Elisabeth Pate-Cornell is the Burt and Deedee McMurtry Professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford University. She is currently chairman of the department of Management Science and Engineering (which is the result of a merger of several departments of the School of Engineering), a former chairman of the department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, and a member of the Stanford senate. She is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and a past president and fellow of the Society for Risk Analysis. She is also a member of several boards (e.g., the US Air Force Scientific Advisory Board) and commissions (e.g., the NRC Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Applications). She is the author (or co-author) or more than one hundred publications. She acts as a consultant to a number of industries and government organizations. She is specialist of engineering risk analysis and risk management. Her background includes a BS in Mathematics and Physics (1968), an Engineering Degree in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics (1971, INPG, Grenoble France), an MS in Operations Research (1972) and a Ph.D. in Engineering-Economic Systems (1978) both from Stanford University. Her research, in recent years, has focused on the development and the extension of probabilistic risk analysis models to include organizational factors, on the management of complex engineering projects within programs and on the treatment of uncertainties in engineering risk analysis.