Gulf Coast states following Hurricane Katrina's devastation.

Inspired by 9/11, DUSP student aids New Orleans rebuilding
Inspired to help the disenfranchised since she was young, MIT graduate student Leigh Graham has been commuting between New Orleans and Boston since last September, working on a number of projects in the hurricane-ravaged city.

MIT joins New Orleans recovery team
MIT is among a team of partners recently selected to help rebuild a portion of New Orleans' historic Treme/Lafitte neighborhood following the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina.

MIT assists $1.2 billion New Orleans project
The AFL-CIO has pledged $1 billion toward efforts to rebuild New Orleans, which will include implementing a housing plan developed by a team from MIT.

Engineering solutions in Louisiana: Students spend break studying lake sediment
Eight civil and environmental engineering undergraduates spent their spring break on Lake Pontchartrain in hurricane-ravaged Louisiana doing research that may eventually contribute to minimizing the health effects of Hurricane Katrina.

Housing designed with Louisiana in mind
An MIT expert in settlement housing is leading an effort to rebuild part of hurricane-ravaged Louisiana. Reinhard Goethert, principal research associate in architecture, is director of the Special Interest Group in Urban Settlement (SIGUS) in architecture and planning, a group working on a housing design and building initiative in the bayou region near Houma, southwest of New Orleans, where hurricane floods destroyed many homes last summer.

Grad students help with business of rebuilding Gulf Coast
Subhrangshu Datta watched in dismay as images from Hurricane Katrina unfolded on his TV screen last fall. He wanted to do more than just sign a relief check, so the MIT Sloan School of Management graduate student put his business skills to good use.

Museum Loan Network aids hurricane-affected institutions
An MIT-based organization is responding to the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by granting funds to affected institutions that have been often overlooked: museums.

Panel explores 'unnatural' Katrina disaster
Although Hurricane Katrina was a "natural" disaster, there are lessons to be learned from some of the highly unnatural disasters that followed in its wake, a panel of experts told a crowd gathered at MIT on Nov. 15.

Hurricane horror mostly bad luck -- for now
The high-impact hurricanes that have hit the United States over the past couple years are, at least for now, more a function of bad luck than of climate change, said MIT Professor Kerry Emanuel at a recent symposium.

MIT doctor gives comfort to hurricane victims
Dr. Barbara O'Pray of MIT Medical had wanted to work on the peacetime hospital ship the S.S. Hope ever since she was a little girl. That ship was retired in 1974, but when Hurricane Katrina struck, O'Pray got the chance to serve aboard the U.S.N.S. Comfort.

Professors weigh in on planning for new New Orleans
"The destruction of New Orleans was the tip of an iceberg," Professor Anne Whiston Spirn asserted at a symposium held Oct. 18. In many cities, Spirn has found through her research, the poorest residents live on buried floodplains, suffering the effects of mold, frequent floods, subsidence and cave-ins.

Speakers explore resilience of cities post-disaster
Throughout history, hundreds of cities have been permanently lost to natural disaster and war, but in the last 200 years, the trend has been to rebuild, said Professor Lawrence Vale, head of MIT's urban studies and planning department, at a talk in Kirsch Auditorium on Oct. 5.

Hurricane symposium zeroes in on response
The federal disaster response following Hurricane Katrina, heavily criticized in the media, was not all terrible, said Professor Kenneth Oye of political science and engineering systems at a panel discussion in Kirsch Auditorium on Sept. 30. "Federal response to Katrina varied markedly," said Oye, who focused first on the good work of both the Coast Guard and the National Weather Service.

Post-hurricanes, MIT gets to work
The students in the Experimental Study Group seminar New Orleans -- Sinking or Rising City? are hoping to learn just what it means to miss New Orleans.

Jobs are key to rebuilding, professor says
"It's all about jobs" must be the tireless mantra of efforts to rebuild the families, communities and economy of the region devastated by Hurricane Katrina, according to a professor in the Sloan School of Management.

New web site explores local hurricane risk
The early lessons of Katrina are that preparedness and education about hurricanes are invaluable defensive tools in fighting (or fleeing) natural disasters. MIT Sea Grant's newly launched hurricane web site provides information about planning and risk, as well as news about hurricane-related research being conducted by MIT experts such as Professor Kerry Emmanuel of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.

Blown here by Katrina, students start anew
MIT is hosting 10 undergraduates from areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, and has accepted 15 graduate students. Two of the undergraduates come from the University of New Orleans, one from Xavier University, one from Loyola and six are from Tulane.

Faculty pool ideas for Katrina assistance
The MIT faculty has responded to the crises left in Hurricane Katrina's terrible wake with many ideas for the immediate relief and long-term recovery of the Gulf Coast.

Professor offers lesson from storm response
Resilient corporations -- those that have survived and flourished despite disruption and disaster -- have much to teach government agencies about how to prepare for crises like Hurricane Katrina, according to Yossi Sheffi.

MIT Sloan alum takes charge of Gulf rescue operations
MIT Sloan alumnus Thad W. Allen, a 1989 MIT Sloan Fellow, is now managing search and rescue operations along the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Allen, U.S. Coast Guard vice admiral and Coast Guard chief of staff, was handpicked by Division of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to lead the federal recovery efforts.

Hurricanes in the Northeast: what to expect and how to prepare
MIT Sea Grant launches a new website promoting hurricane awareness in New England.

MIT meets hurricane crisis with care, can-do spirit
The MIT community reacted with generosity to the plight of those affected by Hurricane Katrina, offering help in the form of immediate relief--money, food and clothing--for those still directly affected, hospitality and support for displaced students, and long-range plans that might include sending MIT students to the Gulf Coast in 2006.

MIT professors quoted on Hurricane Katrina
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, news reporters consulted MIT experts about the science of hurricanes and the protection and rebuilding of cities.

For more MIT news, see the MIT News Office.