EZELL NAMED CHIEF SCIENTIST AT VMASC
Barry Ezell, a research associate professor at Old Dominion University's Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC), has been named the center's chief scientist.
Ezell, 47, a retired Army officer and combat veteran, came to VMASC with 20 years' experience in military decision-making, operations research and risk analysis for the Department of Defense (DOD), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). A research expert in areas such as all-hazards risk and decision analysis, operations research systems analysis, insurgency and terrorism modeling and simulation, and capabilities-based assessment, Ezell has led a number of multidisciplinary research projects on VMASC's behalf.
Most recently, he was principal investigator for Virginia's Office of Veterans Affairs & Homeland Security's Hampton Roads Full Scale Exercise, a four-day multipronged simulation of a number of emergency scenarios for Hampton Roads, including the aftermath of a devastating hurricane. Ezell was also project manager for the DHS Office of Risk Management and Analysis' Methodological Enhancements to the Risk Assessment Process for Informed Decision Making (RAPID), and is doing ongoing applied modeling and simulation research for DHS in a number of other disciplines.
Ezell is a member of the Hampton Roads Urban Areas Working Group and the Hampton Roads Critical Infrastructure Key Resources Steering Group. He has authored more than 30 modeling and simulation research papers, and currently serves as associate editor for Military Operations Research, and editor/board member for the International Journal of Critical Infrastructures Systems and Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science. He is a member of the Society for Risk Analysis, Military Operations Research Society, Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, and Association of the United States Army.
Ezell received the Distinguished Graduate Award from the Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems, University of Virginia, in 1998. He earned a Ph.D. in engineering management and systems engineering from ODU. His undergraduate degree is a B.S. in mechanical engineering technology from the University of Southern Mississippi.
As the new chief scientist, Ezell succeeds Yiannis Papelis, who will remain a research professor at VMASC, focusing on the center's virtual environments applied research area and robotics lab.