Name: William Petak  Title: Professor of Public Administration
Email: petak@usc.edu
Organization: University of Southern California

Biography: William J. Petak is Co-Principal Investigator for USC at ICIS and Professor of Public Administration at the School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California. Dr. Petak’s research interests involve interdisciplinary approaches to the management of technology, with special emphasis on reducing the risks associated with new technologies and natural hazards. He is a past member of the following National Research Council committees: the Decade for Natural Hazard Reduction, Natural Disasters, Ground Failure Hazards Research, and the Socioeconomic Aspects of Earthquake Prediction. He is the author of many papers on earthquake hazard mitigation and public policy, and is co-author of three books Natural Risk Assessment and Public Policy (1982), Politics and Economics of Earthquake Hazard Mitigation (1986), and Disabled Persons and Earthquake Hazards (1988). Education: B.S., Engineering, University of Pittsburgh; M.B.A., University of Southern California; Doctor of Public Administration, University of Southern California.

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