“This opportunity helped me to better understand resiliency in Virginia and, more broadly, afforded me new connections and opportunities.” 

Summer Responsibilities: As a member of the Coastal Resilience Master Plan team, Homa compared the plan’s prioritization approach with the Community Flood Preparedness Fund grant manual. She analyzed the different ways projects are grouped and the factors used to screen and evaluate them. She also assessed the flood exposure of state-owned buildings.

Background: Homa’s dissertation analyzed the rainfall-runoff relationship and mitigating flooding in the coastal watershed area with numerous wetlands and ponds. During the academic year of 2019-2020, she was a research assistant working on a project providing resilience solutions for homeowners (e.g., sea-level rise, impact and adaptation, preparing the properties, and innovative development of ideas for building safely near water). She has three peer-reviewed published papers to date and others in progress.