Jonathan Phillips, director of energy access at Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, shares a photo of his wife, Sanford adjunct instructor Jennifer Chow, surveying the new riverbed running through their yard in Bat Cave, N.C., after Hurricane Helene.
Families in Aceh, Indonesia, worked together after the 2004 tsunami to build a makeshift community. Photo courtesy of Brian McAdoo
One effort is a new master’s program that trains engineers to do the storytelling, speak in plain language — and think about the uncertainty that comes with natural disasters.