URI engineer earns $204,000 grant

University of Rhode Island Professor Stephan Grilli has been awarded a $204,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to further his research and develop a computer model that will simulate the effects of underwater landslides. Grilli currently uses a 30-meter wave tank to simulate landslide caused by underwater earthquakes to better understand how tsunamis form and move across the oceans.



Commonly called tidal waves even though they have nothing to do with the tides, tsunamis are usually created by earthquakes that occur at the bottom of the ocean. The shifting ocean bottom causes the movement of seawater over large distances.



Grilli’s tsunami prediction model is designed model is designed as a hazard assessment and mitigation tool.



“If you can predict where they are most likely to occur and predict their intensity and speed, then you can mitigate potential damage.”



When Grilli’s model is complete in the fall of 2003, it will be made available on the Internet for use by organizations like the Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the worldwide community of tsunami researchers, hazard assessment agencies, and emergency preparedness professionals.