Oakland, CA–November 12, 2008. Mills College professor of government Paul Schulman's latest book High Reliability Management, Operating on the Edge (Stanford University Press) reveals the untold stories of people who work to keep our infrastructure system running and safe.

The public relies on these "reliability professionals" or control operators and managers to keep electricity running, water flowing, and transportation systems moving, but they often work in unstable and difficult conditions, said Schulman.

"The public owes them a debt we really don't understand or appreciate," Schulman said.

He and co-author Emery Roe said they were surprised by how many critical infrastructures come close to the edge of failure on a regular basis. Quoting one official in a California electrical power agency, he said: "the public has no idea how close they come to losing service."

About 85 percent of the nation's critical infrastructures are privately owned. They operate with pressures to maximize efficiency or profit. The systems also must operate under constraints created by policymakers and system designers who don't fully understand their impact.

These competing demands undercut the role of reliability professionals, Schulman said. Yet in spite of all, they must protect their organizations and the public from the possible dire consequences of system failures.

New strategies, technologies and software are being introduced to optimize efficiency and performance, but the changes seldom work as expected. A prime example is market restructuring in California. Schulman said policymakers failed to anticipate the increases in electrical demand nor realized the impact that large energy companies such as Enron could increase the price of power in real-time or "spot" markets.

"It is difficult to imagine a more concerted, costly assault on the grid than that experienced in the first few years under restructuring," he said. "But in the turmoil surrounding the California electricity crisis, middle-level managers and control room operators kept the electric grid operating. The lights stayed on, and they stayed on because of the dedication among the reliability professionals in the midst of that perfect electrical storm."

Schulman teaches in the Department of Government and in the Mills College Public Policy (MPP) Program, which began in fall 2007. The program helps students develop the skills and knowledge for positions in the local, state and federal governments and the nonprofit sector. More information: Mills College Public Policy Program.

Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California, Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering a dynamic progressive education that fosters leadership, social responsibility, and creativity to approximately 950 undergraduate women and 500 graduate women and men. Since 2000, applications to Mills College have more than doubled. The College is named one of the top colleges in the West by U.S. News & World Report, one of the Best 368 Colleges by the Princeton Review, and ranks 75th among America's best colleges by Forbes.com. Visit us at www.mills.edu.

PRESS CONTACT:
Quynh Tran
Media Relations Manager
510.430.2300