Society of Actuaries Research Institute Receives National Science Foundation Grant to Implement Wildfire Research Applications
October 20, 2023, Schaumburg, IL— The Society of Actuaries (SOA) Research Institute received a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to educate insurance actuaries on the use of wildfire risk datasets and models to be developed by researchers from academia and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The NSF is a federal agency that supports science and engineering in all 50 states and U.S. territories. The $50,000 grant is the first the SOA Research Institute has received from the NSF. As the largest actuarial association in the world, the SOA is uniquely positioned to reach insurance industry stakeholders to help implement the new models and datasets.
Wildfires have grown more frequent, widespread and damaging in North America. The impacts of wildfires are broad and include property damage, long-term health effects and loss of human life. Interdisciplinary researchers will study the use of artificial intelligence and deep learning models to develop a methodology that better predicts wildfire activity and behavior and identifies wildfire-prone weather.
Applying Science to the Real-world
The SOA Research Institute will work as a subcontractor to the primary research grant, which the NSF awarded to Temple University. A crucial component of the main project involves the creation of analytics tools to enable actuaries to assess the impact of wildfires on the insurance industry. The SOA Research Institute will train actuaries and public policymakers on the use of these analytics tools for wildfire risk assessment through professional development and other continuing education programs. This project builds upon the SOA Research Institute’s ongoing research involving extreme weather, catastrophic events and climate risks.
“The project’s goal is to harness and distill data into a template for models for actuarial analysis,” said Lisa Schilling, FSA, EA, MAAA, FCA, senior research actuary, SOA Research Institute. “The role of the SOA Research Institute is to help bridge the gap between academic research and practical applications, such as this project on wildfires.”
This research project is set to start in 2023 and finish in 2025. The interdisciplinary nature of the project will serve as an example of how scientific research and data can result in real-world applications.
About the SOA Research Institute
Serving as the research arm of the SOA, the SOA Research Institute provides objective, data-driven research bringing together tried and true practices and future-focused approaches to address societal challenges and your business needs. It provides trusted knowledge, extensive experience and new technologies to help effectively identify, predict and manage risks. For more information visit www.soa.org/research-institute.