Mikhail Chester

Dr. Chester is the Director of the Metis Center for Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University where he runs a research program focused on preparing infrastructure and their institutions for the challenges of the coming century. His work spans climate adaptation, disruptive technologies, innovative financing, cybersecurity, and modernization of infrastructure management. He is broadly interested in how we need to change infrastructure governance, design, and education for the Anthropocene, an era marked by acceleration and uncertainty. He has recently led several large networks to advance infrastructure in the face of unpredictable and increasingly complex environments including the NSF Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network and the NSF Resilience Convergence project. Dr. Chester founded ASU’s Metis Center as well as the Infrastructure Misfits network to build transdisciplinary efforts to modernize infrastructure for the Anthropocene. In 2017 he was awarded the American Society of Civil Engineer’s early career researcher Huber prize. He has recently published two books: The Rightful Place of Science: Infrastructure in the Anthropocene, and Urban Infrastructure: Reflections for 2100, both available on Amazon.