IAPSAM - HISTORY

Our History

The use of explicit probabilistic methods in the design and operation of major engineering facilities is a very active endeavor, e.g., in civil engineering, nuclear reactor safety, chemical engineering, and the hazardous waste disposal industry. Naturally, the methods and analytical tools vary significantly among applications. Yet, many of the issues and models are common.

Recognizing the need for a forum in which analysts and practitioners would meet and exchange ideas members of the Southern California Chapter of the Society for Risk Analysis, under the leadership of Professor George Apostolakis (then of the University of California at Los Angeles), organized the first PSAM Conference in Beverly Hills, California, in February 4-7, 1991. Professor Apostolakis acted as the General and Technical Program Chair. The organizers' vision was to create a truly international and multidisciplinary conference. The second conference was held in San Diego, California in March 20-25, 1994. The General Chair was Dr. Michael Stamatelatos of Scientech, Inc. The Technical Program Chair was Professor Apostolakis.

The success of the first two conferences led to calls for a series of conferences. The magnitude of the required effort necessitated the creation of a corporation to handle the administrative and financial affairs associated with these conferences. The International Association for PSAM (IAPSAM) is a California not-for-profit corporation whose sole purpose is the operation of the PSAM conferences. It has a Board of Directors that consists of risk and reliability experts from around the world. The General Chair of the PSAM Conference is the President of IAPSAM. One fourth of the Board members are rotated every two years. Thus, a truly international organization has been created guaranteeing the successful continuation of the PSAM conferences.

The PSAM Conferences are now the premier international forum for communication among experts in risk and reliability assessment and management. The sessions are structured in a way that encourages the free exchange of ideas. Plenary lectures by experts in fields of wide interest provide an opportunity for the participants to be presented with an integrated view of the latest developments in these disciplines. More than 500 researchers and practitioners from around the world attend the biennial PSAM conferences.

The first Board of Directors consisted of the following founding members:

I. A. Papazoglou, President, NCSR Demokritos, Greece (General Chair of PSAM 3)
G. E. Apostolakis, Secretary, MIT, USA
A. A. Dykes, Treasurer, EQE International, USA
R. A. Bari, Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA
D. C. Bley, Buttonwood Consulting, USA
P. C. Cacciabue, Joint Research Center, Ispra, Italy
E. I. D. Harvey, W.S. Atkins, United Kingdom
S. B. Guarro, Aerospace Corporation, USA
P. Kafka, GRS, Germany
S. Kondo, University of Tokyo, Japan
A. Mosleh, University of Maryland, USA
R. J. Mulvihill, Consultant, USA
D. Orvis, Morrison Knudsen, USA
N. O. Siu, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, USA
M. G. Stamatelatos, Scientech, USA

'We Athenians, in our own persons, take our decisions on policy and submit them to proper discussions: for we do not think that there is an incompatibility between words and deeds; the worst thing is to rush into action before the consequences have been properly debated. And this is another point where we differ from other people. We are capable at the same time of taking risks and of estimating them beforehand. Others are brave out of ignorance; and, when they stop to think, they begin to fear. But the man who can most truly be accounted brave is he who best knows the meaning of what is sweet in life and what is terrible, and then goes out undeterred to meet what is to come.'

Funeral Oration
Delivered by Pericles circa 430 B.C.
Thucydides,
History of the Peloponnesian War
(II, 40)