The climate VR

The Elevate funding and support are critical to further develop and scale up our project. As we started two years ago, won some seed grants, got recognition through awards (ASCE), our organization has refined its goal, using feedback from professionals and users, and we are now ready to scale up with our industrial partner, meaning using a new technology more immersive (VR Dome) and working more closely with local partners. The funds will obviously be critical to get the necessary equipment for scaling up the mission of our organization, which are detailed further in this application, but also to hire consultant who have expertise we do not have for scaling up the project. We also expect to create meaningful connection with other winners, the staffs of Elevate Price, and the other connections that we can gain through the Elevate Prize.

I define myself at a multicultural human: son of a Spanish refugee, communist, and from the working class and from a French more conservative farmers family. I always been interested in nature conservation and motivated by justice and equity. During the past years, I have studied hard to get my engineer degree from Ecole Centrale, from University of Texas Austin, and Ph.D. from the University of California Irvine. During this time, I became expert in climate sciences but also New Media (AR/VR) thanks to my partner Tina Korani, Iranian designer currently assistant professor in California. Together, we worked toward STEAM, i.e., integrated Art into STEM education with the ultimate goal to add more creativity but also accessibility and inclusivity when talking climate science. We designed a project using Virtual Reality for coastal flooding under sea level rise visualization: making the state-of-the-art in scientific knowledge accessible to all, regardless their level of education by making them “experience” virtually the scientific findings. This project was awarded a national award from the ASCE in 2020. This is the purpose of the scientific organization we created.

One key global issue: climate justice. One critical aspect for optimal decision is that all the parties have the same access to information. Our organization is making climate science accessible to all. Our innovation is that we are not just simplifying information but we are making people to experience it, creating an empathic message rather than calling to their analytical capacities. Ultimately, our framework shall be integrated in all decision process at local to national level, which is why we are also working at the academic level (i.e. publishing paper, working with universities) to make our ideas open to all for continuous improvement.

We started with a virtual reality experience of coastal flooding under several scenario of sea level rise, sea wall heights. The project can be extended to other type of disasters (wildfires, storms, tornadoes).

Our organization is constituted of a few people but works with a multitude of scientist depending on funds. Initiated by Dr. Martinez (Civil Engineering, Ph.D. expected June 2021) and Dr. Korani (Assistant Professor at San Jose State University), we recently involved Dr. Baijnath-Rodino who will bring her expertise in wildfires and meteorology.

Our approach is combining new technologies with high-level scientific research, which is done by academics (we do not fund or support scientific research related to climate change and natural disasters). We are using virtual reality to create an emotional response to the user and have them experience a natural hazard rather than being lectured about it. We are included climate change scenario so that people can compare themselves the impact of 1 degree warming on sea level rise, water runoff, and eventually flood level. 

Our organization aims to empower people, especially the most vulnerable by making accessible to them the state of the art in scientific knowledge, which is often funded by taxpayers. Currently, the most vulnerable communities see few to no benefits from science funding despite their contributions to the society. We aim to tackle this issue and improve climate and social justice. More and more people are moving toward cheaper areas, which are often time historically threaten by natural disasters, or newly threaten (due to climate change and other anthropogenic activities). Our mission is therefore relevant to the humanity in its whole.

So far, we took a lot of research steps, e.g. some interviews with experts from NOAA, USGS, and FEMA during adaptation conferences, some academic research on using this technology. For future steps, we need to work further with local and state agencies as well as leaders of vulnerable communities, for instance in the San Joaquim Delta area. Our academic research led to one peer-review publication under review, and one grant also under review, and one national award from the ASCE, commending our efficacity.