A hurricane hits. You survive the storm, but your house doesn’t. And to complicate matters, you don’t have the documentation to prove the house was actually yours to begin with. What do you do? Construction engineering doctoral student Jess Talbot recently traveled to Puerto Rico, a country still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Maria back in 2017. Along with her mentor, Assistant Professor Cristina Poleacovschi, Jess studied how communities are … or are not … able to reconstruct after a catastrophic event. Be sure to listen to the latest episode of our new podcast series “Factor Analysis” and click SUBSCRIBE wherever you listen to podcasts. Special acknowledgement to the research team of Cristina Poleacovschi and Jess Talbot, including:

Sara Hamideh (Stonybrook University), collaborating professor
Carlos Santos, undergraduate student
Luis Gallardo & Alison Chopel, Habitat for Humanity

And thank you to the multiple UPR students and the stakeholders and community members who shared their stories with us.