KCI Semi-Annual Project Review Conference was a great success

Date:  November 23, 2009

The Kentucky Critical Infrastructure Protection Program (KCI) had its Semi-Annual Project Review Conference on Nov. 18-20, 2009 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Arlington, VA. Twenty-one projects were presented, ranging from but not limited to Biometrics, Public Health, Food and Agriculture Safety and Blast Mitigation. The leading Principal Investigator from each project gave DHS and other Government Agencies updates on their project, following with a Q&A session.  There were over 110 attendees at the Project Review Conference.

In the photo below, Dr. Jim Gantt with Murray State University provides DHS with a update on the efforts of his project, the Incident Management & Decision Support System (IMDSS). Dr. Gantt is working to deliver a web-enabled software suite that will collect, share, and analyze data about events as they occur, providing real time situation awareness at the local emergency management level.  The IMDSS will provide near-real-time data fusion from a variety of local sources and an accompanying decision support system for use by emergency management personnel.

In the photo below, Dr. Ruth Carrico with the University of Louisville provides updates about the progress that has been made in the Pandemic Planning and Preparedness Project. Dr. Carrico and her team are leading an effort to provide operation plans if a pandemic were to occur in the foreseeable future. This program is focused on helping communities prepare and respond to pandemics. Areas of emphasis are detection, preparedness, protection, response and recovery.   

In the photo below, Dr. Darrell Taulbee of the University of Kentucky provides DHS updates on his project, Reduction of the Explosive Potential of Ammonium Nitrate by Coating with Low-Cost, Coal Combustion Byproduct. Dr. Taulbee demonstrates that the explosive potential of ammonium nitrate can be reduced or eliminated by coating ammonium nitrate prills with inexpensive and agriculturally attractive, coal combustion by-products (CCBs) that are produced at coal-fired electric power plants.  

 

NIHS News Image

The Challenge

The task of assuring the security of our homeland involves protecting the citizens of the United States, the nation's critical infrastructure and key assets. This is necessary to sustain the nation's vitality against terrorism and other threats. This protection must originate at the community level. It requires discovering, developing and deploying new technology that will support first responders and key decision makers in local communities.

The Mission

NIHS' mission is to discover, develop and deploy solutions that protect and preserve the critical infrastructure of the nation's communities.

The Institute

NIHS aligns projects and research objectives with the needs and requirements of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The strategy is to manage a distributed research enterprise that effectively transitions research and development into solutions. NIHS works with DHS to determine technology needs at the community level. Then, teams are quickly assembled from multiple universities to develop solutions to the needs.

The Strategy

Through management of the Kentucky Critical Infrastructure Protections Program (KCI), the National Institute for Hometown Security (NIHS) provides an ongoing, integrated program dedicated to developing new technologies and devices. NIHS works through qualified academic institutions to accomplish the technological objectives.