The interconnectedness of infrastructure systems — both physical and cyber — coupled with factors including evolving manmade threats, climate change, population shifts, and aging infrastructure, amplify the risk to infrastructure and community resilience. The Risk and Infrastructure Science Center (RISC) researches, designs, and delivers scientific tools and methodologies to inform decision making regarding the most challenging security, risk, and resilience problems.
RISK AND INFRASTRUCTURE SCIENCE CENTER
Informing decisions about risk and resilience
Throughout the last two decades, RISC has completed major research efforts and developed unique tools to support local, state, and Federal sponsors in protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure. RISC experts have developed methods to understand dependencies and interdependencies, build resilient infrastructures, and respond to emergencies. RISC has developed unique research programs to protect the nation’s cyber-based infrastructure systems; conduct all-source threat analysis; and support emergency preparedness, transportation security, and crisis management in U.S. communities.
Focus Areas
Infrastructure Science
RISC conducts research and analysis to enhance infrastructure resilience and reduce the risk of disruption or destruction from climate change, natural hazards, accidents, or security threats. Our research informs the resilient design of future physical and cyber infrastructure to withstand a full range of manmade and natural threats.
Threat Analysis
RISC experts conduct near-real-time, all-source analysis by fusing intelligence with complex data sets and multi-disciplinary expertise. We also deliver highly sophisticated scientific analysis through actionable products, portals, and tools.
Cyber Operations, Analysis, and Research
To ensure the resilience of U.S. infrastructure, it is essential that networks associated with infrastructure assets are protected against increasingly frequent cyber attacks. RISC’s Cyber Operations, Analysis, and Research (COAR) team develops and implements the tools and provides the expertise to conduct extensive network analysis to support federal agencies, military sponsors, and commercial organizations in efforts to improve the security and resilience of their network design and operations.
Emergency & Disaster Analysis
RISC experts develop and apply methods and technologies to assist emergency managers, planners, and responders in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from human-caused or natural emergencies and disasters.
RISC Strategic Goals:
- Provide state-of-the-art cyber and physical analytic methodologies and products to address climate change, natural hazards, accidents, and terrorist threats.
- Inform the planning, preparedness, and resilient design of infrastructure to build or adapt assets, systems, and networks that are capable of withstanding future threats.
- Conduct near-real-time, all-source analysis in support of the intelligence community.
- Integrate emergency preparedness methodologies and technologies into full-spectrum resilience analysis in an all-hazards threat environment.
