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Robert Weiss is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Virginia Tech. Prior to joining Virginia Tech, he served on the faculty at Texas A&M University and was part of the group that developed the Tsunami Warning system for the Pacific Ocean at the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (NOAA, Seattle). He received his Diploma in Geosciences (equivalent to M.S.) at the Frierich-Schiller University in Jena (Germany) and his Dr. rer. nat. (equivalent to Ph.D. in natural sciences) from the Westfalia-Wilhelms University Münster (Germany). In his research, Weiss and his students quantify the geologic record of tsunami and storms to help to better prepare and mitigate against such events. Weiss, his students and collaborators employ numerical and mathematical models, high-performance computing, Bayesian statistics and ‘Big Data’ tools to create complex frameworks that can estimate the magnitude of past storms and tsunamis.
This essay examines the need to understand and quantify natural hazards and the associated risks and their inter-connectedness so that societies are better positioned to guard against and bounce back from these potentially catastrophic events. The essay describes the genesis, objectives and goals of the South East Asia Risk Collaboration Hub (SEARCH), a knowledge-driven enterprise that provides a platform for the private sector and academia to discuss these crucial issues.
