Protective Decision-making for Transportation Systems under Changing Conditions

Abstract:  

From thawing sea ice to increased storm frequency and intensity, a changing climate is impacting societies, urban and rural alike, across the globe. These changes are creating hazard conditions with permanent impact, as well as episodic and increasingly damaging disruption occurrences. It is threatening the sustainability of our built environment, including our roadways, maritime systems and supply chains. Additionally, the actions we take in response may exacerbate the conditions that led to their need, creating knock-on effects. This talk describes optimization, real options and machine learning approaches designed for use in assessing, preparing for and recovering from climate-related extreme conditions and event occurrences posed to these systems.

Bio:

Dr. Elise Miller-Hooks holds the Bill and Eleanor Hazel Endowed Chair in Infrastructure Engineering and is the Department Chair of the Sid & Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering at George Mason University. She has served as an advisor to the World Bank Group, was inducted into the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine, and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier’s Sustainability Analytics and Modeling journal. Prior to her appointment at Mason, Dr. Miller-Hooks served as a program director at the U.S. National Science Foundation and on the faculties of the University of Maryland, Pennsylvania State University and Duke University. Dr. Miller-Hooks received her Ph.D. (1997) and M.S. (1994) degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas – Austin and B.S. in Civil Engineering from Lafayette College (1992).