Dr. Yacov Y. Haimes, regarded by many as “the father of security risk analysis”, has passed away. Dr. Haimes was most recently the Lawrence R. Quarles Professor of Systems Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering Emeritus, and founding director (1987) of the Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems at the University of Virginia.
As an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)-American Geophysical Union (AGU) Congressional Science Fellow (1977-78), Dr. Haimes served in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President, and on the United States House of Representatives Science and Technology Committee. From 1990 to 2011 he served as a consultant, then a Visiting Scientist at the Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University.
In 2015, he was appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to a three-year term serving on the Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee. He was a Fellow of seven societies including the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA), where he was a past President.
Dr. Haimes was also a well-respected author of books and technical publications. The fourth edition of his highly-regarded Risk Modeling, Assessment, and Management, was published in 2016 by Wiley & Sons.
He was the recipient of the 2014 UCLA Civil and Environmental Engineering Department Distinguished Alumnus Award; the 2014 ASCE American Academy of Water Resources Engineers Founders Award; the 2010 Distinguished Educator Award presented by SRA; the 2007 Icko Iben Award presented by the American Water Resources Association; the 2001 Norbert Weiner Award, presented by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society (IEEE-SMC); the 2000 Distinguished Achievement Award, presented by SRA; the 1997 Warren A. Hall Medal, the highest award presented by Universities Council on Water Resources; the 1995 Georg Cantor Award, presented by the International Society on Multiple Criteria Decision Making, and the 1994 Outstanding Contribution Award presented by the IEEE-SMC. Following Hurricane Katrina, he was appointed as the 2007 Arthur Maass-Gilbert White Fellow, U.S Army Corps of Engineers, Institute for Water Resources, among others.
Dr. Haimes also served as dissertation/thesis advisor to 39 Ph.D. students, to 85 M.S., and to 132 B.S. students.
