The Earth Commons
The Earth Commons

SURGE Lab

Sustainability & Resilience in Global Environments (SURGE) Lab

Led by Dr. Roshanack (Roshi) Nateghi, Associate Professor, the Earth Commons, the SURGE Lab supports policymakers, planners, and communities in making informed decisions under uncertainty. By modeling the interactions among climate, infrastructure, and society, we develop data-driven methods that generate insights to mitigate climate risks and advance sustainable and resilient urban futures.

Disciplines

Disaster Resilience

Studying how communities and infrastructure can better withstand and recover from and adapt to extreme events, with an emphasis on strategies that promote long-term adaptation, resilience, and sustainability.

Risk Science

Developing methods to understand, quantify, and communicate risks, enabling decision-makers to make informed decisions under uncertainty.

Data Science and Engineering

Developing physics-aware and uncertainty-informed tools and models—drawing on engineering principles, machine learning, and statistical computing—to generate actionable insights for policy and planning.

Impact areas

Disaster Risk ReductionAdvancing methodological frameworks to assess and mitigate risks from natural hazards
Sustainable Smart CitiesIntegrating data-driven analytics and policy insights to support equitable and sustainable urban transformations
Resilient Access to Critical ServicesEnhancing the reliability of energy, water, and mobility services under conditions of climate extremes
Robust Decision-Making under UncertaintyDeveloping models and decision-support tools that enable effective planning in the face of deep uncertainty

We’re Hiring!

Interested in a postdoctoral fellow position at the Earth Commons? The SURGE Lab is hiring!

Email us today

News & Stories

Read all

All, In the Press

The Texas blackouts showed how climate extremes threaten energy systems across the US

In my view, the events in Texas offer three important lessons for energy planners across the U.S.

March 2, 2021

All, In the Press

Disrupting Vulnerability Traps and Catalyzing Community Resilience

These investments will not only enhance stewardship of taxpayer dollars, create jobs and bolster the economy, but will also shrink the rapidly widening climate gap and save lives.

January 21, 2021

All, In the Press

OPINION: What a pandemic can teach us about climate resilience

We need to mobilize knowledge and resources to act towards the collective good, utilizing the scientific community to combat both climate change and the pandemic

April 17, 2020

Contact us

Questions for the SURGE (Sustainability & Resilience in Global Environments) Lab? Email Roshi Nateghi: rn633@georgetown.edu

Get in touch

Publications

Learning after the storm: Characterizing and understanding prolonged unplanned school closures after hurricanesD Abbasi, S Safari, R Nateghi, AC ReillyInternational Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 1056112025
Building back greener: Quantifying residential building decarbonization opportunities following floodsL Waters, LE Grimley, D Abbasi, A Sebastian, R Nateghi, AC ReillyEnergy and Buildings, 1162442025

Electric vehicle adoption and planning: The increasing importance of the built environmentK Hardaway, U Genc, H Cai, R NateghiJournal of Transport Geography 123, 104115		2025

Want to see publications before 2025?

For a full list of publications dating back to 2011, see Google Scholar