PNNL

Congratulations to Sam Chatterjee and his multi-institutional team for winning the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) Best Poster Award at their annual conference. The poster, “Cyber-Based Interdependent Infrastructure Network Resilience Analysis” is part of an effort to strengthen the resilience of complex infrastructure systems, such as the national airspace network.

Current approaches to model and understand interdependent infrastructure systems do not fully address network complexities, dependencies, heterogeneities, and dynamics. These interconnected networks are increasingly vulnerable to failures resulting from extreme weather, mechanical breakdowns, a computer glitch, or even a cyberattack.

Using real-world data and modeling assumptions, Chatterjee’s team creates sophisticated algorithms and computational pipelines to identify network failure and recovery profiles. As simulated failure propagates through the interconnections within and across networks, the researchers gain insight into ways to prevent, prepare for, recover from, and adapt to natural or targeted disruptions.

This ongoing research, under an internal laboratory capability investment in cyber consequence prediction, shows promise for applications across other networks—including multimodal transportation and communication—and is now garnering support from external sponsors.

Chatterjee’s multidisciplinary team includes Arun Sathanur, Mahantesh Halappanavar, Omer Subasi, and Robert Brigantic from PNNL; Auroop Ganguly and Nishant Yadav from Northeastern University-Boston; Udit Bhatia from the Indian Institute of Technology; Jianxi Gao from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and Kevin Clark from Volpe National Transportation Systems Center.

Chatterjee holds an affiliate professor appointment in Northeastern University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He was also elected as the 2020 vice-chair of SRA’s Security and Defense Specialty Group at the December SRA annual meeting.