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Homeland security to be discussed
Goal of conference is to cultivate scholarly research within SUNY system
By JOHN DELLA CONTRADA
Contributing Editor
Researchers from throughout the SUNY system are gathering to discuss emerging and ongoing research in homeland security at a conference being organized by UB, the University at Albany Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, and Stony Brook University.
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"Scholarship on Homeland Security: Exploring the Intellectual Territory" is being held today at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany.
"The goal of the conference is to cultivate scholarly research in the SUNY system on maliciously caused disasters like terrorism, technological disaster and natural disaster, and ways of protecting the U.S. from them," says conference director Ernest Sternberg, UB professor of urban and regional planning.
"The conference will include scientists with extensive research experience on the subject and those who are relatively new to it and want to develop a research direction," adds Sternberg, who studies the ethics of complex decision-making in averting disasters. "The conference also is an opportunity for researchers around the system to get to know each other and consider collaborative research."
Panel sessions cover "Bioterrorism Preparedness in New York City," "Education in Homeland Security and Disaster Management," "Issues in Urban Disasters," "Protecting Buildings and Occupants," "Disaster Planning and Management," "Social and Psychological Aspects of Terrorism," and "Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Investigations."
Presentations by UB faculty members include "Enhancing the Resilience of Communities Against Extreme Events" by Michel Bruneau, professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering; "Disaster Preparedness, Urban Protection and Low-Income Communities of Color" by Henry Louis Taylor, professor of urban and regional planning; and "The Ethics of Blame After a Disaster" by Sternberg.
Other presentations on the agenda include: "Remotely Guided Rats for Bioterrorism Prevention" by John Chapin, professor of physiology and psychology, SUNY Downstate Medical Center; "Securing Global Flows of Cargo and People" by Rey Koslowski, associate professor of political science, University at Albany; and "Preparing Research Biologists to Deal with Bioterrorism" by Joav Prives, professor of pharmacological sciences, Stony Brook University.
The conference is sponsored by SUNY Central Administration, and co-sponsored by UB, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, Stony Brook University and the University at Albany College of Public Affairs and Policy.
UB has identified mitigation and response to extreme events as one of 10 strategic strengths—areas in which the university has potential to excel and to distinguish itself among its peers nationally—as part of the first phase of the UB 2020 strategic planning process. By combining scholarly diversity around this common theme and by bringing together UB research groups that have not traditionally interacted with each other, the goal is developing truly unique research programs.
UB currently has more than $21 million in active federal and state grants to develop and investigate new methods for preventing and responding to terrorist attacks and other extreme events.