{"id":144949,"date":"2025-03-06T17:00:42","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T22:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949//?p=144949"},"modified":"2025-06-18T10:11:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T14:11:08","slug":"ucf-researchers-city-of-orlando-unveil-inaugural-mobile-resilience-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949//ucf-researchers-city-of-orlando-unveil-inaugural-mobile-resilience-hub/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949//","title":{"rendered":"UCF Researchers, City of Orlando Unveil Inaugural Mobile Resilience Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

When disasters strike, restoring access to critical infrastructure is among the first orders of business for emergency operations personnel. However, access to support services and resources for recovery is often scarcer in communities in need, further exacerbating the impact felt by residents./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/n

Enter the Resilience, Education, and Advocacy Center for Hazard Preparedness (REACH) hub /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/u2014 the product of a partnership between researchers from UCF/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/u2019s College of Community Innovation and Education, College of Engineering and Computer Science, and the City of Orlando. Officially unveiled Jan. 28 at the Orlando Emergency Operations Center, the hub is a self-sustaining mobile unit designed to be deployed to neighborhoods in need of critical services following emergencies. These include air-conditioning, mobile charging stations, broadband internet connection, and an onboard refrigerator and freezer that can assist with food storage and distribution./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/u201cThe program is focused on community-centered projects in close partnership with civic agencies, which was perfect for this idea./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/u201d /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/u2014 Kelly Stevens, assistant professor/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/n

Kelly Stevens, principal investigator and assistant professor in the School of Public Administration, says the city approached the team with an idea for a mobile resilience hub over five years ago. She found the U.S. National Science Foundation/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/u2019s (NSF) Civic Innovation program shortly after./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/u201cThe program is focused on community-centered projects in close partnership with civic agencies, which was perfect for this idea,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/u201d Stevens says./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/n

Funded by a total of $1 million in grants from both the NSF and U.S. Department of Energy, the project kicked off in 2022 with a planning phase before receiving approval to begin the design and development phase in 2023. Stevens has led the REACH hub project alongside co-principal investigators Yue /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/u201cGurt/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/u201d Ge, public administration associate professor; L. Trenton S. Marsh, urban education assistant professor; Liqiang Wang, computer science professor; and Zhihua Qu, electrical and computer engineering professor. Other faculty on the project include Maritza Concha, nonprofit management lecturer; Christopher Emrich, emergency management professor; and Kristopher Davis, associate professor of materials science and engineering./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/n

The solar-powered REACH hub will be deployed to neighborhoods in need of critical services to improve disaster response and recovery efforts. Although designed primarily with /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/u201cgray skies/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/u201d or emergency situations in mind, the pilot hub will not go unused during /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/u201cblue skies/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/u201d conditions. The REACH team has taken a collaborative approach that engages community partners in helping drive not only the hub/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/u2019s design process but also ideas for its use outside of emergency deployment. That includes an educational component, which uses 360-degree video technology and virtual-reality headsets./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144949/n