Extreme Heat & Human Behaviour: Understanding Risk, Building Resilience Recording

The Impact of Extreme Heat

From Reaction to Prevention

Audience Discussion

The Institute of Strategic Risk Management (ISRM) and Center for the Study of Wicked Problems is pleased to present this timely webinar on one of the most pressing challenges of our changing climate.

As extreme heat becomes one of the fastest-growing global risks, its impacts extend far beyond physical health. Heat influences how people think, make decisions, interact with others and respond during emergencies, affecting individuals, communities, workplaces and critical services.

In this insightful webinar, Steven Crimando, Principal and Founder of Behavioral Science Applications LLC, explored the complex relationship between extreme heat and human behaviour. Drawing on the latest research and decades of real-world experience, he examined how excessive heat affects cognition, emotions, decision-making, risk perception and human performance while highlighting the implications for public safety, emergency management, healthcare, business continuity and community resilience.

Steven M. Crimando, MA, CTM
Principal & Founder
Behavioral Science Applications LLC
Behavioral Risk Management Advisors

Steven Crimando is a behavioral risk management advisor and the founder and principal of Behavioral Science Applications LLC. He is a disaster and emergency behavioral health clinician, educator, and crisis responder with nearly four decades of frontline field experience. His specialized expertise lies at the critical intersection of human behavior, operational security, and environmental crisis, making him a leading voice in both behavioral threat assessment and the behavioral health impacts of climate change.

As a violence prevention expert, Steve is a Certified Threat Manager (CTM) through the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP) and a Certified Master Trainer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security National Threat Evaluation and Reporting (NTER) program. He serves as a cleared mental health partner to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) and is an advisor and instructor for the FBI’s Community Anti-Threats Officer (CATO) program. Within ASIS International, Steven serves as the Chair of the Extremism & Political Instability Community (EPIC) Steering Committee and is a member of the Human Threat Management Community Steering Committee.

Recognizing climate change as a critical driver of community and behavioral risk, Steve serves on the disaster mental health committee for the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America and is a member of Clinicians for Climate Action New Jersey and the New Jersey Interagency Council on Climate Resilience. His expertise is leveraged globally; he serves as an instructor for the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Institute’s Climate Diplomacy program, acts as a consultant to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) on the behavioral health aspects of climate change, and has worked for many years with the United Nations Office for Operational Support-Special Situations Unit, alongside various other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.

Steve received dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Human Development and Public Communications from Syracuse University, and a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He is an alumnus of the Harvard Medical School Global Trauma program. In his previous roles, he served as an instructor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey’s (UMDNJ) Behavioral Research and Training Institute, and as the Director of Training for the New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services Disaster and Terrorism Branch.

Steve is a widely published author of numerous magazine and journal articles, textbook chapters, and a forthcoming textbook on climate change and disaster psychology.