His address, titled Diplomatic Wind Hazard Resilience: Integrating Science, Engineering, and Communication, explored how wind engineering expertise can inform national policy to better protect American diplomats and facilities against extreme winds.

Speaking to an audience of scientists, academics, federal engineers, and policymakers, Prevatt drew on more than two decades of structural engineering research and practice. His lecture highlighted how wind engineering knowledge of extreme-value modeling and tornado load design — paired with his contributions to U.S. building codes — was used to systematically adapt ASCE 7-22 tornado load provisions to guide the U.S. Department of State’s design of its global portfolio of embassy buildings.

A central theme of the lecture was the importance of applying wind engineering knowledge to enhance building resilience to natural hazards, even in places where little or no knowledge of tornado wind hazards exists. Prevatt has published seminal studies about three deadly tornadoes — Joplin (2011), Tuscaloosa (2011), and Moore, Oklahoma (2013) — which provided the catalyst for more than a decade of research culminating in the inclusion of tornado design load provisions in ASCE 7-22, Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures. In addition, his forensic field evaluations after major hurricanes including Hurricanes Irma and Maria (2017), Michael (2018), Ian (2022), and Milton (2024), and the procedures for capturing the engineering framing from these events, are now being used within CHEER to validate its buildings damage-loss model, which sits at the heart of the STARR framework.

His lecture also drew on personal and professional experience. For the past 11 months, Prevatt has worked with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) as part of the fellowship. In this immersive role, Prevatt provided engineering insight and wind engineering expertise, supporting colleagues in framing State Department policies and setting standards for future U.S. diplomatic facilities worldwide.

Beyond his individual research as professor of civil and coastal engineering at the University of Florida, Prevatt plays leadership roles in NSF’s Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI), serving previously as Co-PI of the University of Florida’s Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel (Phase 1), Co-PI of the Structural Extreme Events Reconnaissance (StEER) Network, and co-author of the NHERI Science Plan, Third Edition (2023). These roles ensure that the data, models, and insights developed through projects like CHEER are sustained by the larger NHERI infrastructure for years to come.

“This fellowship has given me the opportunity to demonstrate how decades of wind engineering research can inform real policy change,” Prevatt said. “By integrating engineering evidence and rational designs into building codes and resilience planning, we can protect lives, communities, and national interests.”

You can learn more about the event and watch a recording of the lecture here on the National Academies’ website.

This event is just one part of a significant career milestone for Prevatt. Last fall, he was selected by the U.S. Department of State to join the 2024–2025 cohort of Jefferson Science Fellows. This honor has been awarded to only 206 U.S. faculty members since the fellowship was inaugurated in 2003 by then Secretary of State Colin Powell. His time in this immersive 12-month program in Washington, D.C., concludes in October. A recap of his experience will be posted later this year.