Yakov Ben-Haim, PhD
Yitzhak Moda'i Chair in Technology and Economics
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Haifa 32000 Israel
972-4-829-3262 (tel.)
972-4-829-5711 (fax)

e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Current Research Interests:

Planning and design in engineering, biological conservation, management, economics and other fields is based on models which are wrong in ways we sometimes cannot even imagine. In addition, our data may lack evidence about surprises -- catastrophes as well as windfalls -- which impact the success and survival of the system. These model- and data-deficiencies are information-gaps or epistemic limitations. Info-gap uncertainty is an incomplete understanding of the system being managed. This is a broader conception of uncertainty than is usually handled by probability. The theory which I have developed for decision-making under info-gaps provides tools for modelling and managing info-gaps.

Education:

BA: 1973, Beloit College, Physics
MSc: 1978, University of California, Berkeley, Nuclear Engineering
PhD: 1978, University of California, Berkeley, Chemistry

Honors:

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship
Phi Beta Kappa Society
Fellowship of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Selected Publications:

Books:

Ben-Haim, Y. Information-Gap Decision Theory: Decisions Under Severe Uncertainty. London: Academic Press, 2001.

Ben-Haim, Y. Robust Reliability in the Mechanical Sciences. Springer-Verlag, 1996.

Ben-Haim, Y & Elishakoff, I. Convex Models of Uncertainty in Applied Mechanics. Dordrecht: Elsevier Science Publishers, 1990.

Invited Articles:

Izuru Takewaki and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2005, Info-gap robust design with load and model uncertainties, Journal of Sound and Vibration, 288: 551-570.

Yakov Ben-Haim, 2005, Info-gap Decision Theory For Engineering Design. Or: Why `Good' is Preferable to `Best', appearing as chapter 11 in Engineering Design Reliability Handbook, Edited by E. Nikolaides, D. Ghiocel and Surendra Singhal, CRC Press.

Yakov Ben-Haim, 2000, Robustness of model-based fault diagnosis: Decisions with information-gap models of uncertainty. International Journal of Systems Science, 31: 1511-1518.

Yakov Ben-Haim, 1998, Reliability of Vibrating Structures With Uncertain Inputs. Shock and Vibration Digest, 30: 106-113.

Y. Ben-Haim, S. Cogan and L. Sanseigne, 1998, Usability of Mathematical Models in Mechanical Decision Processes, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing. 12: 121-134.

Yakov Ben-Haim, 1997, Robust reliability of structures, Advances in Applied Mechanics, vol.33, pp.1-41.

Humanistic Publications:

Yakov Ben-Haim, Peirce, Haack and Info-gaps, to appear in Susan Haack: The Philosopher Responds to Critics, edited by Cornelis de Waal, Prometheus Books.

Yakov Ben-Haim, 2001, New directions in information, uncertainty and decision for mechanical systems analysis, editorial introduction to special issue of Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 15: 453-455.

Avy Shtub, Sary Regev and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2000, Sikun m'hushav (Calculated Risk), Tasiah v'Nihul, issue #50, pp.32-37. In Hebrew.

Yakov Ben-Haim, 2000, Why the best engineers should study humanities, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education. 28:195 - 200

Yakov Ben-Haim, Art and the Exponential: Graphical Exploration of the Matrix Exponential Function, Leonardo,Journal of the International Society for Arts, Sciences and Technology, 30: 49-52 (1997).

Yakov Ben-Haim, Cheerful Curse, a poem. Physics Today, December 1997, vol.50, p.144.

Other Representative Articles:

David R. Fox, Yakov Ben-Haim, Keith R. Hayes, Michael McCarthy, Brendan Wintle, Piers Dunstan, An info-gap approach to power and sample size calculations, to appear in Environmetrics.

Atte Moilanen, Michael C. Runge, Jane Elith, Andrew Tyre, Yohay Carmel, Eric Fegraus, Brendan Wintle, Mark Burgman and Yakov Ben-Haim, Planning for robust reserve networks using uncertainty analysis, Ecological Modelling, to appear.

Sary Regev, Avraham Shtub and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2006, Managing project risks as knowledge gaps, Project Management Journal, to appear.

S.G. Pierce, Yakov Ben-Haim, K. Worden, G. Manson, Evaluation of neural network robust reliability using information-gap theory, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, to appear Sept. 2006.

Yakov Ben-Haim, 2005, Value at risk with Info-gap uncertainty, Journal of Risk Finance, vol. 6, #5, pp.388-403.

