Gheorghe in Bahrain to Speak at Maritime Infrastructure Protection Symposium

Adrian Gheorghe, the Batten Endowed Chair in system of systems engineering at Old Dominion University, is one of two dozen international experts leading a Maritime Infrastructure Protection Symposium Feb. 3-5 in Manama, Bahrain.

The symposium is sponsored by the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. Gheorge is a presenter in The Threat and Threat Protection portion of the program, and his topic is "Mission Analysis-Understanding the Threat."

The opening and closing addresses will be by Vice Adm. William Gortney, commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. Fifth Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces.

Participants will be industry, security and military professionals interested in maritime protection and crisis response for ports, harbors, resorts, energy infrastructure, desalination plants and all other infrastructure vulnerable in the maritime domain.

A Romanian by birth, Gheorghe was educated in Bucharest and London and has three decades of experience as a risk engineer. He joined ODU in 2006 after serving as director of the Centre of Excellence on Risk and Safety Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. He is vice president of the World Security Forum and honorary president of EURISC (European Institute for Risk and Security).

He is among the pioneers in applying system of systems engineering to risk assessment and management. He and colleagues in Europe have developed computational models for these purposes, with a focus on risks from sabotage, terrorism, cyber vandalism and natural disasters. At ODU he is working with the university's National Center for System of Systems Engineering.