Media: Press Releases

Research: Top Priority at FIU's Hurricane Center

MIAMI, Fla. (June 10, 2003) - Florida International University's International Hurricane Center has officially changed its name to the International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC), Director Stephen Leatherman announced today. The change was made to better reflect the Center's research initiatives.

Serving the state of Florida, the IHRC is a Type I interdisciplinary research center focused on the mitigation of hurricane damage to people, the economy, and the built and natural environments. This designation makes the IHRC Florida's official hurricane research center for 11 universities comprising the state university system.

The citizens of the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts and Caribbean islands are severely impacted by hurricanes, and the IHRC promotes an interdisciplinary, 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 that helps Florida, the nation, and its regional neighbors to mitigate hurricane exposure.

The Center developed as a result of a public-private partnership between the We Will Rebuild Foundation, an organization formed to spearhead the rebuilding of Dade County in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew, and FIU. The IHRC works in conjunction with the National Hurricane Center, which is also located at the FIU University Park Campus in West Miami-Dade.

Founded in 1965, FIU is now one of America 's leading universities in environmental studies and research. Current projects include laser mapping of coastal areas in Southeast Florida and a federally funded study of how best to preserve the Everglades.