About Us: Director's Welcome

Welcome to the International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC) at Florida International University (FIU). Since August 1997, when I became IHRC's first Director, the Center has developed four research laboratories to meet our objectives, mission and vision as a Type-I research center.

IHRC is Florida's official hurricane research center for eleven universities that comprise the state system. IHRC is also designated as the formal liaison for NOAA's Tropical Prediction Center and National Hurricane Center, located on FIU's campus in Miami.

The citizens of the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts and Caribbean islands are threatened by hurricanes every summer, and the IHRC promotes a multidisciplinary, large-scale disaster research agenda to address this vulnerability. Disciplines such as architecture, business, economics, engineering, finance, geosciences, insurance, political science, sociology, and urban planning are involved in a long-term, integrated research program, which helps Florida, the Nation, and our hemispheric neighbors to mitigate hurricane exposure.

As a University entity, the IHRC conducts both basic and applied research, although I believe this distinction is often overdrawn. The IHRC research tries to answer fundamental questions in order to reduce the hurricane threat. The Center's current studies involve such areas as: household mitigation and evacuation; storm hazard and vulnerability mapping, especially vulnerable populations; long-term community recovery; and insurance mitigation incentive programs. In the past, organizations such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Federal Emergency Agency (FEMA), the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Florida Department of Insurance, and the Florida DCA Emergency Management, have supported these investigations.

Please explore our web site to learn more about innovative multi-disciplinary hurricane research and to meet the outstanding people at our Center. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any inquiries you may have.

Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman