From Climate Data to Disaster Preparedness: Strengthening Kentucky’s Resilience Through CAPTIVATE KY
- Kentucky Science & Engineering Foundation
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
Across Kentucky, severe weather events are becoming more frequent and more costly. With flooding in Eastern Kentucky, stronger storms statewide and shifting weather patterns, homes and infrastructure across the commonwealth are increasingly at risk.
To help communities prepare for these events, reduce risk and recover more effectively, reliable climate data is essential. CAPTIVATE KY was created to meet this need.
Funded through the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR) E-CORE program, CAPTIVATE KY is led by the Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation (KSEF), an initiative of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KSTC), in collaboration with co-investigators at Kentucky State University and AdvanceKentucky. The initiative strengthens Kentucky’s ability to collect, connect and apply climate data, helping communities better prepare for and respond to climate-related disasters.
CAPTIVATE KY operates alongside two additional NSF EPSCoR-funded projects in Kentucky. CLIMBS, developed through the NSF Track-1 program, explores the interconnectedness between infrastructure, human populations and climate hazards, and aims to develop effective response systems. DARE-KY, funded through the NSF E-RISE track, supports workforce development and innovation in soilless agriculture.
As the first state awarded all three NSF EPSCoR tracks, Kentucky has a unique opportunity to connect research, workforce development and statewide data systems.
CAPTIVATE KY helps ensure that the research, data and partnerships emerging from these efforts connect in ways that strengthen our ability to respond to real challenges, from connecting those interested in sharing information to using our own local data in the classroom, all the way to addressing direct environmental threats that Kentucky communities are facing. – Dr. Maria Labreveux, Executive Director, KSEF
A Statewide Effort to Strengthen Climate Preparedness
For years, climate and environmental research in Kentucky has been strong but often fragmented. Universities, state agencies and environmental organizations have collected valuable information, yet the systems used to store and share that data have not always been fully connected. As a result, research findings do not always translate easily into practical tools for emergency managers, policymakers and local communities.
Rather than creating a single new dataset, CAPTIVATE KY focuses on strengthening the infrastructure that supports climate data across Kentucky by improving how existing information is organized, shared and accessed.
Kentucky already has a tremendous amount of climate data. CAPTIVATE KY focuses on ensuring those systems work together so researchers, agencies and communities can access the information they need efficiently. – Hunter Brogna, Lead Software Engineer, KSEF
During its first year, CAPTIVATE KY focused on building this foundation by strengthening connections between institutions and data systems across the state. At Kentucky State, a co-investigator in CAPTIVATE KY and the lead institution for the DARE-KY E-RISE initiative, new staff were hired to develop an internal databank that improves information sharing across research efforts, with a broader focus on making climate data more accessible to those directly impacted by changing conditions.
Kentucky is a highly agricultural state, and agriculture is being impacted by social, ecological and economic factors alongside changing weather patterns. CAPTIVATE KY provides a platform where farmers and other stakeholders can access data in ways that support more informed decision-making when it comes to agriculture, food production and coping with extreme weather. – Dr. Suraj Upadhaya, Assistant Professor of Sustainable Systems, Kentucky State
Improving access to data is also strengthening collaboration across institutions. Researchers who previously worked in separate labs or disciplines are beginning to engage more intentionally, exploring shared questions and opportunities for interdisciplinary work while developing more consistent approaches to data sharing.
It’s creating a culture of data sharing, shifting from siloed information toward a more collaborative approach where researchers can work together to answer bigger questions. – Dr. Chi Shen, Dean of the College of Business, Engineering, and Technology, Kentucky State
The impact of CAPTIVATE KY’s data infrastructure extends beyond individual institutions, strengthening connections across research, operations and education statewide. The initiative has helped connect researchers involved in the CLIMBS Track-1 project with Kentucky-based data, research tools and institutional networks, supporting more coordinated climate research across institutions.
CAPTIVATE KY is also expanding partnerships beyond the NSF EPSCoR framework. Representatives from the National Weather Service, Kentucky Emergency Management, CLIMBS and KY MESONET have begun engaging directly with CAPTIVATE KY and partners, creating clearer pathways for research and climate data to inform operational decision making.
In addition to research and operational partnerships, CAPTIVATE KY supports STEM education across the commonwealth through the efforts of co-investigators at AdvanceKentucky, a fellow KSTC initiative that seeks to expand student access to rigorous and impactful educational opportunities. They are bringing together teachers and community partners to engage students in projects that use local environmental data to develop solutions with real community impact, including through curriculum that integrates data science and climate data into classroom learning.
In some cases, these lessons are shaped by students’ lived experiences, including communities that have been directly impacted by severe flooding across the state.
These students aren’t learning for a grade. They’re learning for the sake of learning and contributing to something that can affect their home, school and community. – Dr. Sheri McGuffin, Manager of Innovation and Development, AdvanceKentucky
Together, these efforts are helping build a more connected climate data ecosystem across Kentucky, improving communication between organizations and ensuring that climate information can be used more effectively to support research, planning and emergency response.
From Infrastructure to Action: The Working Group Model
With a more connected climate data framework taking shape, CAPTIVATE KY is now turning that foundation into action. To help translate coordinated data into real-world solutions, the initiative has become actively involved in a working group model that brings researchers, agencies and partners together around specific challenges.
The first working group focuses on Kentucky’s weather sensor network, which plays an important role in monitoring floods and landslides statewide. Participants are evaluating 213 weather sensors across Eastern Kentucky to determine which are fully operational, which require maintenance and where upgrades are needed to improve reliability and coverage.
Strengthening this network helps ensure that the information used by forecasters, emergency managers and community leaders during severe weather events is accurate and consistent.
The sensor network is a critical piece of the puzzle. By bringing partners together to assess and improve these systems, we are strengthening the data communities rely on during emergencies. – Dr. Ellie Derbyshire, Associate Director of Innovation - Environment and Materials, KSEF
The working group model allows partners to move beyond data coordination and focus on solving practical challenges. Researchers, technical experts and agency partners collaborate around a shared goal, using the improved data infrastructure to identify gaps, coordinate resources and implement solutions more efficiently.
CAPTIVATE KY leaders expect the model to expand in the coming years as additional groups form around emerging climate resilience challenges. By bringing together researchers and practitioners who share a common objective, these working groups help create a pathway for ideas to move more quickly from research into action across Kentucky.
Looking Ahead: From Collaboration to Climate Solutions
In its first year, CAPTIVATE KY focused on something foundational but essential: building the systems and partnerships that allow climate data to move more effectively between researchers, agencies and communities.
As these connections continue to grow, CAPTIVATE KY will expand its working groups and deepen collaboration across organizations statewide.
Year one focused on building the framework. As those connections continue to strengthen, the initiative will begin translating that coordination into tools and insights that help communities better prepare for future climate challenges. – Dr. Maria Labreveux, Executive Director, KSEF
By strengthening the infrastructure behind Kentucky’s climate research ecosystem, CAPTIVATE KY is helping ensure that data can inform decisions that protect homes, infrastructure and lives across the commonwealth.
Help strengthen Kentucky’s ability to monitor and respond to severe weather by getting involved in weather sensor checks.