The building was tall.
But that didn’t stop the flood from submerging its first story and encroaching one foot into the second level, a local inn owner shared with Bryant undergraduates during a recent visit to Guerneville, California.
North of San Francisco, Guerneville is one of several towns along the Russian River. Built on a floodplain, Guerneville has experienced major floods in the past; however, these events are increasing in frequency and severity. Under the direction of Mathematics and Economics Department Chair Gao Niu, Ph.D., and Economics Lecturer Allison Kaminaga, Ph.D., six students spent the spring semester exploring the economic impacts of repeat flooding by the Russian River. Sponsored by Bryant’s Student Research Grants, undergrads followed up their quantitative research with a visit to the town in April where they met with local partners.
“It’s easy to get lost in the data after looking at it for so long. Seeing the human side by interacting with people who live there was sobering,” says Conor Kincaid ’25, an Applied Economics and Team and Project Management double major.
From visiting a mobile home park where students spoke with a resident who’d elevated her trailer onto a dirt mound to viewing an apartment building that was raised one-story high on concrete stilts to avoid flood damages, students learned about emergency response actions and how low-income community members are at the highest risk for flooding repercussions.
As a faculty mentor, Kaminaga notes that an experiential learning project like this one bridges the gap between classroom knowledge and real-world application.
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“It prepares students for careers where decision-making based on data analysis is essential. For the Guerneville community, the project provides a research-based economic risk analysis that can support planning, resilience-building, and recovery efforts following flood events,” says Kaminaga.
As the only first-year student in a group of seniors, Applied Mathematics and Statistics major Rachael Goyette ’28 studied housing claims to see how payouts were affected based on flood factors.
“I didn’t know if I’d be able to hold my own, but I proved to myself and everybody that I could do this. Being able to do this so early on in my career has been very impactful and knowledgeable for me,” says Goyette who started working on a new research project with Niu this fall.
Niu notes that the students’ work is part of a broader project on how communities can support each other when private insurance companies and sectors are withdrawing from the market.
“There’s too much risk for them, so people are in shortage of coverage or protection,” says Niu, adding that the Bryant research team is working with InnSure, an organization focused on finding insurance solutions to help with climate change risk.
The information the students collected, which they are turning into a report with recommendations, could help insurance companies and business sectors develop innovative ways to help those impacted by climate change. Niu plans to extend this work in the future by examining neighborhoods along the Russian River and focusing on different risks, including wildfires, earthquakes, and hurricanes.