Delaware County needs a disaster model of the damage flooding could cause before it can receive federal disaster relief funding, and Ball State University students are creating one.
The students will use a program by the U.S. Homeland Security Agency that models how much damage would be done to the campus if Muncie flooded.
Ball State students in the Business Fellows emergency management project will spend today and Friday learning the HAZUS-MH software to simulate flood damage and create virtual models of data collected by federal agencies, Fred Kitchens, an information systems professor in the Miller College of Business, said.
"Simulating floods and generating models takes a long time even for a small area," he said. "We are using resources in our Cluster Computing Research Lab and this software to hopefully speed up the process and model situations for Muncie and Delaware County. If the modeling process is faster, larger areas can be mapped and the more prepared a city can be."
HAZUS-MH is a potential risk software that analyzes potential damages from floods, hurricane winds and earthquakes.
Bill Gosnell, director of the Delaware County Emergency Management Agency 911, also will attend the training sessions and said working with the software will provide a detailed assessment of what flooding could do to the Muncie community.
"We will be able to determine the amount of money lost in the flood damage, the number of deaths and buildings destroyed," Gosnell said. "If we know what could happen we can better prepare."
Business Fellows gives Zac Adkins, a senior member on the project, the opportunity to work on an immersive learning project and get hands-on experience he said he would not have otherwise received until he entered the work force. Working with a government agency is a bonus, he said, and that was something that would be recognized when he went to look for employment.
"The programming experience that I will gain from this project will benefit me greatly in my job search," he said. "This program is a huge boost to the r+â-¬sum+â-¬ of anyone who would like to get involved."
Business Fellows is a five-year program funded by a $1.5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., that a faculty adviser and students work on to do problem-based projects.
Kitchens said he applied to work with Business Fellows with the Ball State Career Center in early March and then later that month went to Indianapolis where he was trained to use the software. After his training he asked Kevin Mickey, producer of all the HAZUS-MH training materials, if Mickey could train Ball State students on the program.
"Kevin is considered the foremost expert in the country on the program and because it's his job, he said he'd have to be paid to come to the university," Kitchens said. "We discussed options we could do and because Kevin has a relationship with the state, he called the Indiana Homeland Security Agency and told them it would be a great chance for others to get the training."
The Indiana Homeland Security Agency paid Mickey to come and conduct the training and were glad to teach the students because of the things they have done for the state and country, Kitchens said.
Adkins said to receive federal disaster relief funds, every Indiana county needs the disaster models that he and the other Business Fellows members were producing for Delaware County. He said it is good when Ball State students can get involved with the Muncie community.
An upside with working with the Delaware County Emergency Management Agency is that with the Business Fellows program, students and university are giving back to the community, Kitchens said. He said he hoped this program would give students a greater appreciation for the need of emergency management and the delicacy of society.
"Students should know that one national disaster can wipe out a great deal," he said. "Hopefully they will have an appreciation for the bigger issues in the world and that there's more at stake in the frailty of society than simple issues such as being late for a job."
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
