Case Study: University of Pennsylvania achieves improved decision-making under uncertainty with Palisade's @RISK

University of Pennsylvania - Customer Case Study

The University of Pennsylvania faced the challenge of teaching graduate students how effective leaders handle uncertainty in real-world decisions. Instructor Keith Hornbacher uses Palisade’s @RISK software in his “Managing Project Risk, Uncertainty, and the Unexpected” course to walk students through case studies and show how uncertainty can be quantified and incorporated into organizational decision-making.

Palisade’s @RISK provided a simulation engine and user-friendly features that let students quickly build integrated cost and schedule risk models, focus on data collection, heuristics and bias, and interpret results rather than struggle with tool mechanics. The software is also a proven tool in Hornbacher’s consulting work—used for integrated cost and schedule analyses on projects up to multi‑billion‑dollar scale—demonstrating Palisade’s impact in preparing students to apply quantitative risk analysis in complex, real-world settings.

University of Pennsylvania

Keith Hornbacher

Affiliated Faculty, Organizational Dynamics