Dr. von Winterfeldt has served CREATE previously, as its co-founding director from 2003 to 2008. From 2009 to 2012 he was on a leave of absence from USC as the director of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria. Concurrently with his term at IIASA, he was a centennial professor of management science at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
“I am delighted to return to CREATE," Dr. von Winterfeldt explained. “These are challenging times, especially with threats from ISIL and homegrown terrorism. Building on over ten years of excellent research, CREATE will continue to use innovative studies and analyses to contribute to making our nation safer and to guiding cost-effective investments into our Nation’s security."
Dr. von Winterfeldt’s research interests are in the foundation and practice of decision and risk analysis applied to the areas of technology development, environmental risks, natural hazards and terrorism. He is the co-author of two books, two edited volumes, and author or co-author of over 120 refereed articles and chapters.
Dr. von Winterfeldt has served on numerous committees and panels of the U.S. National Academies and the U.S. National Science Foundation, including an appointment to the National Academies’ Board on Mathematical Sciences and their Applications. He is an elected fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and of the Society for Risk Analysis. In 2000, he received the Ramsey Medal for distinguished contributions to decision analysis from the Decision Analysis Society of INFORMS. In 2009, he received the Gold Medal from the International Society for Multicriteria Decision Making for advancing the field and in 2012 he received the distinguished achievement award by the Society for Risk Analysis.