Homeland Security Research

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 12:00:00 -0500
ovpr-news-2005

Welcome to the new online home for UMBC research. This section features multidisciplinary approaches to real-world problems and debuts with an area dominating scientific innovation and public concern: homeland security.

At UMBC, faculty, staff and student researchers in the departments of Geography and Environmental Systems, Chemistry, Mathematics/Statistics, Emergency Health Services, and many others are addressing issues of homeland security in imaginative ways through research. Faculty and students work in close collaboration with state and federal agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Maryland Emergency Management Agency and the Maryland Department of Health.

As you read the stories below and explore this web site, you’ll learn more about the groundbreaking work of faculty and students who creatively address issues that affect our lives while laying the groundwork for future scholarship.

HOW PREPARED IS MARYLAND?
Homeland Security & Emergency Management Training in Maryland
Through a two-year contract with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, UMBC’s Emergency Health Services department is training hospital staff members across the state of Maryland to improve their responses to both man-made and natural disasters.

MAPPING THE UNTHINKABLE
Cartographers Develop Post-9/11 Symbols
As homeland security officials prepared for the new realities of post-9/11 America, the need for a new type of map became clear. Recently, faculty, staff and student mapmakers in UMBC's Geography and Environmental Sciences department rose to the challenge as part of a project for the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Homeland Security.

FINDING THE FACE OF TERROR
Calculating New Standards To Identify Bioterrorism Suspects
The emerging field of biometrics helps to rapidly identify individuals based on biological traits such as fingerprints or face recognition. Through an anti-bioterrorism grant from the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), UMBC mathematician Andrew Rukhin is working to improve the facial recognition software that will be used in the near future to better secure border crossings, transportation hubs, and other sensitive locations.

REPLACING FIDO WITH FIBER OPTICS:
Bomb-Sniffing Dogs Get High-Tech Break
UMBC chemist Bradley Arnold has helped design an invention that may give a high-tech break to bomb-sniffing dogs in homeland security K-9 units: a hand-held fiber-optic device that detects the presence of explosives.