The energy sector is continually complicated by aging power infrastructure, changing technology and competing needs from communities and industry. The Critical Infrastructure Resilience Group is here to help make sense of this complex landscape.

The CIRG, a unit of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, works on national research-based solutions for maintaining energy systems and national security. Thomaz Carvalhaes and Hillary Fishler, R&D Staff Scientists at Oak Ridge, join host Alysha to discuss how they combine interdisciplinary expertise to help communities by supporting infrastructure planning, interdependencies, partnerships and governance, and risk assessment.

Some of the topics in this episode include the group's Technical Assistance for States and Tribes Initiative: Grid Resilience Investment Decision-making (TASTI-GRID), the Outage Data Initiative Nationwide (ODIN), and the Enhancing Distribution Grid Anticipatory Resilience (EDGAR).

Haiku:
Storms test the network
new systems reshape the grid
adapt and evolve

Links:
Learn more about the Lab: https://www.ornl.gov/group/critical-infrastructure-resilience

Get in touch with Thomaz: www.linkedin.com/in/tcarvalh

After a decade working across the Southeast, Jordan Youngmann is seeing his hometown in upstate New York through fresh eyes–and his work is just warming up.

Pre-European colonization, forests looked very different: while many people think of this world as a "pristine" landscape, forest systems across North American were highly regulated by Indigenous groups. Today, these systems are largely fragmented by urban and agricultural spaces, but historically, they were managed by harnessing a force of nature: fire.

Many forest species are not only tolerant of burning, they're built for it. If these systems go too long without a cleansing fire, substances like dry leaf litter can build up, providing fuel to a much bigger fire.

As a wildlife biologist with the New York State Department of Wildlife Conservation, Youngmann is working to reintroduce prescribed fire for these ecosystems, helping protect the species that inhabit them. It's not just a path to conservation–it's a way for us to have a direct relationship with the land that supports us.

Jordan's Haiku:
Fire healing the land
old ways leading us forward
reciprocity

Links:
Jordan's bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-youngmann-49727b8b/
Savage State painting, Thomas Cole, 1834: https://explorethomascole.org/project/the-savage-state/
NYDEC Sustainability and Green Infrastructure Grant Proposals: https://dec.ny.gov/get-involved/grant-applications/wqip-program

This podcast comes to you from the University of Georgia, a campus that has stretched across the hills of Athens, Georgia since 1785. UGA is situated between the Upper and Middle Oconee Rivers, with tributary creeks flowing all across campus- even right under our football stadium!

This month, hosts Alysha and Todd are joined by fellow UGA colleague Zak Ruehman, Director of Engineering Services here at the Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems. Zak's team recently wrapped up an exciting cross-campus collaboration: a flood risk assessment across UGA's campus that shows the places and buildings most at risk.

Keeping the Dawg Walk from becoming... a Doggie Paddle?

Zak's Haiku:
Preparation first
Absorb the punch gracefully
Ready to adapt

Links:

Learn more about the Institute for Resilient Infrastructure's work: https://iris.uga.edu/