Center for Hazards and Risk Research - LDEO

The mission of theColumbia Center for Hazards and Risk Research at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is to advance the predictive science of natural and environmental hazards and the integration of science with hazard risk assessment and risk management. It is within the context of a compelling social need for reduction ofcatastrophic events from natural and environmental hazards that a group of Columbia's physical and social scientists are proposing a new program in disaster studies. Drawing from research capacity in the earth and environmental sciences, engineering, social sciences and public policy, the Center for Hazards and Risk Research will have a twofold focus: the assessment of predictive science capability and the integration of science with hazard risk assessment and management. Operationally this will require advances in the geospatial-demographic modeling of physical processes and their potential societal impacts. It will also require a renewed focus on the translation of scientific concepts of probability and uncertainty into a language and set of rules useful to decision-makers.