Let's Talk Risk
Episodes
The Case for Honest PFAS Communication
15 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
"Forever chemicals" have been in headlines for years, but are people actually getting the information they need to protect themselves? In this episode...
Words that work: talking climate change with the public
09 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When we think about communicating risk, we often focus on the evidence: the data, the models, the science. But what if the words we choose to frame th...
Inside the Supply Chain Trust Game
31 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Zachary Collier, assistant professor at Radford University and longtime member of the Society for Risk Analysis,...
With Access Interupted, How Do We Rebuild?
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When disaster strikes, how do we rebuild...and do we do it differently? The answer might start with something simpler than we think: listening to the...
Crowdsourcing the Federal Institutional Comeback
18 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Two veteran risk analysts reflect on how scientists, academics, and federal employees (both former and current) are planning for the day agencies can ...
When AI Meets Biology: The Race Between Innovation and Oversight
10 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Biotechnology is advancing faster than ever before, and the stakes have never been higher. In this episode, Dr. Christopher Cummings, lead for the Ce...
How Can We Build Institutional Resilience?
28 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Let's Talk Risk, we're diving into a conversation with two leaders in global development: Abhilash Panda from the UN Office for Di...
Narrowing in on Nanotechnology
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Khara Grieger, assistant professor of environmental health and risk assessment at NC State University, joins Dr. Sandra Alday to discuss emerging nano...
Going Beyond the Ballot: Interplay Risks of Technology and Humans in Electoral Systems
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do we keep elections secure in a world of evolving technology and human error? In this episode, Dr. Sandra Alday sits down with Dr. Natalie Scala,...
Messengers and Messages: Demystifying Misinformation in the Modern Age
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Dominic Balog-Way and Dr. Katherine McComas of Cornell University join Sandra Alday for a compelling episode on their paper titled "Unpacking the ...
Rethinking Risk Education Through Object-Based Learning and the Arts
13 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this latest episode, Dr. Sandra Alday is joined by two guests from the University of Melbourne: Dr. Anna Kosovac and Dr. Olivia Meehan. Together, t...
How Collective Action Increases Community Resilience
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Sandra Alday is joined by Manomita Das of the Joint Centre for Disaster Research at Massey University. Together, they discuss what motivates peopl...
Exploring the Dimensions of Risk Perception
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Sandra Alday is joined by professor of risk analysis and decision science, Robyn Wilson, to discuss how we perceive risks and make decisions.
What Happened in Kerr County, Texas? Understanding Flooding in Today's Climate
21 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the early hours of July 4, 2025, a torrent of 100 billion gallons of rain fell on Kerr County, Texas causing the Guadalupe River to rise meters in ...
A Yardstick for Danger: Developing a Flexible and Sensitive Measure of Risk Perception
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of Let's Talk Risk, Robyn Wilson, Professor of Risk Analysis and Decision Science and Acting Associate Director of Research and Gradu...
Risk of Mass Shooting in Public Settings
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of Let's Talk Risk, Cameron MacKenzie, Associate Professor at the IMSE Department at Iowa State University, joins us to talk about th...
Misinformation on Social Media: How to Debunk and Stop the Spread
23 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of Let's Talk Risk, Professor Jun Zhuang, the Morton C. Frank Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Buf...
Explore a Low-Carbon Future & the Tradeoffs in Climate Geoengineering
10 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Benjamin K. Sovacool, professor at Boston University, University of Sussex, and Aarhus University, joins the podcast to discuss his new research on cl...
A New Metric to Fight Inequity in Home Evaluations
21 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. David Johnson, professor of industrial engineering with a joint appointment of political science at Purdue University, joins Let's Talk Risk to di...
The Importance of Consumer Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Products
04 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There are plenty of environmental issues plaguing the world today. Whether it's climate change, water shortage or waste, it always boils down to one t...
All Things Extreme Weather Events: Outages, Patterns, Restoration, & More
22 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nicole Jackson, Ph.D., of Sandia National Labs, joins the Let's Talk Risk podcast to talk about her work analyzing how extreme weather events and clim...
A Closer Look at the Risk of Mail-In Ballots
22 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Natalie Scala, associate professor at Towson University, joins the podcast to discuss her recent research on evaluating mail-based security for electo...
COVID-19 is a Risk Communication Failure. How Do We Avoid This in the Future?
