ATHENS, GA – On March 13-14, 2024, the University of Georgia hosted the Southeastern Defense Communities Resilience Workshop. This event brought together military and civilian leaders to discuss climate resilience planning and nature-based infrastructure development in defense communities across the southeast US. The event was co-organized by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government (CVIOG), the Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems (IRIS), and UGA’s Marine Extension-Georgia Sea Grant (MAREX-GSG).
UGA welcomed a special guest for this event: The Honorable Rachel Jacobson, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army for Energy, Installations & Environment attended to deliver the keynote address, facilitating interdisciplinary conversations on climate and infrastructure resilience.

In advance of the Workshop, on Tuesday, March 12, the IRIS team welcomed Ms. Jacobson to present and answer questions from students, view posters from faculty and student researchers and even record an episode of the Resilient Futures Podcast with Drs. Alysha Helmrich and Todd Bridges.
Also in attendance were Army Senior Climate Advisor Will Rogers, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Navy for Climate Change Deborah Loomis, Lt. Col. David Dake and National Lead for USACE’s Engineering With Nature (EWN) Program Jeff King. These leaders from across the country joined IRIS faculty on Tuesday afternoon to discuss challenges, opportunities and paths forward for collaboration on resilience projects.
The event team will be working on a review of the full Workshop over the next few weeks. Until then, you can explore photos from Tuesday, March 12 below and the rest of the event in our Google Drive folder.












