Dr. Ronald Pelot

About

Ron is a native of Ottawa, Ontario, where he completed his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.  He moved to Edmonton where he obtained his Master’s in Mechanical Engineering (fluids specialization) and worked there for a few years, including 14 months of “shoestring” travelling in Europe and Asia.  His PhD was done in the Department of Management Sciences at the University of Waterloo, focusing on energy markets, with some exposure to environmental and risk modelling. His first academic position was in Engineering Management at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, moving to Industrial Engineering at Dalhousie (TUNS) in 1994. Ron was the Director of the Centre for Risk Management at Dalhousie for 5 years, and is the Associate Scientific Director of the MEOPAR NCE.  He also serves as the Assistant Dean of Engineering Co-operative Education.

Research Interests

In 1997, Ron founded the Maritime Activity and Risk Investigation Network (MARIN) at Dalhousie. His team has developed software tools and analysis methods applied to maritime safety (accidents), coastal zone security, marine spills and traffic routing. Research methods encompass spatial risk analysis, vessel traffic modelling, pattern analysis, location models for resource allocation, and safety analyses. Applications include Search & Rescue (SAR) planning, marine oil spill detection and response, port and maritime security, arctic traffic and risk modelling, and coastal zone management.

Dr. Pelot has authored/co-authored 50 refereed publications, and over 125 conference proceedings and technical reports.

Current projects include an analysis of the effects of weather, including extreme weather events, on fishing fleet safety.  Another study concerns shipping in the arctic, including: a network model of feasible routes accounting for ice, land and bathymetry; a forecast of northern traffic in the future based on a wide range of drivers; a taxonomy of stakeholders and related regulations for Arctic shipping; and a classification and prioritization of risks to ships and by ships transiting the Canadian Arctic (PASSAGES). Models to optimize SAR asset choices and location modelling provide guidance for Coast Guard strategic and tactical planning.

Refereed Publications (selection)

Rezaee, S., Brooks, M.A., Pelot, R., Review of Fishing Safety Policies in Canada with Respect to Extreme Environmental Conditions and Climate Change Effects, WMU Journal of Maritime Affairs, accepted July 2016.

Rezaee, S., Pelot, R., & Ghasemi, A., The effect of extreme weather conditions on commercial fishing activities and vessel incidents in Atlantic Canada,  Ocean & Coastal Management, Volume 130, 2016, pp. 115–127.

Rezaee, S., Pelot, R., & Finnis, J., The effect of extratropical cyclone weather conditions on fishing vessel incidents’ severity level in Atlantic Canada, Safety Science, Volume 85, June 2016, pp. 33–40.

Stoddard, M.A., Etienne, L., Fournier, M., Pelot, R., & Beveridge, L., Making sense of Arctic maritime traffic using the Polar Operational Limits Assessment Risk Indexing System (POLARIS), IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 34 012034, pp.9, 2016.

Hu, B., Jiang, X., Souza, E., Pelot, R., & Matwin, S., Identifying Fishing Activities from AIS Data with Conditional Random Fields, 11^th International Symposium Advances in Artificial Intelligence and Applications, Gdansk, Poland, September, 2016.

Pelot, R.P., Akbari, A. & Li, Li. , Vessel location modeling for Maritime Search And Rescue, in Applications of Location Analysis, eds. H.A. Eiselt & V. Marianov, Springer. 2015.

Beveridge, L., Fournier, M. & Pelot, R., Maritime Activities in the Canadian Arctic: A Tool for Visualizing Connections between Stakeholders, Arctic Yearbook, 2015.

Choptiany, J., Pelot, R., Brydie, J. and Gunter, W., An MCDA Risk Assessment Framework for Carbon Capture and Storage, International Journal of Decision Support Systems, vol. 01, no. 4, pp. 349-390, 2015.

Choptiany, J., Pelot,R.P., A Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Framework and Risk Assessment Model for Carbon Capture And Storage, Risk Analysis: An International Journal, April, 2014.

Choptiany, J., Pelot,R.P. & Sherren, K., An Interdisciplinary perspective on carbon capture and storage assessment methods, Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2014.

Brooks,M.R., Pelot, R.P., Reuchlin, J.W. & Rezaee, S., Identifying non-operational predictive indicators of piracy: Can we tell where future outbreaks will occur?, International Association of Maritime Economists Conference, July 2013.

Etienne, L. & Pelot, R., Simulation of maritime paths taking into account ice conditions in the arctic, CoastGIS 2013 Conference, Victoria, BC, June 2013.

O'Hara, P., Serra-Sogas, N., Canessa, R., Keller, P. & Pelot, R., Estimating discharge rates of oily wastes and deterrence based on aerial surveillance data collected in western Canadian marine waters, Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2013. Vol.69, 2013, pp.157-164.

Taber,M.J., McCabe,J., Klein,R.M. & Pelot,R., Development and evaluation of an offshore oil and gas Emergency Response Focus Board, International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, Vol.43, 2013, pp.40-51.

Szeto, A., Pelot,R.P., The use of Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) for Modelling the Risk of Ship Based Oil Spills, Proceedings, AMOP Technical Seminar on Environmental Contamination and Response, Calgary, AB, October 2011, pp.928-937.

LeClair,J., Pelot,R.P. & Xu, F., A Spatial Risk Analysis Framework for Effective Oil Spill Response Planning, Proceedings, AMOP Technical Seminar on Environmental Contamination and Response, Halifax, NS, June 2010.