Brendan Zelikman ’23

Major

Computer Science

Project Title

Real-time Forecasting System for Hurricane Hazards and Risk

Presentation Link

View Brendan's Presentation

Certificate(s): Music Performance

I developed a website for predicting hurricane risk in counties across the United States using weather data sourced from the National Hurricane Center. Tropical cyclones pose a significant danger to coastal communities, so creating forecasting systems that support real-time decision-making is crucial for evacuation, recovery, and resilience. My work focused on designing and coding the website from scratch. This process included building a user-friendly layout in the design tool Figma, implementing an interactive county map in React – the free and open-source JavaScript library – and setting up a hosted database on the software cPanel. I researched design philosophy to make the website usable by everybody, and I practiced professional coding etiquette to ensure the project is maintainable in the future. This internship gave me a chance to apply and refine my skills in web development, and it taught me a lot about hurricanes and climate science in general. It also reignited my passion for conservation, and I am inspired to pursue a career in environmental computer science.



Internship Year

2022

Project Category

Extreme Weather and Impacts

Organization(s)

Hurricane Hazards and Risk Analysis Group, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University

Mentor(s)

Ning Lin, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University; Christine Blackshaw, Ph.D. candidate, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University; Avantika Gori, Ph.D. candidate, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University