How do we keep elections secure in a world of evolving technology and human error? In this episode, Dr. Sandra Alday sits down with Dr. Natalie Scala, professor and researcher at Towson University, to explore the complex interplay between people and machines in American voting systems. From the shift to vote-by-mail and the risks posed by flash drives, to the critical role of poll workers and the potential future of digital voting, Natalie shares insights from her research on election integrity. Listen now!

This research will be presented December 7-10, 2025 at the annual SRA Conference in Washington D.C.

Dr. Dominic Balog-Way and Dr. Katherine McComas of Cornell University join Sandra Alday for a compelling episode on their paper titled "Unpacking the Risk of Misinformation: A Communication-Based Critique" published in Risk Analysis. The risk researchers, who first connected at the 2011 SRA Conference and are now close coworkers, have examined the ways people try to place agency and intent on messaging in order to make sense of communication.

You can watch the webinar they hosted on this topic at sra.org/events-webinars, or consider registering for SRA 2025. You might meet your future collaborator!

In this latest episode, Dr. Sandra Alday is joined by two guests from the University of Melbourne: Dr. Anna Kosovac and Dr. Olivia Meehan. Together, they've created a course that addresses the subjectivity of risk and how people make decisions based on their comfort level with uncertainty. Incorporating the humanities into the risk classroom helps us move away from the limitations of rationality.