An ad hoc committee will organize presentations and discussions on how risk and uncertainty influence decision making as the focal point of the summer (June 19-20, 2012) meeting of the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable (GUIRR). The event, which is planned to be held in conjunction with and to inform the GUIRR meeting, will consider how risk is recognized and understood by the public and policymakers, the effects of uncertainty including financial implications, and accounting for uncertainty and risk in decision making.

At the meeting, GUIRR members will discuss how leaders in the three sectors (government, academia, industry) can make effective decisions given various levels of risk and uncertainty. Specifically: How does one measure and analyze risk, make sensible tradeoffs, understand the uncertainty of outcome, and avoid (as best as possible) unintended consequences? The discussion will be at the nexus of decisionmaking and policymaking; considering the difficulties of risk analysis and prediction (predicting a future occurrence left to be specified). Case studies on risk in various areas such as terrorism, climate change, natural disasters, defense, energy, and water will also be explored.

A brief, individually-authored meeting summary will be issued.