08 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jose Palma-Oliverira, professor at the University of Lisbon, joins the podcast to talk all things risk communication regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
The COVID-19 Pandemic: Where is it Headed Next?
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Let's Talk Risk Podcast is happy to welcome back Ben Trump, a research social scientist at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center to ta...
How do you apply complex COVID-19 risk model for safe reopening a major university and elementary schools
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Seth Guikema discusses complex risk modeling for the University of Michigan's COVID-19 reopening plan. Seth is a professor in the Department of ...
COVID-19 Vaccines from a Risk-Based Perspective
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What does vaccination development look like from a risk-based perspective? Seth Guikema, Ph.D., University of Michigan, talks with Ben Trump, a member...
Texas Energy Crisis - Sustainability vs. Resilience, a Risk Perspective
30 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when the power grid fails and resilience is lacking? Seth Guikema, Ph.D., University of Michigan and Mark H. Weir, Ph.D., The Ohio State ...
Compound Hazards: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
25 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Robyn Wilson, Ph.D., Ohio State University, and Gina Eosco, Ph.D., NOAA, discuss compound hazards and how that impacts the decision making process for...
COVID-19 Impacts on Risk Research
28 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Four panelists discuss the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on their research projects in various disciplines of risk analysis. Panelists: Gabriell...
Insights into Reopening the Economy
15 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Robin Cantor, Ph.D., and Dubravka Tosic, Ph.D., Berkeley Research Group, discuss how businesses and non-profits can begin to re-open and regain their ...
COVID-19 Pandemic: Is History Doomed to Repeat Itself?
29 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Vicki Bier, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, discusses lessons learned from the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic.
New Challenges for Risk Analysis from COVID-19
15 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rae Zimmerman, Ph.D., research professor at NYU Wagner, discusses the new challenges for risk analysts posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, from a NYC pers...
Emerging Health Technologies: Do The Risks Outweigh The Rewards?
11 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Sally Wyatt, Ph.D., Maastricht University, and Marie-Valentine Florin, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), discuss direct-to-consumer gen...
Risk Communication on Social Media: Making Your Messages Go Further
01 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah Vos, PhD, a research analyst at the University of Kentucky, and Jeannette Sutton, PhD, an associate professor at the University of Kentucky, dis...
Facing Extreme Weather: How do YOU Prepare?
10 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Julie Demuth, project scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, discusses how individual experiences with extreme weather events, suc...
How Do We Determine If Our Food Is Safe?
13 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Christine Hassauer, research associate and doctoral candidate at the Technical University of Munich, discusses her work in developing a conceptual fra...
Building Urban Resilience
30 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Charlotte Heinzlef, PhD student at the University of Avignon and the University of Mons, discusses her research on the concept of resilience in relat...
Risk Science & the Regulatory Environment
16 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Frederic Bouder and Mikael Karlsson, PhD, senior researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, discuss risk science and policy, with a focus on Eur...
A Paradigm Shift in Injury Risk Reduction
02 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Gary Wilkerson, EdD, professor of graduate athletic training at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, discusses his recent research on developing a...
Emotions Control Your Appetite for Risk
18 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Peter Ayton, associate dean research & deputy dean social sciences at City University of London, discusses the psychological influences on risk and ri...
Power Systems Resilience: Can We Rely on Renewables?
04 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Hiba Baroud, PhD, professor of civil engineering and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University, and Andrea Staid, PhD, senior technical staff...
Boundaries in Risk Analysis: What's In & What's Out?
21 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Goble, PhD, research professor of environment, technology and society at Clark University, discusses what belongs, and doesn't belong, in a ris...
Infrastructure Management: Communities Can Profit From Disaster
07 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Seth Guikema, PhD, professor of industrial & operations engineering and civil & environmental engineering at the University of Michigan and Giovanni S...
Clearing House at the EPA: An Attack on Science
23 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Arvai, PhD, professor of sustainable enterprise and director of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan...
The Preservation of a Culture
09 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Lukasz Bratasz, PhD, head of the Sustainable Conservation Lab at Yale University, and Barbara Swiatkowska, from the National Museum in Krakow, Poland,...
The Uncertainty Component
27 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Hiba Baroud, PhD, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University, discusses resilience in the context of risk analysis, inc...
We've Been Underestimating Climate Change
27 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Roshanak Nateghi, PhD, professor of industrial engineering at Purdue University, and Seth Guikema, PhD, professor of industrial & operations engineeri...