Society for Risk Analysis Meeting Set for Salt Lake City, Utah December 5-8

Newswise — Nearly 1,000 international scientists and risk analysis practitioners from a wide range of disciplines will gather in Salt Lake City in early December to present and evaluate new studies and scientific approaches to more accurately predict and evaluate chemical, technological, and other risks facing human health and the environment.

Addressing risks ranging from climate change climate change to environmental toxins to food safety, the annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) “is the premier event of the year for risk analysis,” said SRA President-Elect Rachel Davidson, Ph.D, Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware. “Prominent scientists and engineers from around the world – including experts from academia, government, the private sector and the nonprofit world – are gathering to discuss pressing risk issues of today and the future.”

Keynote speakers will include William Hooke of the American Meteorological Society, Granger Morgan of Carnegie Mellon University, and Scott Belden of Travelers Insurance, who will discuss reducing the potential for catastrophic risks in the face of climate change. A second plenary session will focus on financial risks and features Richard Zeckhauser of Harvard University and Michael Maubaussin of Legg Mason Capital Management.

The 2010 annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) will be held at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown will serve as the headquarters hotel. With members spanning many disciplines including food safety, environmental science, engineering, policy, communication, social psychology and the law, “SRA members value the perspectives offered by different scientific and engineering disciplines and share a commitment to high quality risk analysis methodology and practice,” said current SRA President Rick Reiss of the Exponent consultancy.

With the overall theme of Risk Analysis in Action, nearly 100 plenary and technical sessions will be featured on diverse subjects including toxicology, oil spill exposures, climate change, salmonella, homeland security, terrorism assessments, medical product safety, nanotechnology, emergency response, international toxics laws, natural disasters, and emerging water contaminants.

The Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) is a nonprofit multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, scholarly, international society that provides an open forum for all those who are interested in risk analysis. Risk analysis is broadly defined to include risk assessment, risk characterization, risk communication, risk management, and policy relating to risk, in the context of risks of concern to individuals, to public and private sector organizations, and to society at a local, regional, national, or global level. See www.sra.org

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