The many things that engineers design and build can have valuable uses for communities in need. A team of civil engineering faculty at the University of Utah put their engineering skills to work to create a disaster warning system for communities near flash flood areas. The team of faculty designed a warning system that signals the onset of localized flash floods or debris flow. They then worked with communities in two areas particularly susceptible to such disasters: in Utah, and halfway around the globe in Chile. The system provides a warning that affords neighborhood residents and maintenance workers between twelve seconds and twelve minutes to escape the hazardous zone.
From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy
Contact: Office of Outreach and Diversity
College of Engineering, University of Utah
1495 East 100 South, Room 109 KENNB
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E-Mail: outreach {at} coe.utah(.)edu
