PI: Ian Sue Wing, Professor, Department of Earth and Environment, College of Arts & Sciences

Co-PI: Jiahang He, Ph.D. Student, Department of Earth and Environment, College of Arts & Sciences, & Suzanna Sumkhuu, Ph.D. Student, Department of Earth and Environment, College of Arts & Sciences

Project Description: Hurricanes are the most costly natural disasters in the United States, with damage to electric power infrastructure leading to prolonged blackouts that disproportionately impact vulnerable populations. These blackouts often coincide with the hottest months of the year, heightening the risk of exposure to extreme heat without access to cooling, particularly in densely populated metro areas along the US Gulf and Atlantic coasts. This exposure has been shown to increase mortality, especially among vulnerable groups such as nursing home residents. While past research has documented the relationship between heat, morbidity, and mortality, the combined impacts of hurricane-driven power outages and heat exposure remain insufficiently quantified.

To address this gap, our project will estimate excess mortality attributable to tropical cyclone-related power outages in urban areas. We will leverage previous research on the prevalence of residential air conditioning (AC) and the effects of delays in electricity service restoration to analyze mortality during blackout periods. Our focus will be on estimating excess deaths in metro area counties and quantifying the benefits of resilience measures, including faster power restoration and increased access to cooling. We will draw on data from metropolitan areas along the US Gulf and Atlantic coasts, integrating information on temperature, humidity, and blackout duration.

By analyzing mortality during heat-related power outages, our project aims to better understand the public health impacts of tropical cyclone-driven blackouts and identify where resilience investments, such as faster power restoration and improved cooling access, can reduce mortality risks. The findings will help inform public health planning and infrastructure improvements to protect vulnerable urban populations during extreme weather events.

PI: Madeleine Scammell, Associate Professor of Environmental Health, School of Public Health

Co-PI: Patricia Fabian, Associate Professor of Environmental Health, School of Public Health; Jonathan Lee, Ph.D. Student, Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health

Community Partner: GreenRoots (Roseann Bongiovanni, Executive Director, and Bianca Bowman, Climate Justice Manager)

Project Description: This pilot study aims to measure workers’ exposure to and physiological response to heat, and to evaluate the effectiveness of personal cooling strategies in the workplace. In partnership with GreenRoots and collaboration with MassCOSH, the study will recruit up to 10 participants who live in Chelsea and East Boston and who work in settings vulnerable to heat stress. Using non-invasive wearable sensors from SlateSafety, Band V2, to collect each participant’s longitudinal biometric data, including core body temperature and heart rate variability, the sensors will measure workplace temperature using Kestrels and collect ambient temperatures from the National Weather Station. Mid-summer, the team will provide cooling strategies for workers to test and analyze the impact on workers’ physiological response to heat.

Additionally, this research study will involve three focus group interviews with study participants to gain a detailed understanding of workers’ conditions and behaviors, preferred cooling strategies, perceptions of heat and their effects on health, as well as the feasibility and comfort of participating in this pilot study. This study will also collect daily diaries of work activities.

Analyzing both the quantitative and qualitative data, in conjunction with participants and partners, will inform future research, as well as advocacy and action to improve workplace heat exposure. This pilot study is part of the Chelsea and East Boston Heat project (C-HEAT).

PI: Eve Manz, Associate Professor of Science Education, Wheelock College of Education & Human Development

Co-PI: Genelle Diaz-Silveira, Ph.D. Student, Wheelock College; Angel Osorio-Pizarro, Ph.D. Student, Wheelock College

Project Description: This project aims to support meaningful learning in climate science and increase student agency regarding climate change impacts and resilience, with a focus on urban students in communities affected by extreme heat. Boston University researchers, the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA), and Somerville Public Schools (SPS) will partner to explore and implement climate change learning opportunities in the SPS elementary school curriculum. Specifically, the project will focus on youth learning about relationality (their place within systems of relationships across ecosystems and human communities) and agency (their possibilities for taking action for improvement). In the Summer of 2026, educators in Somerville Public Schools will participate in a workshop at MyRWA, learning about the organization’s community science projects.

Together, educators, MyWRA staff, and BU researchers will consider ways to incorporate MyRWA’s projects, as well as other opportunities for exploring relationality and agency, in the SPS curriculum. We will then study youth’s learning within designed lessons and projects, seeking to understand shifts in their thinking about relationality and agency. Through our partnership work, we aim to create conditions that enable students to learn from the humans, more-than-humans, and lands of their watershed communities, thereby becoming agents of urban science solutions and equipped to exercise their rights to their city and their right to change it.