William (Al) Wallace is a Professor in the Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems Department, with joint appointments in the Civil and Environmental engineering, and Cognitive Science Departments at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and is presently Acting Director of Rensselaer's Center for Infrastructure and Transportation Studies. As a researcher and a consultant in Management Science and Information Systems, he has over 30 years experience in and research on the development of decision technologies for industry and government. He is presently engaged in research on the application of artificial intelligence to problems in incident management and emergency response, issues in trust and ethical decision making, and in studying emergent and improvisational organizational behavior in disaster management. He received the International Emergency Management and Engineering Conference Award for Outstanding Long-Term Dedication to the Field of Emergency Management, is a Fellow of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and received their Third Millennium Medal. He also received the 2004 INFORMS President's Award for work that advances the welfare of society.