Yohay Carmel and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2005, Info-gap robust-satisficing model of foraging behavior: Do foragers optimize or satisfice?, American Naturalist, 166: 633-641.

Helen M. Regan, Yakov Ben-Haim, Bill Langford, Will G. Wilson, Per Lundberg, Sandy J. Andelman, Mark A. Burgman, 2005, Robust decision making under severe uncertainty for conservation management, Ecological Applications, vol.15(4): 1471-1477.

Francois M.Hemez and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2004, Info-gap robustness for the correlation of tests and simulations of a nonlinear transient, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, vol. 18, #6, pp.1443-1467.

Yakov Ben-Haim, 2004, Uncertainty, probability and information-gaps, Reliability Engineering and System Safety, 85: 249-266.

Yakov Ben-Haim and Keith W. Hipel, 2002, The graph model for conflict resolution with information-gap uncertainty in preferences, Applied Mathematics and Computation, 126: 319-340.

Yakov Ben-Haim, 2000, Robust rationality and decisions under severe uncertainty, Journal of the Franklin Institute, 337: 171-199.

Yakov Ben-Haim, 1999, Set-models of information-gap uncertainty: Axioms and inference schemes, Journal of the Franklin Institute, 336: 1093-1117.

Yakov Ben-Haim, 1999, Design certification with information-gap uncertainty. Structural Safety. 21: 269-289.

Keith W. Hipel and Yakov Ben-Haim, 1999, Decision making in an uncertain world: Information-gap modelling in water resources management, IEEE Trans., Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part C. 29: 506-517.

Y. Ben-Haim, 1998, Sequential Tests Based on Convex Models of Uncertainty, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing. 12: 427-448.

Yakov Ben-Haim and Alexander Laufer, 1998, Robust Reliability of Projects With Activity-Duration Uncertainty, ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 124: 125-132.

Y. Ben-Haim, 1997, Beyond maximum entropy: Exploring the structure of uncertainty, in H.G. Natke and Y. Ben-Haim, eds., Uncertainty: Models and Measures, Proceedings of a Volkswagen Foundation Workshop. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin.

S. Cogan, G. Lallement, F. Ayer and Y. Ben-Haim, 1997, Model order reduction by selective sensitivity, AIAA Journal, 35: 557-562.

Y. Ben-Haim, G. Chen and T.T. Soong, 1996, Maximum Structural Response Using Convex Models, ASCE J. Engineering Mechanics, 122: 325-333.

S. Cogan, G. Lallement, F. Ayer and Y. Ben-Haim, 1995, Updating linear elastic models with modal selective sensitivity, Inverse Problems in Engineering, 2: 29-47.

Y. Ben-Haim, 1995, A non-probabilistic measure of reliability of linear systems based on expansion of convex models, Structural Safety, 17:91-109.

Y. Ben-Haim, 1995, A Note on Convex Models of Uncertainty for Small Initial Imperfections of Non-Linear Structures, Zeitschrift fuer Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik, 75: 901-908.

Y. Ben-Haim, 1994, A non-probabilistic concept of reliability, Structural Safety, 14: 227-245.

Y. Ben-Haim, 1994, Fatigue lifetime with load uncertainty represented by convex model, ASCE, J. Engineering Mechanics, 120: 445-462.

Y. Ben-Haim, 1994, Convex Models of Uncertainty: Applications and Implications, Erkenntnis: An International Journal of Analytic Philosophy, 41: 139-156.

Y. Ben-Haim, 1993, Convex models for uncertainty in radial pulse buckling of shells, ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics, 60: 683-688.

Y. Ben-Haim and U. Prells, 1993, Selective sensitivity in the frequency domain, Part I: Theory. Part II: Applications. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 7: 461-475, 551-574.

Y. Ben-Haim, 1993, Failure of an axially compressed beam with uncertain initial deflection of bounded strain energy, International Journal of Engineering Science, 31:989-1001.

Y. Ben-Haim, 1993, Identification of certain polynomial nonlinear structures by adaptive selectively-sensitive excitation, ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, 115:246-255.

Y. Ben-Haim, 1992, Adaptive diagnosis of faults in elastic structures by static displacement measurement: The method of selective sensitivity, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 6: 85-96.

Y. Ben-Haim, 1990, Optimizing multi-hypothesis diagnosis of control-actuator failures in linear systems, AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, 13: 744-750.