Risk analysis issues — ranging from estimating the likelihood of terrorist attacks on the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to the risks and benefits of nuclear energy — will be the focus of a two-day Decision and Risk Analysis Conference May 21-22, being held for the first time at The University of Texas at Dallas.
Hosted by the UT Dallas School of Management’s International Center for Decision and Risk Analysis (ICDRiA), the event will feature more than 130 international experts, scholars and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines who share an interest in risk analysis. Co-chairing the conference are UT Dallas Distinguished Professor Alain Bensoussan, Ph.D., who is ICDRiA’s director, and Stanford University’s Distinguished Professor Elisabeth Pate-Cornell, Ph.D., a pre-eminent scholar in the field of risk management.
“Most industries — technology, business, healthcare and others — all have a common thread: risk, whether it’s the risk of security breach or the spread of disease,” explained Dr. Bensoussan, who is the former head of the European Space Agency.
“The diversity of various sectors offers opportunities for fruitful synergies, but it also creates some difficulties. The purpose of this conference is to exchange ideas and methods in an effort to develop generic approaches and an understanding of concepts in different domains, which is important for the development of risk analysis methods in specified disciplines, as well as cross-fertilization among sectors,” said Dr. Bensoussan.
UT Dallas School of Management Dean Dr. Hasan Pirkul said that risk management is a new, but critical field of study at the university. “This conference will promote an exchange of knowledge between industries that will provide value for all and will offer the ability to carry out projects relevant to industry’s needs,” Dr. Pirkul said.
Keynote speakers at the conference include Dr. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, an epistemologist and bestselling author of Fooled by Randomness and author of the April-released The Black Swan: The Impact
of the Highly Improbable; Dr. K. Kasturirangan, former president of the Indian Space Agency ISRO and member of the Indian Parliament; and Dr. Greg Parnell, a professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point and member of the Technology Panel of the National Security Agency Advisory Board.
Between 150 and 200 people are expected to attend the conference, which will be held in the Davidson Auditorium, room 1.118, in the School of Management building on the UT Dallas campus. Sessions include: National Security, Supply Chain Risk Management, Financial Risk Management and Energy and Natural Resources. For more information, see http://som.utdallas.edu/risk2007.
About the School of Management
The School of Management is the largest of UT Dallas’ seven schools, with an enrollment of nearly 4,700, of which 2,500 are graduate students. Faculty in the school rank 32nd in research productivity nationwide, based on publications in the top 24 business journals spanning all areas of business. Financial Times, using a broader set of 40 journals, ranks UT Dallas’ management faculty 30th worldwide. Financial Times also ranks the university’s Executive MBA program 48th in the world and 22nd in the United States, and U.S. News and World Report lists UT Dallas’ fulltime Cohort MBA program 53rd nationwide and 26th among public colleges and universities.
About UT Dallas
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls more than 14,500 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UT Dallas, please visit the university’s website at www.utdallas.edu.
Contact Jill Glass, UT Dallas, (972) 883-6298, pschoch@utdallas.edu