Protecting Our Communities and the World

Transcript

Now let’s check out one of the coolest facilities at FIU, civil and environmental engineering PhD student, Kehinde is at FIU Wall of Wind, located at the engineering and computing center, the facility is part of the university’s extreme event institute. Research conducted there has helped inform building practices and codes throughout the region. Kehinde I can’t wait to hear about the work you and your fellow Panthers are doing there.

Thanks Alex, hi everyone, I’m a PhD student at the department of civil and environmental engineering here at FIU. I’m Nigerian, and moving to Miami to start my PhD was a big decision for me. This is because I’ve never been to the country and I’ve only had about the US from the news and interaction with some of my friends who study here. When I arrived on campus, I noticed the diversity in the student population and how nice the staff were in directing new students in the right direction. My doctoral research is in the area of structure wind engineering, and my research group sits within the International Hurricane Restart Center, which is a part of FIUs Extreme Events Institute. The Extreme Events Institute was launched in 2012, to use both a multi hazard and a transdisciplinary approach in understanding extreme environmental events like hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes. The goal of the center is to reduce the vulnerability of the community to hurricane events. The Wall of Wind is one of the research laboratories within the center. It is a recognized NSF experimental facility with a six fan open jet wind panel capable of producing category five hurricane wind speed. This unit facility has provided a test bed for both academic and industry researchers, to understand how hurricane winds affect buildings and other infrastructure. Some of the building code changes to the Miami-Dade and Florida building code are direct results of research carried out at our Wall of Wind by our amazing faculty, staff and students. The center also organizes STEM events for kids, including the annual Wall of Wind challenge and other outreaches to inform community members on homes best to protect their homes during hurricanes. Aside from research, I’ve improved on my leadership skills by participating in the Inaugural Academy of Leaders Training. This gave me the opportunity to meet other students with similar interests. I have also been able to connect with many other Nigerian students at FIU. For achieving PhD here at FIU was a great decision, and I’m grateful for the wonderful environment that the university provide and the opportunity to contribute to the work of protecting our community. As you can see, we’re about to fire up the Wall of Wind now. Back to you, Alex.

Wow that blows me away we’re in good hands when it comes to environmental resilience. Thank you for sharing your work with us and the next generations, cheers Kehinde.