Dr. Stephen Flynn on The Imperative and Opportunity to Invest in Resilient Infrastructure
Stephen E. Flynn, PhD
Founding Director, Global Resilience Institute, and Professor of Political Science and of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University
Even prior to the catastrophic COVID-19 crisis, the World Bank had estimated that economic losses due to major disasters had been reaching $500 billion annually. The need for resilient infrastructure is critical and yet there are major barriers to advancing the widespread adoption of resilient design and engineering best practices.
During his talk, Dr. Flynn presented options for overcoming those barriers, outlining how we should be using disaster recovery and economic development dollars into catalyzing investment in critical and sustainable infrastructure resilience.
About the Speaker
Dr. Stephen Flynn is founding director of the Global Resilience Institute at Northeastern University, where he leads a major university-wide research initiative to inform and advance societal resilience in the face of growing human-made and naturally-occurring turbulence. He is a professor of political science with affiliated faculty appointments in the College of Engineering and the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs. Dr. Flynn previously served as president of the Center for National Policy and spent a decade as a senior fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He has presented expert congressional testimony before the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives on 31 occasions.
Dr. Flynn was an active duty commissioned officer in the U.S. Coast Guard for 20 years, including two tours as commanding officer at sea. He is co-author of the textbook Critical Infrastructures Resilience: Policy and Engineering Principles (2018) and author of The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation (Random House, 2007) and the national bestseller America the Vulnerable (HarperCollins 2004). Dr. Flynn holds MALD and PhD degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and a BS from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
Please note: The views of the speaker do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
News and Video
Read the news story and view the video from this event.