Masters of disasters
Professor, students create emergency plan equations
Tara Bannow
Issue date: 12/10/07 Section: Campus News
Lord-Kouraichi said Tong's plan helped Clark County officials figure out how they would evacuate the community in the event of a flood or train derailment.
Dane County was plagued with $49 million worth of damage over the course of three years due to flooding, Tong said.
Senior Cassie Lawler, a student of Tong's who participated in the research, said she grew up in Dane County. She said residents pile sandbags around their homes to prevent water from seeping inside.
She and her father helped distribute the sand bags before the flooding occurred, although getting them out in time always became an issue, she said.
In 2005, Lawler measured the time and cost required to fill and distribute the sand bags.
"We wanted to minimize the cost of the distribution of sand bags plus the time," Lawler said. "We wanted to get them out as soon as possible."
The team then developed a mathematical transportation model detailing which distribution routes resulted in the minimum cost and time, Tong said.
Currently, Tong and her students are working on a new project in Jackson County. Divided by the Black River, flooding is a serious concern in the area. In the future, she said they plan to focus on Eau Claire County as well.
Tong said the team hopes to one day expand its research into big cities, and is currently working with the computer science department to develop user-friendly computer software that would allow its mathematical data to adapt to nearly any location.
Phillipson said one of the team's main goals is to design models that can be applied anywhere.
"Even in the case of California recently, with the wildfires," he said. "Really any natural disaster that requires evacuation, our model could be applied to."
Dane County was plagued with $49 million worth of damage over the course of three years due to flooding, Tong said.
Senior Cassie Lawler, a student of Tong's who participated in the research, said she grew up in Dane County. She said residents pile sandbags around their homes to prevent water from seeping inside.
She and her father helped distribute the sand bags before the flooding occurred, although getting them out in time always became an issue, she said.
In 2005, Lawler measured the time and cost required to fill and distribute the sand bags.
"We wanted to minimize the cost of the distribution of sand bags plus the time," Lawler said. "We wanted to get them out as soon as possible."
The team then developed a mathematical transportation model detailing which distribution routes resulted in the minimum cost and time, Tong said.
Currently, Tong and her students are working on a new project in Jackson County. Divided by the Black River, flooding is a serious concern in the area. In the future, she said they plan to focus on Eau Claire County as well.
Tong said the team hopes to one day expand its research into big cities, and is currently working with the computer science department to develop user-friendly computer software that would allow its mathematical data to adapt to nearly any location.
Phillipson said one of the team's main goals is to design models that can be applied anywhere.
"Even in the case of California recently, with the wildfires," he said. "Really any natural disaster that requires evacuation, our model could be applied to."
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