Many rural communities are on the front lines of climate change. The need to understand who may be affected, and the ways they may be affected is widely acknowledged as needed for inclusive and cost-effective adaptation planning. In this work, I will explore the potential threat of sea-level rise on non-housing infrastructure (e.g., roads, septic systems) in rural, coastal areas to help inform the impact of their loss on local communities. I will present work that evaluates local accessibility loss during high tides for the entire US coastline (termed “risk of isolation”) for various climate change scenarios, and preliminary evidence from research that suggests that the risk of septic system failures is quite significant in many coastal communities. I will use the discussion to simultaneously highlight underexplored research areas within both engineering and social science that could support more inclusive and efficient adaptation policy.
Allison Reilly an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research focuses on identifying policies that enable resilient infrastructure and strong communities. She has a particular focus of recent on risk equity in rural, coastal communities vulnerable to sea-level rise. She is the recipient of a 2022 NSF CAREER Award, and a 2019 National Academy of Science Gulf Coast Research Early-Career Fellowship.
Prior to her appointment at the University of Maryland, Dr. Reilly was a research fellow at the University of Michigan and a post-doctoral researcher at Johns Hopkins University. In addition, Dr. Reilly was a research analyst for a federally-funded research and development center in support of the Department of Homeland Security. Prof. Reilly holds an MS and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Cornell University and a BS in Civil Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.