GIRS Hosts 14th PSAM International Conference
/After two years of the PSAM committee coordinating this event, the PSAM conferences return to Los Angeles; where UCLA’s Garrick Institute for the Risk Sciences (GIRS) had the privilege to welcome several colleagues and their families, from all over the world, to the fourteenth rendition of the Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management (PSAM) Conference. GIRS was enthusiastic to host this event, since PSAM was founded by one of our very own Senior Fellows Dr. George Apostolakis. In 1991, the 1st PSAM Conference was organized in Beverly Hills, since then, the conferences have been held worldwide.
The Conference took place at UCLA’s Meyer & Renee Luskin Conference Center on the UCLA campus the week of September 16-21, 2018. PSAM is among the most prestigious and effective international organizations dedicated to the better management of the risk and safety of complex systems, both natural and anthropogenic.
About 400 participants attended the five-day event that consisted of experts from all over the globe in distinct fields. There were approximately 275 scholarly presentations, including numerous panel discussions on different topics. They were able to discuss and share various methods, technologies, and ideas to the risk and reliability community. Topics ranged from Bio and Medical Technology, Civil Engineering, Financial Management, IT and Telecommunications, Nuclear, Off-shore and Marine, Process and Chemical Industries, Space and Aviation, and many others.
On Monday, our first keynote speaker and our Honorary Chair, Dr. B. John Garrick spoke about “the challenges and opportunities facing the Risk Sciences.”
B. John Garrick
Peter Catona
On Tuesday, Dr. Peter Katona, a clinical Professor of Medicine in Infectious Diseases at the David School of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Public Health at UCLA, reflected on “Biological Terrorism: Not a question of IF but WHEN.” Later that day, a special luncheon was held where many colleagues and their families were able to enjoy a delicious meal and to socialize.
ali mosleh
On Wednesday, our Distinguished University Professor and Evelyn Knight Chair holder in Engineering at UCLA, Dr. Ali Mosleh discussed the “Risk of Models.” That same day, the Gala Dinner was arranged.
RogeR l. mccarthy
During the Gala Dinner, our Senior Fellow to the Garrick Institute, Dr. Roger L. McCarthy gave a special presentation about the Piper Alpha Tragedy from 1988 titled, “Did the US Nonresponse to Piper Alpha Lead Directly to Deepwater Horizon?” Soon after that, everyone enjoyed a lovely dinner full of laughter and exchange of ideas.
John Casani
On Thursday, Dr. John Casani, a retiree from Jet Propulsion Lab, spoke about “Assuring Mission Success for Planetary Space Missions.”
On Friday, the final day of the conference, there were a few workshops followed by closing remarks and an Ice Cream Social.
On behalf of The Garrick Institute for the Risk Sciences, we would like to thank everyone who attended and participated in the PSAM Conference. We hope you enjoyed your stay in Los Angeles and that you took something valuable from these workshops and presentations. This event would not have been possible without the major contribution at all levels from our General Chair Dr. David H. Johnson, our Honorary Chair Dr. B John Garrick, our Distinguished University Professor Ali Mosleh, our Associate Chairs Dr. Mihai Diaconeasa and Dr. Woody Epstein, our Senior Fellows Dr. Roger L. McCarthy, Dr. Peter Katona, Dr. John Casani, and our volunteers: Arjun, Austin Ma, Jeonghyun Lee, Htet Shew, Keo-Yuan Wu, Lixian Huan, Tengfei Wang, Theresa Stewart, and Wadie Chalgham. We would like to give a special gratitude to Hanna Shapira who continued to aide during and after the event. Thanks to everyone, the 14th PSAM Conference was a success.
David johnson and enrico zio
Until next time, see you all in Italy 2020, Ciao!
