VICKSBURG, Miss. – Dr. Benjamin Trump, a research social scientist with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Environmental Laboratory (EL), was recently awarded the Chauncey Starr Distinguished Young Risk Analyst Award by the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA).
“He is one of a few SRA members who can legitimately claim saving lives during COVID. With seven books and more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, he has unmatched contributions to science for his age. We are grateful for his many contributions to SRA,” SRA leadership said in a statement about Trump’s contributions to the field of risk analysis.
“I’ve been a member of SRA since 2010 and, in that time, I’ve met a tremendous array and diversity of scientists that have made an incredible impact around the world,” Trump said. “To be able to be counted in the roster of individuals that have received the Chauncey Starr Award in previous years is a true honor.”
The SRA is a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, scholarly, international society that provides an open forum for all those who are interested in risk analysis. Risk analysis is broadly defined to include risk assessment, risk characterization, risk communication, risk management, and policy relating to risk, in the context of risks of concern to individuals, to public- and private-sector organizations, and to society at a local, regional, national, or global level.
The SRA’s Chauncey Starr Distinguished Young Risk Analyst Award is “awarded to any member of the Society age 40 years or younger for outstanding achievement in science or public policy relating to risk analysis and exceptional promise for continued contributions to risk analysis.”
During his time at ERDC, Trump has worked on several projects relating to public health risk assessment. In summer 2022, Trump was tapped to lead ERDC’s newly established Engineering for Public Health Center, which focuses on developing engineering and public health research and data analytics before, during and after crisis events for all manner of activities and applications, anywhere in the world.
“I hope this opportunity, through Chauncey Starr, gives me many new avenues to continue to engage with SRA, to continue to engage with risk science and to help build a network to address society’s more intractable problems,” Trump said.