Engineering resilience, from hurricanes to communities

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With her dedication to resilience and a passion for helping, Catalina Gonzalez-Duenas, an assistant professor at the College of Engineering and Computing, is not only building stronger infrastructure—she's shaping a future where communities can weather any storm. Her work focuses on risk and resilience around infrastructure, particularly as it pertains to hurricanes. 

Born in Colombia, where she did her graduate work in seismic and structural engineering, she knew when it came to studying hurricanes, Houston’s Rice University would be a good home, given the strength of its civil engineering department.

While there she focused on quantifying the impact of multi-hazard events, such as hurricanes, on infrastructure and communities, with a particular emphasis on how climate change disproportionately affects socially vulnerable populations. She co-authored a paper on coastal communities exposed to hurricanes and it was named Paper of the Year by the American Society of Civil Engineers Journal of Structural Engineering. “We know that women and older populations are more at risk,” during and after hurricanes, she said. “I want to quantify that because until you put a number or metric to it, you can’t make the problem real or know if things ever get better.” 

Her research group operates at the intersection of structural engineering, artificial intelligence, and probabilistic hazard and risk analysis to develop effective strategies that enhance resilience against extreme events, especially in the face of a changing climate. By leveraging innovative modeling techniques and data-driven insights, they help communities prepare for and adapt to the increasing frequency and intensity of these events.

Woman stands at top of building with London in background
Immediately prior to coming to George Mason, Gonzalez-Duenas did her postdoc in London. Photo provided

“It’s becoming evident that climate change is making each hurricane season more challenging, as we’ve seen with Hurricane Helene. My research focuses on understanding how these shifting storms impact infrastructure and communities, building models to help us prepare more effectively and strengthen our ability to withstand what’s now becoming more unpredictable.”

After Rice, she did a postdoc at University College London starting in October 2022, working on a project that looked at multi-hazard interactions and the effects of climate change. Shortly after arriving in the UK, she got her offer from George Mason, where she started in the spring of 2024.

Gonzalez-Duenas is looking forward to settling in to George Mason and the DC area. “Mason flew me here from London for my interview and I got to see the campus and meet the faculty and they are the nicest,” she said. “I value the diverse and bold culture at Mason and it’s the perfect place to pursue innovative ideas and tackle challenging problems. The various centers focused on climate change are a testament to this spirit. I truly couldn’t ask for a better place to kick off my career!”