'My ultimate goal is to help others:' A conversation with Beth Ellinport, ORISE Fellow

Beth Ellinport is an ORISE research program participant at the US Army Corps of Engineer's Engineer Research and Development Center Environmental Laboratory, where her research helps drive data-driven decision-making under uncertainty. We think of the Army Corps of Engineers in relation to dredging waterways and building levies, locks and dams but there is much to consider for those projects and others, including impacts on downstream communities, employees and search-and-rescue crews. Ellinport is part of a team that helps bring more certainty to the process. Ellinport says she was drawn to the field of crisis and risk management because she lost someone close to her in an incident that involved a huge urban search, rescue and recovery mission. She saw first responders put their lives at risk to help others. Her ultimate goal, she says, is to be able to help others, which she does every day. When her ORISE fellowship ends, Ellinport plans to pursue a doctoral degree in industrial and organizational psychology. She wants to look through the lens of uncertainty and resilience, recovering and adapting to unknown and known threats, from the perspective of the people impacted. “Can our employees and our circles of support maintain function when they are also receiving disruption themselves. Learn more about Ellinport here: https://orise.orau.gov/people/success-stories/2025/beth-ellinport.html