Posted on December 5, 2005 at 2:26 p.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — UAB has been named a major partner in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s new $15 million National Center for the Study of High Consequence Event Preparedness and Response.
Creation of this Homeland Security Center of Excellence, which is intended to establish the scientific foundation and principles of the practice of homeland security, was announced today at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the center’s lead agency, by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. The initial funding is for a three-year period.
“We will be a major collaborator in this new center, an effort to harness the nation’s scientific knowledge and technological expertise to protect the nation from terrorism,” according to Thomas E. Terndrup, M.D., lead investigator for UAB’s arm of the center. “This consortium will place special emphasis on preparedness against weapons of mass destruction and other high-consequence acts of incidents, especially those associated with terrorism.”
Terndrup is director of the UAB Center for Emergency Care and Disaster Preparedness, as well as chair of the university’s Department of Emergency Medicine.
Other Alabama institutions that will be working with UAB on this program include Tuskegee University, Jacksonville State University, the Tuskegee Area Health Education Center and the University of Alabama.
UAB was cited for being among a number of institutions nationwide having a “unique” strength of expertise in disaster prevention, preparedness and response, as well as already having disaster research centers. Alabama’s status as an EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) state also was taken into consideration. The EPSCoR program uses state funding to improve the ability of research institutions in Alabama to win federal contracts and grants.
The other major partners are the American Red Cross, Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU), The Brookings Institution, Morgan State University (Baltimore, Md.), University of Buffalo, Florida State Universities Consortium on Homeland Security, The Brookings Institution, the American Red Cross, Applied Physics Lab (JHU), and the Chemical, Biological and Radiological Technology Alliance (CBRTA).
The Center for the Study of High Consequence Event Preparedness and Response is the fifth Homeland Security Center of Excellence. It will study deterrence, prevention, preparedness and response, including issues such as risk assessment, decision-making, infrastructure integrity, surge capacity and sensor networks. In particular it will study interactions of networks and the need to use models and simulations.
Secretary Chertoff called the JHU consortium “ a talented and deeply experienced team” of professionals from institutions across the country. He said, “Together they will help DHS strengthen the nation’s ability to prevent and, where necessary, effectively manage high-consequence disasters or terrorist attacks.”
Additional information on the Homeland Security Centers of Excellence may be found at www.dhs.gov/centersofexcellence.