CBE Research Seminar Series: Bayesian Network and Influence Diagram for Post-Hazard Learning and Decision-Making for Infrastructure Systems

The American University of Armenia (AUA) College of Business & Economics (CBE) is hosting a seminar led by President of AUA Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian. He will be presenting his research on “Bayesian Network and Influence Diagram for Post-Hazard Learning and Decision-Making for Infrastructure Systems”. The seminar is part of the CBE Research Seminar Series aimed to host faculty presentations on their research findings, create a more vibrant research environment, and promote scientific collaboration among the AUA faculty. The seminar is open to the AUA community only. 

Rapid recovery of infrastructure systems in the immediate aftermath of a major hazard is crucial for mitigating losses and assuring well-being of communities. Infrastructures, such as transportation and communication networks, power, water and gas distribution systems, are especially vulnerable to natural and man-made hazards due to their spatially distributed exposure, dependence between component states, and multiplicity of failure modes. Bayesian network and influence diagram methods are used to model the hazard and infrastructure system, and to process information gained from observations and prioritize decision alternatives. An application to a hypothetical model of the California high-speed rail system in the aftermath of an earthquake will demonstrate the methodology.

Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian is the fourth President of the American University of Armenia. He is Taisei Professor of Civil Engineering Emeritus of the University of California, Berkeley, where he served for 37 years in various positions, including as Chair of the Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials Program and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Dr. Der Kiureghian’s teaching and research have been in the areas of risk and reliability of constructed facilities and systems, stochastic structural dynamics, earthquake engineering, and engineering decision making. He has authored more than 400 publications, including 120 in archival journals. He has supervised 30 doctoral candidates to completion, all of whom are highly successful specialists in academia or industry. He has held visiting professorships at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, University of Tokyo, Japan, ROSE School in Pavia, Italy, Technical University of Denmark, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and Technical University of Munich, Germany. 

Der Kiureghian received his B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from Tehran University, Iran, and his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.