Digital Coast Fellowship

2018-2020 Project Summaries

Coastal States Organization: Alexis Cunningham, from the University of Delaware and nominated by Delaware Sea Grant, was matched with the Coastal States Organization to lead Coastal States Organization and Association of State Floodplain Managers’ efforts to promote and improve the Community Rating System (CRS) as a tool to achieve coastal flood resilience, including bridging the gap for communities that do not have sufficient capacity to join or advance in the CRS.

National Association of Counties: Shanna Williamson, from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and nominated by Virginia Sea Grant, was matched with the National Association of Counties in Washington, D.C. to conduct original research and outreach that will help coastal counties in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi increase their long-term resilience by assessing their mitigation plans, evaluating their disaster-related spending to determine their return on investment, and ensuring their use of cutting-edge Digital Coast tools.

National States Geographic Information Council: Richard Buzard, from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and nominated by Alaska Sea Grant, was matched with the National States Geographic Information Council to help rural Alaskan coastal communities understand flood impacts and respond to coastal storms, and develop flood impact guidance for coastal mapping on the last frontier, while working with the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and collaborating with local, regional, state, federal, and national stakeholders.