Researchers across disciplines at Waterloo Engineering are using artificial intelligence (AI) to help prepare for and respond to natural disasters such as wildfires and floods.
Dr. Joshua Pulsipher, a professor of chemical engineering, is developing models that leverage AI and data to forecast and track fires with greater accuracy.
“Fires are very complicated, especially wildfires,” Pulsipher said. “Because fires change dynamically over time, we need to address these complexities with models that are able to accurately and reliably forecast what a fire will do.”
Dr. Robert Chlumsky, an alumnus with three engineering degrees from Waterloo, is president and co-founder of Heron Hydrologic Ltd., a startup that uses innovative floodplain mapping to assist communities with planning and flood response.
Chlumsky (BASc '15, environmental engineering; MASc '17 and PhD '25, civil engineering) worked with civil and environmental engineering professors Dr. James Craig and Dr. Bryan Tolson while completing his doctorate to develop software for land use planning and flood risk assessment.
“Flooding is a growing problem and that’s why it is imperative that we have the right tools to inform our risk around flooding and provide real-time decision support to ensure we protect people when the floods do come,” Chlumsky said.
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