AIG has announced an initial $4 million investment with Clemson University to develop a risk engineering and analytics center and to establish the Robert Benmosche Endowed Professorship in Risk Engineering and Systems Analytics, named after the company’s former president and chief executive officer.
The endowed professorship will develop curriculum and educational programs in the field of risk engineering and analytics, cultivate scientific investigation and research, recruit faculty, and create technologies that advance the field. The center, which will be based on Clemson’s South Carolina campus, will expand AIG’s engineering capabilities and enhance the understanding of risk and ways to mitigate it. Its mission will be to create a next-generation workforce skilled in risk engineering and systems analytics, develop innovative technology-based tools to mitigate risk exposure, and facilitate the use of big data to make critical decisions.
“Our relationship with Clemson furthers the substantial investments AIG is making in technology, data insights, and engineering to partner with our clients in new ways. It’s a critical part of AIG’s strategy to serve as a valued advisor to clients who are managing increasingly complex risks,” said John Doyle, Chief Executive Officer, Commercial Insurance, AIG.
Key areas of research for the risk engineering and analytics center will include:
- Improving cybersecurity to make systems less vulnerable to natural and manmade disasters
- Catastrophe modeling
- Supply chain and logistics risk
- Loss modeling and tool development
- Dynamic pricing models for emerging countries
- Predictive risk modeling
- A coastal resilience initiative focused on risks from hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters
- Enhanced capacity to analyze unstructured data to benchmark frequent loss events and causes
Clemson will provide loss-prevention training with real-world and virtual reality-based exercises. The center will train analysts to join members of AIG’s loss-prevention team, with a special emphasis on understanding risks and how best to prevent and mitigate them.
In addition, online curricula will be created offering graduate certificates in risk engineering, systems analytics, catastrophe modeling, and enterprise risk management. Courses will include decision-making under uncertainty, performance assessment of deteriorating systems, and post-disaster response and recovery. The certificates can be combined to meet requirements for a master’s degree now under development.
Dr. James Martin, the center’s director and chair of Clemson’s Glenn Department of Civil Engineering, noted that in addition to the faculty and student base at Clemson, AIG is also able to leverage the power of the college's Palmetto Cluster supercomputer.
“We believe it is just the start of an enterprise that will not only provide new opportunities for AIG and Clemson, but will also transform the field of risk engineering, and analysis,” Martin added.
AIG also says the move is meant to complement its investment in engineering and analytics in Bangalore, India, which includes 500 risk engineers at an engineering and analytics center of excellence.
