| New center to harness homeland security expertise by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff
The interdisciplinary center, which will be formally announced April 30, will provide an umbrella organization for faculty from various schools and colleges to collaborate on projects capable of attracting federal support, according to interim Vice Chancellor for Research Fred Byron. Planning for the center began last fall, he said, after the Bush administration detailed plans to pump billions into training and research programs through the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Byron said the emerging importance of homeland security as a national priority mirrors the focus brought to research by the space program in the 1960s. "I think people who get in quickly and establish contacts with DHS will not be sorry," he said. "We're trying to respond to new trends in the federal government's research spending. We're following the money." That's the message Chancellor John V. Lombardi brought to a meeting of about 50 interested faculty on April 4. "There's a lot of money out there for this game, but the people with the money don't know what to do with it," he said. "We're here to tell them how to do it." According to Byron, initial meetings last fall with deans and faculty showed a high degree of interest in developing the proposed center. On the advice of College of Engineering dean Joseph I. Gold-stein, Peter Hilton was hired as a consultant to help shepherd the initiative. Hilton, who serves on the Dean's Advisory Council in Engineering, is the managing partner of Technology Strategies Group. Working with staff from the Office of Industrial Liaison and Economic Development, Hilton identified and met with about 50 faculty whose research could have homeland security applications. The faculty comes from
Engineering, Nursing, Public Health and Health Sciences, Journalism,
Food Science, Computer Science, Biochemistry, Polymer Science, Many of those faculty attended a colloquium on Emergency Preparedness and Effective Response held earlier this month. During the three-hour session, faculty panels discussed ways their research could be integrated into the development of research, technology and training to protect, detect and respond to a range of disasters. The panels discussed a number of topics, including areas of vulnerability, including safeguards for food, water, air and soil, while other faculty shared thoughts on using advanced technology to coordinate disaster responses and ensure safe evacuation of urban areas and buildings. Other panels discussed the potential for using current research on detection of severe weather, trace chemicals or biological agents for homeland security. "We want to bring these teams together to develop three or four white papers that we can shop around in Washington," Byron said this week. Byron said campus staff will be coordinating their efforts with the offices of Congressman John Olver and Richard Neal and Senator Edward Kennedy. Byron is hopeful that the campus's approach, which emphasizes the human element as well as technology in its problem-solving, will win federal support. DHS is emphasizing far-reaching, systematic research efforts, he said. On April 29-30, said Byron, the campus will showcase some of its research to corporate representatives and state officials who could be key allies in developing homeland security proposals. "We want to introduce the center to them and give them a rough idea of what we have in mind," Byron said. Using The Environmental Institute as a model, Byron said CEP could emerge as an invaluable resource for the state and industry alike. "We want them to come to us," Byron said, referring to state public safety agencies. In turn, federal agencies are likely to favor efforts that have state backing. "This is really a key area where a land grant university can serve the state and the nation," said Byron. |
