Our Mission

The UNM Resilience Institute is an academic and professional initiative responding to the above national needs. The collective group of academicians and professionals participating in this institute proposes a new integrated research and educational approach to investigate resilience. We aim to promote interdisciplinary and broad professional training, education, basic and applied scientific research to advance resilience as a basic national priority. Within our various disciplines, there are a number of working definitions of resilience. We aim to engage these differences and create an institute that builds on this diversity while also creating a shared vision for enabling resilient communities. Resilience concepts are interdisciplinary by nature and include the fields of science, engineering, computing, economics, ecology, geography, anthropology, psychology, community planning, asset management, law and medicine, among others. We will engage in investigations of understanding, piloting, testing, and designing resilient communities and infrastructure with a focus on the dynamics of the socio-ecological features of the arid environment in the US Southwest. Finally, we will collaborate with industrial partners in New Mexico (Resilient Solutions 21) and the national labs (Sandia National Lab); both have vast experience in national and local resilience requirements.