CGRS Director’s Letter
January 2025
Welcome to the second quarter of the 21st Century! As we step into this new chapter, CGRS is committed in its mission to understand, study, and build resilience—both within our own community and beyond. Our work continues to embrace systems thinking, interdisciplinary collaboration, and partnerships that span generations, sectors, and geographies. These approaches are essential as we navigate the complex challenges of our time.
We recognize the importance of viewing challenges through a systems-thinking lens. This holistic approach helps us uncover connections, identify common causes, and create sustainable solutions to global and local issues. Our interdisciplinary initiatives help us move this systems-thinking agenda forward.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Action
We are proud to highlight some of our ongoing interdisciplinary initiatives:
Our work with University of Massachusetts-Amherst and the New England University Transportation Center (NEUTC) continues for a second year. If you have a transportation-related research project, there is funding available for next year. Please contact Bill Lyons, wlyons@norwich.edu, for details.
This semester, CGRS will have 2 Cyber Resilience Student Fellows who will work with the Black River Innovation Campus (BRIC), to help shape the cybersecurity curriculum for innovative start-up companies in Vermont. Their work will help these businesses establish world class cybersecurity practices and enhance digital security for the businesses and their customers.
Community-Focused Initiatives
We are excited to announce the Resilient Vermont Conference 2025: Securing Community Resilience bringing together thought leaders, practitioners, and innovators to explore strategies and solutions for enhancing resilience in small municipalities. The conference will be organized around three critical sub-themes: Climate Resilience, Economic Resilience and Data & Technology. We will be sending out a call for interactive session proposals early this year.
Rural Data Services: This initiative aims to empower rural communities by improving access to and analysis of data. By equipping these communities with better tools and insights, we’re helping them build resilience against economic, environmental, and social challenges.
We look forward to continuing our work with our partners and community to build resilience across disciplines, sectors, and generations. As always, thank you for your support and commitment to these vital efforts.
Stay tuned for updates on upcoming events, initiatives, and opportunities to get involved.
Kahwa