2025 Internship Project Overview

Working with the Hurricane Hazards and Risk Analysis Group, I sought to enhance the lab’s measurement of its hazard models’ error with the aim of informing future forecasts and the design of the lab’s web-based live forecasting tool. I evaluated the lab’s hazard model by compiling historical data and measuring the data against model output. I also developed visualizations to communicate the model performance for the lab’s live forecasting website. Using machine learning techniques, I analyzed the locations of historical tropical cyclone landfalls on the Atlantic Coast to improve the presentation of regional error in forecasting. I also employed machine learning techniques to profile past storms to find storm profiles correlated with higher model error, which could be applied to future storms to inform the confidence of forecasts. To better understand user demand and usage of the forecasting website, I led a portion of a workshop on forecasting in which I showcased different presentations of model uncertainty and error.

ORGANIZATION/RESEARCH GROUP

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

LOCATION

Princeton, New Jersey

 

Interns

Eli Lebeau ’27
Major: Computer Science
"I worked at the intersection of academic research and everyday use of a live forecasting system, applying machine learning and other quantitative techniques I learned in the classroom to address real-world challenges. I also learned about and used methods from across disciplines to further my working group’s goals."

 

Ning Lin
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Mentors

  • Christine Blackshaw, Ph.D. Candidate, Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Manuel Linsenmeier, Postdoctoral Research Associate, High Meadows Environmental Institute