Rodrigo Costa

Assistant Professor, Systems Design Engineering, Faculty of Engineering

Rodrigo Costa is an assistant professor of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Costa received his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia. Prior to joining Waterloo, Dr. Costa was an adjunct lecturer at Stanford University. His research on societal and environmental systems examines how communities' physical, economic, and social systems interact to exacerbate disaster risk and further socioeconomic and racial inequalities. Rodrigo works at the interface between engineering and social sciences. Dr. Costa’s goal is to inform targeted interventions to reduce disaster impacts, accelerate recovery, and ensure that all of society participates in the benefits.  

Selected Publications:

• Costa, R., Haukaas, T., & Chang, S. (2020). Agent-based Model for Post-earthquake Housing Recovery. Earthquake Spectra, v. 37(1).  

• Alisjahbana, I., Moura-Cook, A., Costa, R., & Kiremidjian, A. S. (2022). An Agent-based Financing Model for Post-Earthquake Housing Recovery: Quantifying Inequitable Recovery Across Income Groups. Earthquake Spectra, 38(2):1254-1282. 

• Costa, R., Wang, C., & Baker, J. (2022). Integrating Place Attachment into Housing Recovery Simulations to Assess Population Loss. Natural Hazards Review, v. 23(4).