91×ÔÅÄ

Associate Professor Silvina Lopez Barrera | School of 91×ÔÅÄ 

Resilient and Affordable Housing for Rural Communities 

Research Team: Nazanin Tajik (PI), Silvina Lopez Barrera (Co-PI), Diego Thompson (Co-PI), Mehdi Ghahremani (Co-PI), Farshid Vahedifard (Co-PI), Sareh Karemi, and David Perkes. 

This is interdisciplinary and multiyear project received $1.250.000 award from NSF  

Many rural US residents live in aging, substandard housing with limited access to insurance, infrastructure, and services, leaving them at risk of displacement and financial loss from extreme weather events. This project addresses a critical national challenge: how to help rural communities better forecast and plan for housing resilience in the face of natural hazards. The project is developing a new risk assessment and housing planning tool that will first be piloted in rural communities across the Mississippi Delta and Gulf Coast regions, where growing risks from flooding, hurricanes, and other natural hazards pose threats to lives, homes, and livelihoods. The assessment and planning tool aims to help local decision-makers and public workers assess housing vulnerabilities, explore adaptation strategies, and prioritize investments that protect lives and improve affordability. This work advances scientific understanding and community engagement and delivers practical solutions to improve safety and sustainability in rural regions. The project also contributes to STEM education through creative outreach, including hands-on experience, exhibits, and design workshops for rural K-6 students. 

Community Resilience Under Contexts of Informal Housing and Climate Change in the Americas 

Research Team: Silvina Lopez Barrera (P.I), Diego Thompson (Co-PI); and collaborators from Peru: Cristina Dreifuss Serrano and Christopher Scherier Barreto 

This project brought together an international, interdisciplinary team to explore how informal housing communities in Lima, Peru, experience place attachment and resilience in the face of climate change. The research combined architectural and sociological perspectives to develop a community-based methodological instrument for assessing vulnerability and belonging in marginalized urban contexts. The team conducted a hybrid webinar in May 2022, training over 100 undergraduate students from Mississippi State University and the University of Lima to assist with fieldwork and data analysis. During a month-long research visit to Peru, the MSU team conducted interviews, site visits, and community engagement activities in informal settlements, while also meeting with university administrators to explore future academic collaborations. The project’s fieldwork was funded through the MSU International Institute’s Global Development Seed Grant. With support from a CAAD Catalyst Grant, the team hired undergraduate research assistants to assist with data analysis. This project successfully established a cross-cultural research partnership, generated valuable preliminary data, and laid the foundation for long-term international collaboration focused on housing, identity, and climate resilience in the Americas.