The mission of the Risk and Decision Science Team is to improve the quality of decision-making by researching and developing risk and decision science methods and applying these techniques to real world problems in the fields of public safety, security, and the environment. At the forefront of this burgeoning field, we provide approaches for structuring and conducting risk assessment, stakeholder engagement, resource prioritization, planning, and other emerging issues analysis relevant to the USACE, Army, and Nation. We develop adaptive methods and models for describing relevant risks along with decision analysis techniques to compare and guide the selection of risk management alternatives.

We can perform advanced risk assessments, including comparative risk assessments and uncertainty analyses, with a recent shift towards integrated decision analysis and adaptive management. Over the last two years, the U.S. Army Engineer Researh and Development Center (ERDC) has become a leader in the field within the U.S. Government as evidenced by an increased number of requests for ERDC support from other agencies, such as Environmental Protection Agency, Department of the Interior, Department of Homeland Security, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Department of State, and Department of Health and Human Services. Specific achievements include multiple site-specific risk assessments, management of dredged materials, life cycle analysis, stakeholder engagement, adaptive management, risk communication, project portfolio prioritization.

Situated within ERDC, the U.S. Army’s premier research laboratory, the Risk and Decision Science Team brings together a unique combination of expertise and experience in helping decision-makers cope with complexity and uncertainty.

Team Lead and Point of Contact:
Igor Linkov, PhD