Nateghi, assistant professor of industrial engineering and environmental and ecological engineering, joined four other panelists discussing sustainable energy. Her research focuses on infrastructure resilience for disasters, and involves leveraging advanced analytics tools to address the sustainability and resiliency challenges of our aging infrastructure.

 

According to Nateghi, the number of billion-dollar disaster events in the U.S. is rapidly increasing, with the year 2017 witnessing 16 such events. "In fact, 2017 was the most costly U.S. disaster year on record," she stated. "Transitioning to sustainable energy resources and disruptive technologies that can harness the power of the ever more frequent climate extremes could help mitigate these rising disaster losses."

 

The panel was part of PPRI's "Contemporary Matters" lunch series, where five speakers from a variety of disciplines discuss an issue from their field's perspective, followed by a question-and-answer session. Afterward, PPRI produces a report highlighting what was discussed. 

 

Other panelists were Greg Ballard (former mayor of Indianapolis), and Purdue faculty members Leigh Raymond (professor of political science), Wally Tyner (professor of agricultural economics), and Maureen McCann (professor of biological sciences and director of the Discovery Park Energy Center).

 

The lunch discussion took place in the Purdue Memorial Union Anniversary Drawing Room on February 7.