Dr. Ahmed Shalabi, candidate for a tenure track position in Engineering will present on Tuesday, May 27 at 11:00 am in McDougall Hall, Room 243. His presentation is entitled "Communicating Risk to the Public: An Engineering Perspective." Abstract: when engineers make decisions based on assessing and managing risk, in the face of uncertainty, there are two main questions that need to be asked: 1) is better communication the answer, and 2) how can we gain the trust of the public? This presentation evaluates these questions in terms of the role that risk assessment and management play as engineers and policy makers attempt to protect public and private infrastructures. Risk directives will be discussed in in order to provide risk communication guidance based on a two-way conversation between engineers and the public. Engineers need to play a key role in reconciling expert and lay attitudes toward risk and need to always incorporate an estimate of the reliability of information. Furthermore, engineers need to be looked upon as trustworthy when they give their assessment of the potential risk. All are welcome to attend.