Last summer, when the City of Atlanta declared a state of emergency following multiple water main breaks that left parts of downtown without water, Iris Tien provided commentary to news outlets such as GPB. Tien, the Williams Family Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said the aging infrastructure is “something we see in Atlanta and other cities across the U.S. Most water systems are designed for 50 years.” Much of Atlanta is well past that mark.

Now in her 11th year at Georgia Tech, Tien considers Atlanta an ideal environment for her work. “Being in a large metropolitan area has been great for collaborating with municipalities and utility providers,” says Tien, who has worked with the Georgia Department of Transportation, the City of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management, and Atlanta’s Emergency Response Department.

Tien considers resilience — withstanding and recovering from adverse events affecting communities — a key part of sustainability. Her research focuses on how to design better systems to meet community needs, especially under increasingly hazardous conditions where there is more strain on infrastructure.

Tien serves as principal investigator for a Sustainability Next Seed Grant that is a collaborative effort between Georgia Tech and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to create a Climate Atlas for the southeastern U.S. The project integrates detailed climate data with critical infrastructure asset information, socioeconomic indicators, and stories of climate impacts on communities to support climate mitigation and adaptation. In addition, Tien has led projects to develop a framework to help communities identify the right kinds of flood-control infrastructure. Choosing the correct type of technology now is critical as sea levels and flood risk rise, especially in coastal areas.

Tien says new technologies are leading to a better understanding and design of infrastructure systems, but have also exposed new vulnerabilities. Increasingly, she and her colleagues are considering potential cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, which represent a growing threat that could affect both utility providers and the people who rely on these essential services.

“From a civil engineering standpoint, if you disrupt any one of these systems, it could have a very large impact,” says the Berkeley engineering graduate.

Tien’s expertise extends to Georgia’s coast, where she is part of a team that hopes to increase community resilience in relation to flooding. One project involves installing sea-level sensors throughout Chatham County, the easternmost county in Georgia. The sensors monitor water levels in real time. A Georgia Tech tool helps coastal areas find ideal spots for water-level sensors based on flood risk and population vulnerability.

“We’ve looked at green versus gray solutions,” Tien said, explaining that green solutions could be ponds or basins to slow down water flow during flood events, while gray solutions might include new stormwater pipe systems to quickly move the water away.

Being connected to BBISS through the Sustainability Next Seed Grant program has enhanced Tien’s ability to work cross-functionally. “I definitely collaborate with social scientists, especially on the human and community engagement side of my work,” she says.

A recent project involved developing a new flood-risk curriculum for middle school students in coastal communities. “The program helped build disaster resilience while empowering young people to be better advocates for their communities,” says Tien.

“There’s an opportunity to engage with youth early on and help them better understand their communities. Empowering them in this way means that they can serve as strong advocates for improving their communities into the future.”

In her free time, Tien likes spending time outdoors, hiking, and playing an occasional pickup basketball game. “Being in nature gives you time to think and refresh yourself,” she says.

-- written by Anne Wainscott-Sargent