Cornell Initiative on Aging and Adaptation to Extreme Heat

In partnership with Cornell Tech’s Health Tech Hub, Weill Cornell Medicine, and Cornell Public Health, the Urban Tech Hub launched the new Cornell Initiative on Aging and Adaptation to Extreme Heat in 2024. Using urban tech and digital tools as levers, this multi-disciplinary effort pursues integrative research across clinical medicine, public health, and the built environment.

Climate hazards don’t respect political jurisdictions. The Atlas of Accountability, compiled by NYU’s Rebuild By Design project, found that nearly every congressional district nationwide experienced at least one federally-declared weather disaster during the 2011-2024 period, and received more than $117 billion in federal relief.

Recognizing the borderless nature of climate change, the Urban Tech Hub partnered with an interdisciplinary network of partners across the university community to launch the Cornell Initiative on Aging and Climate Adaptation. The mission of this applied research project is to protect vulnerable older adults from the effects of extreme heat events through interdisciplinary applied research on risks and technology-enabled interventions.

Working in a variety of community contexts across New York State, the research team envisions a future where all older adults can safely adapt to and thrive during extreme heat events, supported by equitable and effective interventions coordinated across sectors, sites, and systems. In February 2025, the Initiative published its first annual report showcasing key accomplishments during its first year.

Highlights include:

• A survey of 239 county emergency response officials across New York State, conducted by Cornell Public Health researchers, identified key information needs and gaps related to weather-related emergency preparedness. A key finding—only 37% of respondents reported being able to easily identify the location and needs of vulnerable populations during heat emergencies.
• An interactive web app demonstrated how combining federal heat risk and vulnerability data sets in a single, searchable map could help fill this information gap. Urban Tech Hub staff developed the prototype, available at https://heatmap.urbantech.info/, by combining the NWS HeatRisk forecast and CDC Heat and Health Index data sets. The tool allows users to filter heat risk forecasts by degree of severity and demographic and health indicators to pinpoint vulnerable groups in highly-specific geographies. Working with Cornell Public Health researchers, the team added a playback feature that allows loading of any previous forecast, making the tool useful for tabletop exercises based on real historical events anywhere in the lower 48 states.
• A geospatial model of cooling deserts, effectively addressing the placement of cooling centers within New York State energy agency heat action plans, will assess the distance between population center needs and existing cooling centers. This analysis, led by Assistant Professors Nikhil Garg and Emma Pierson (University of California, Berkeley), can inform more equitable placement strategies for cooling centers, ensuring that they serve the communities most in need during extreme heat events.

The Cornell Initiative on Aging and Adaptation to Extreme Heat employs a transdisciplinary and translational approach. Initiative partners include Professor Deborah Estrin, Assistant Professor Nikhil Garg, Assistant Professor Arnab Ghosh, Assistant Professor of Practice Alistair Hayden, Associate Professor Gen Meredith, Assistant Professor Emma Pierson (University of California, Berkeley), Director of Clinical Innovation Chethan Sarabu, and Senior Research Associate Anthony Townsend.