Perspectives on Modeling Infrastructure Network Resilience

The importance of infrastructure networks to economic productivity, community health, and societal way of life requires a thorough set of models describing various aspects of their (i) vulnerability and (ii) recoverability. This talk provides several perspectives on modeling these two dimensions of resilience. The first research perspective includes a tri-level optimization model for a protection-interdiction-restoration problem in interdependent networks along with hybrid solution algorithms, along with some accounting for socio-economic factors in pre- and post-disruption investments and for the real problem of routing restoration work crews on a transportation network. The second research perspective presents new work on the weaponization of disinformation against infrastructure networks.

Kash Barker is the John A. Myers Professor and a David L. Boren Professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. His research has largely been devoted to the reliability, resilience, and economic impacts of infrastructure, supply chain, and community networks, resulting in 100+ journal articles and funding from NSF and DoD, among others. A fellow of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, he is an associate editor of IISE Transactions, Naval Research Logistics, and Military Operations Research, and he is on the editorial boards of Risk Analysis and Scientific Reports.