NPRE associate professor Zahra Mohaghegh has been selected to serve as a member of the Committee on Transport Airplane Risk Assessment Methodology of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
This study will assess the risk assessment methodology used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under the overall safety oversight system. The FAA uses the Transport Airplane Risk Assessment Methodology (TARAM) to quantify potential risks in currently operating airplanes and to inform FAA decision makers regarding corrective actions to prevent accidents. The committee will create a report that will provide recommendations to improve the methodology and effectiveness of TARAM as an element of aviation safety. The consensus study report is due to be published in summer 2022.
“We are very happy to see that Prof Mohaghegh’s expertise, leadership and national recognition in PRA is being put to good use in areas beyond nuclear power,” NPRE professor and department head Rizwan Uddin said.
Dr. Mohaghegh is also an affiliate to the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, the School of Information Sciences, and the Carle Illinois College of Medicine at UIUC. Mohaghegh established the Socio-Technical Risk Analysis (SoTeRiA) Research Laboratory at UIUC to advance risk science and applications for the safety of complex technological systems.
She has conducted research on probabilistic risk assessment, probabilistic physics of failure analysis, human-system reliability modeling, risk-informed decision making, and uncertainty analysis, benefiting from grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Federal Aviation Administration, nuclear power industry, and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Mohaghegh received the Zonta International Award for conducting aviation safety research, the George Apostolakis Award in risk assessment, and the American Nuclear Society Mary Jane Oestmann Professional Women’s Achievement Award for her pioneering in the introduction of human and organizational factors into the risk analysis of socio-technical systems in nuclear and other high-risk industries. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association for Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management (IAPSAM).