State Grant Funds Florida Tech Hurricane Mitigation Studies

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Jean-Paul Pinelli, professor of civil engineering at Florida Institute of Technology, is refining a model to evaluate the benefit and cost
of hurricane mitigation measures being implemented in the state of Florida.

To continue this work he has received a $130,000 grant from the state of Florida’s Center of Excellence on Hurricane Mitigation.
“It is critical to identify what are the more cost-effective solutions to increase the safety of the existing and new building stock and to avoid repeating
past errors when rebuilding in disaster areas,” said Pinelli. To support this investigation, he and his team will further develop the Florida Public
Hurricane Loss Projection Model, which is now complete and certified by the Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Methodology.

The model was funded by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and is used by that office to evaluate insurance rate filings. It combines the latest
state-of-the-art in meteorology, wind engineering and actuarial science to predict the expected annual insured losses for Florida residences.

Pinelli participated in the development of the original model with an interdisciplinary team, which continues to collaborate. Team members include
financial experts, actuaries, engineers, meteorologists, computer scientists and statisticians at Florida International University, the University of
Florida, Florida State University, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Miami. The new work is funded for three years.