Presentation: Adaptive Project Management – A Time Machine for Demanding Schedules Project Management of the Post Katrina Assessment and Response in New Orleans
Abstract: Hurricane Katrina was a pivotal event that dramatically impacted policies and practices with respect to natural hazards. The massive loss of human life (1600) and economic losses ($125B) stimulated rapt attention to what went wrong and why, which in turn resulted in dramatic shifts in both engineering practice and the policies that guide it. This also accelerated national flood safety assessment and future strategy in the United States, the Netherlands, and around the world. Rebuilding a sustainable New Orleans required a comprehensive assessment of what went wrong and why.
This forensic analysis served as the technical foundation for immediate temporary repairs for the extensive structural failures of floodwalls and levees as well as the planning, design, and construction of the long-term mitigation of future risk for the Gulf Coast. This entire spectrum of effort was driven by the timing of the next hurricane season (then only 9 months away) and the obvious need for a much more capable long-term system to ensure the future sustainability of the region. Time, reliability, and longevity were the coins of the realm.
The key to achieving these goals was new knowledge and its effective application within an unprecedented timeframe. This presentation highlights the critical role of innovative and adaptive project management for both the forensic analysis and the design and construction of the $15B risk reduction system now in place. A key requirement of the PM process was to facilitate rapid execution through the adaptation of new knowledge and practices through the integration of diverse sources of expertise. The final question is whether, given the increasing uncertainty with climate and societal processes, the Katrina-stimulated policies and practices are adequate for the future? What would the project management of new approaches to engineering and mitigation look like?
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Biography: Dr Lewis E (Ed) Link received a BS degree in Geological Engineering from N C State University, an MS Degree in Civil Engineering from Mississippi State University, and a PhD in Civil Engineering from Pennsylvania State University. He has worked for the U S Army Corps of Engineers for 34 years, culminating as the Director of Research and Development and Chief Scientific Advisor. After retiring in 2002, he joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, primarily teaching natural hazards risk and resilience in the Honors College. After the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, he served as the Director of the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force, an independent task force conducting a comprehensive assessment of Katrina and what happened and why. This work laid the technical foundation for both the immediate temporary fixes to the over 100 miles of structures damaged by Katrina and the design and construction of the $15B risk reduction system put in place to provide long-term sustainability of the New Orleans area. Following that, he served as the U.S. representative to the International Advisory Commission for the Netherlands efforts to address the threat of long-term climate change to that nation, resulting in their current Delta Program. Dr Link served on the DoD Board on Coastal Engineering Research, is currently a Contributing Editor for The Military Engineer, Society of American Military Engineers, and on the Board of Directors of Taylor Engineering. He was elected to the National Academy of Construction and received the McGraw-Hill – Engineering News Record Award of Excellence and the Army Engineer Association’s Gold Order of the DeFluery Medal. He has served on numerous National Research Council, National Science Foundation, and American Society of Civil Engineers technical panels and committees.
