Events Calendar

CREATE Seminar w/ Shilpika Lahri

Speaker: Shilpika Lahri, CREATE Research Assistant & Department of Homeland Security Intern

Talk Title: An Overview of my Recent Internship at the United States Department of Homeland Security

Series: CREATE Monthly Seminar Series

Abstract: How can we best prepare our nation for the next natural or man-made disaster? Can we justify proposed policy changes with hard data? What really is the next big threat?

This past year, I have had the unique opportunity to answer these questions during a recent internship. I was part of the first batch of National Center of Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) students (2 total) who interned with the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The eight-month internship was housed in the Office of Policy / Office of Strategy, Planning, Analysis, and Risk and focused on developing the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, a report DHS formulates that reviews the organization internally, explores the future risk environment, and ultimately dictates homeland security strategy at the agency and the enterprise levels for the next four years. Through the use of risk and decision analysis tools, my colleagues and I identified high likelihood-high consequence threats that DHS should address as the homeland security authority. I worked with several groups, ranging from systems mapping professionals to risk analysis experts, one of whom essentially had a PhD in time travel. Together, we constructed a few different strategic approaches based on our risk findings and qualitative interviews. Ultimately, we used a decision tool we created this past summer to objectively apply pre-weighted criteria to determine a recommended strategy.


Biography: Shilpika Lahri is a second-year Master's in Public Policy candidate at the University of Southern California (USC) and a Research Assistant with the National Center of Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) since Fall 2012. Prior to joining USC, she worked at American Express, where she used web analytics to inform digital marketing strategy and negotiations with partners like eBay and Amazon. Shilpika graduated with honors from New York University, where she earned a BA in Politics (focus: game theory).

To ensure that I order your lunch, please RSVP no later than Tuesday, October 22nd. Please advise if you require a vegetarian option.
Hope to see you there!


Host: CREATE at USC

Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 306

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Erin Calicchio