Equity in wildfire emergency management
The HERD framework links infrastructure vulnerability, social burden, recovery policy and agency collaboration in New Mexico and Colorado wildfire regions.
OASISOperations Research for Advancing Sustainable Infrastructure Systems
We use risk science, operations research and AI to understand how hazards disrupt the infrastructure communities depend on, and to design decisions that protect the people most exposed.
28peer-reviewed journal articles
67conference presentations, plus 25 invited talks
1,398citations · h-index 19 (Google Scholar, Sep 2026)
$2.9Min funded research, including the new $2M NSF FIRE project
Mission and vision
OASIS advances risk science for sociotechnical systems: power grids, transportation, water and the emergency management that holds them together.
We build quantitative models of how chronic and acute shocks spread through interdependent systems, develop risk-informed decision models, and identify cost-effective adaptation strategies that make critical infrastructure more resilient, sustainable and equitable. We work with emergency managers, utilities, agencies and affected communities, so our models reflect what people actually experience.
Following a disaster from hazard to household
Disasters rarely stay in one system. Our work traces the full chain and uses it to guide better decisions.
- 1. Hazard
Environmental risk
AI and satellite data to forecast wildfire and the floods and debris flows that follow.
- 2. Lifelines
Cascading failure
How failures spread across power, water, gas and roads, even with incomplete data.
- 3. Households
Social burden
Who loses access to what, for how long, and at what cost.
- 4. Decisions
Equitable strategies
Optimization for hardening, recovery and funding that counts community needs.
Current projects
Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico
Stakeholder interviews and community focus groups on grid and road failures and recovery priorities. Open data.
REKINDLE: cascading wildfire hazards
A UB-led, four-institution project linking wildfire, debris flows and flash floods to lifeline failures and household well-being, 2026–2029. Learn more.
Latest news
All news
Get to know Sayanti Mukherjee
UBNow profiles Dr. Mukherjee’s research, her path to UB and what makes her proud to be part of it.
UBNow
UB leads $2M NSF project on wildfire resilience
REKINDLE will build AI-powered tools for cascading wildfire hazards, with UC Berkeley, Northeastern and PNNL.
UB News
The Buffalo News covers REKINDLE
UB to lead the $2 million NSF project on wildfire resilience.
Buffalo News
Northeastern joins the REKINDLE team
Northeastern’s College of Engineering on the four-institution effort.
Northeastern
With the Chauncey Starr Award at SRA 2025
Poulomee Roy and Dr. Mukherjee at the SRA Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.
SRA Chauncey Starr Award
Society for Risk Analysis honors Dr. Mukherjee for exceptional contributions to risk analysis.
UB News
GeoFlame VISION maps future wildfire risk
PreventionWeb features AI and satellite-based wildfire risk maps, about 92% accurate.
PreventionWeb
Renewables need social and economic buy-in
Niagara Gazette covers prize-winning work on renewable energy integration and grid resilience.
Niagara GazetteJoin us
We welcome students in industrial and systems engineering, civil engineering, data science, operations research or the social sciences who want to work where models meet communities. Prospective PhD, MS and undergraduate researchers can reach out with a CV and a short note on their interests.
OASIS Lab
Director: Dr. Sayanti Mukherjee411 Bell Hall, North Campus
University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260
sayantim@buffalo.edu