2011 GLISA Small Grant: A modeling framework for informing decision-maker response to extreme heat events in Michigan under climate change

Local decision-makers lack tools that would help them evaluate policy and management options to reduce heat risk for vulnerable populations, and to prevent deaths and illness once a heat event arrives. This project developed a system dynamics modeling tool, called the Mid-Michigan Heat Model (MMHM), to depict the dynamics of hospitalizations and deaths over the course of a heat event in Detroit. Modelers incorporated input from decision-makers at each stage of the model-building process, and the project culminated with a workshop in which potential model-users offered feedback on MMHM. The process of building a model in a participatory manner was useful for facilitating conversations and data-exchange around an important topic, and for developing a tool with the greatest potential utility.

Read the project report »

In the video below. Dr. Laura Schmidt-Olabisi decsribes this work during the 2011 GLISA Symposium.

Informing decision-maker response to extreme heat events in Michigan under climate change

Project Accomplishments

Research Findings

Participatory modeling is a valuable tool for applying climate data to decision making in the region. This process engaged key public health stakeholders in de ning key parameters in an extreme heat impacts model and evaluating the usefulness of the model.