18th International Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Analysis (PSA 2023)

Katrina M. Groth

Associate Professor,
Mechanical Engineering Associate Director,
Center for Risk and Reliability
University of Maryland

Katrina M. Groth is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the associate director for research for the Center for Risk and Reliability at the University of Maryland. Groth’s research and educational activities focus on engineering safer systems through risk assessment and reliability engineering, with a particular focus on complex engineering systems. Groth’s research has enhanced system safety for applications including hydrogen fueling stations, hydrogen storage, gas pipelines, and nuclear power plants.

Groth has published over 75 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers, 30 technical reports, 2 patents, and multiple software packages. Her work has been cited over 3,000 times. She led the development of the HyRAM toolkit for hydrogen risk assessment, and led teams conducting analyses implemented in the U.S. and international hydrogen standards, NFPA 2 and ISO 19880-1. Her Human Reliability Analysis research has filled a critical gap in risk-informed decision making for nuclear regulators. Groth’s work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, PHMSA, and the U.S. Department of Energy, Sandia National Laboratories and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in projects totaling over $14M. She is the recipient of a 2021 NSF CAREER award, the 2021 David Okrent Award for Nuclear Safety, the 2022 Landis Young Member Engineering Achievement Award from the American Nuclear Society, and a technical leadership award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Office. In 2021 she was an invited participant of the U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium.

Prior to joining UMD, Groth was a Principal R&D Engineer at Sandia National Laboratories. She has a B.S in Nuclear Engineering, and an M.S. and PhD. in Reliability Engineering from the University of Maryland. Groth believes that risk assessment should be in every engineer’s toolbox. Throughout her career, Groth has been a dedicated mentor focused on increasing recruitment and retention of women and minorities in engineering. She is a trustee at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History, where she is developing an exhibit on risk assessment.