The RAPID Facility's mission is to enable transformative research by providing natural hazard and disaster researchers with the resources and support needed to collect, process, and analyze perishable data from extreme events. These unique open datasets serve various purposes, including developing and calibrating scientific natural hazard simulation models.

To achieve our mission, we engage in a wide range of activities, including operating state-of-the-art field instrumentation, developing mobile software, providing advisory services and logistics support for reconnaissance field investigations, training a broad and diverse user base through workshops and other activities, and engaging the public through mission-related community outreach and education. The RAPID Facility user base includes extreme event reconnaissance (EER) organizations, NSF-supported researchers, and federal agencies.