Ames, Iowa — Researchers at Iowa State University are using a grant from the National Science Foundation to develop tools capable of giving people in higher-risk neighborhoods more time to prepare for dangerous heat.
ISU architecture professor, Ulrike Passe is the principal investigator on the grant that will first focus on central Iowa.
She says cement from parking lots can make an urban heat island, but trees can help, and they’re trying to determine how all those things work when temperatures start to warm up. They are collaborating with the City of Des Moines, Polk County, the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Texas at Arlington.
Passe says it seems like you could simply let people know a heat wave is expected.
The one-point-two million dollar grant is for three years of study. Passe says once they have the application worked out, it could be used anywhere to help those who are vulnerable to the heat.
