research overview
My research projects including the following:
Fire-performance of steel-frame buildings
Fire performance and seismic performance of mass timber and cross-laminated timber buildings
Including fire hazards in life cycle assessments of building
Environmental impacts of fires
Quantification of public participation in emergency management
Multi-hazard resilience of water infrastructure networks (earthquakes and wildfires)
Teaching structural fire engineering in civil engineering curriculum throughout the US
The goal of all of this research is to improve the resilience and sustainability of communities in natural and man-made disasters. If you are interested in collaborating on a research proposal, please contact me at: erica.fischer@oregonstate.edu
in the news
The Jefferson Exchange on funding new approaches to understanding fire, and building community resilience to it and a new dual-major PhD program at OSU in Civil Engineering and Sustainable Forest Management.
KEZI interview on $1 million USDA NIFA grant to research fire behavior of mass timber structures (June 2023).
KOIN interview if the Pacific Northwest is prepared for an earthquake (February 2023)
PBS Interview for Weathered on what to do in an earthquake and which buildings are most vulnerable to collapse (October 2022).
Podcast Interview for On Point on the preparedness of communities in the western US for wildfires (January 2022).
Podcast Interview for Think Outloud on lessons learned from the 2018 Camp Fire (November 2021).