Let's Talk Risk

Julie Demuth, project scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, discusses how individual experiences with extreme weather events, such as tornadoes, impact how we prepare for future events. Demuth's research indicates that people’s risk perceptions are highly influenced by a memorable past tornado experience that contributes to unwelcome thoughts, feelings and disruption, which ultimately increase one’s fear, dread, worry and depression.

Christine Hassauer, research associate and doctoral candidate at the Technical University of Munich, discusses her work in developing a conceptual framework to describe food safety. 

Charlotte Heinzlef, PhD student at the University of Avignon and the University of Mons, discusses her research on the concept of resilience in relation to urban floods. Heinzlef aims to develop a holistic methodology to operationalize resilience by redefining its objectives and actions. 

Frederic Bouder and Mikael Karlsson, PhD, senior researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, discuss risk science and policy, with a focus on European policies. 

Gary Wilkerson, EdD, professor of graduate athletic training at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, discusses his recent research on developing an individualized approach to injury prevention for athletes. Using screening tests that measure physical performance in conjunction with Internet of Things devices, Wilkerson was able to gather data to understand the odds of injury recurrence for each athlete. 

Peter Ayton, associate dean research & deputy dean social sciences at City University of London, discusses the psychological influences on risk and risk perceptions. 

Hiba Baroud, PhD, professor of civil engineering and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University, and Andrea Staid, PhD, senior technical staff member at Sandia National Laboratories, discuss short and long term solutions to making our country's power systems more resilient, especially as extreme weather events become more severe. 

Robert Goble, PhD, research professor of environment, technology and society at Clark University, discusses what belongs, and doesn't belong, in a risk assessment. Goble argues that the choice of boundaries is a foundational and practical concern and something that constantly requires revisiting. 

Seth Guikema, PhD, professor of industrial & operations engineering and civil & environmental engineering at the University of Michigan and Giovanni Sansavini, PhD, professor of reliability and risk engineering at the University ETH Zurich, discuss infrastructure management and anti-fragility. Their research shows that disasters can be an opportunity for infrastructure systems to improve. 

Joe Arvai, PhD, professor of sustainable enterprise and director of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan, and Robyn Wilson, PhD, associate professor of risk analysis and decision science at the Ohio State University discuss their interactions with the EPA and new regulations impacting the Science Advisory Board. 

Lukasz Bratasz, PhD, head of the Sustainable Conservation Lab at Yale University, and Barbara Swiatkowska, from the National Museum in Krakow, Poland, discuss risk analysis in relation to the preservation of cultural heritage. 

Roshanak Nateghi, PhD, professor of industrial engineering at Purdue University, and Seth Guikema, PhD, professor of industrial & operations engineering and civil & environmental engineering at the University of Michigan, discuss harnessing data driven risk analytics and predictive modeling with regard to weather extremes, climate change and the resiliency of critical infrastructure. 

Hiba Baroud, PhD, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University, discusses resilience in the context of risk analysis, including reconfiguration on systems, anti-fragility, vulnerability, modeling and assessments.