Climate and Disaster Risk Boot Camp

Rodrigo Costa is an assistant professor at the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Rodrigo's research investigates how communities' physical, economic, and social systems interact to create disaster risk and exacerbate socioeconomic and racial inequalities. Beyond academic boundaries, he has collaborated with emergency managers, urban planners, resilience officers, and insurance companies to advance the state of knowledge in disaster risk and subsequently distill that knowledge down to decisions that foster urban resilience.
Rodrigo works in the interface between engineering, planning, and social sciences. His research focuses on developing high-fidelity, high-detail regional risk models to simulate the impact of disasters on urban communities. He is interested in object-oriented models, agent-based simulation, hazard and exposure modelling, machine learning, optimization, and multi-stakeholder decision-making to inform urban resilience planning. Rodrigo received the 2021 Best Graduate Paper Award from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute for his contributions to the holistic simulation of disaster impacts on communities.

Jose Di Bella is the manager of research and partnerships at the Waterloo Climate Institute. Jose works closely with the Institutes’ researchers, partners and collaborators to advance community engaged research. He also leads the Institute’s research development strategy and knowledge mobilization programs. Jose’s experience includes a significant international focus on the social and economic aspects of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, as well as the design and implementation of climate and sustainability strategies. Jose is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the department of Geography and Environmental Management.