12.05.05 JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY TO LEAD NEW NEW HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER

Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff announced today the selection of Johns Hopkins University (JHU) to lead a consortium studying how the nation can best prepare for and respond to potential large-scale incidents and disasters. The Department of Homeland Security anticipates providing JHU and its partners with a total of $15 million over the next three years.

This fifth Homeland Security Center of Excellence, formally titled the Center for the Study of High Consequence Event Preparedness and Response, 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.

“Johns Hopkins University has assembled and will lead a talented and deeply experienced team of professionals from institutions across the country,” said Secretary Chertoff. “Together they will help DHS strengthen the nation’s ability to prevent and, where necessary, effectively manage high-consequence disasters or terrorist attacks.”

The Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR), created shortly after 9/11, will serve as the seat of the consortium. JHU’s schools of Medicine, Public Health, Advanced International Studies, Engineering, Professional Studies in Business and Education, and the Applied Physics Laboratory will also serve as consortium members. The Center of Excellence will be led by Dr. Lynn R. Goldman, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, and Dr. Gabor D. Kelen, Professor and Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, and Director of CEPAR.

“We all hope and pray there will never be another 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina,” said Dr. William Brody, President of Johns Hopkins University. “If there is, however, the knowledge developed by this new center will go a long way toward assuring the best possible preparation and the most humane, coordinated effort possible to assist victims and speed recovery.”

The Centers of Excellence, overseen by the Office of University Programs within the Homeland Security Science & Technology directorate, establish a network of university-based centers that conduct multi-disciplinary research and develop innovative educational programs. Through this initiative, the Department of Homeland Security and partner universities focus the nation’s most talented researchers on homeland security issues.

Existing Homeland Security Centers of Excellence include:

In January 2005, Homeland Security’s Science and Technology directorate released an announcement calling for proposals focusing on research and education relevant to the study of high consequence event preparedness and response. Thirty-four proposals were received and reviewed by a team of 38 peer reviewers from academia, the private sector and multiple government agencies. The three-tier review process evaluated scientific and technical merit, mission relevance and management effectiveness. The process resulted in site visits to four different institutions and the subsequent selection of JHU.

Other major partners of the new Center of Excellence are the Florida State Universities Consortium on Homeland Security (Florida A&M, University of South Florida, Florida State University, Florida Atlantic University and University of Central Florida), the University of Alabama (Birmingham), Morgan State University, the University of Buffalo, the American Red Cross, the Brookings Institute and CBRTA (a partner in the National Technology Alliance). Additional affiliated participants are at Loma Linda University, the University of South Dakota, Tuskegee University, the University of Alabama College of Communications, Jacksonville State University, Oregon Health and Science University, the University of Rochester Medical Center, the Denver Health and Medical Center, the Maryland Medical Services System, the Maryland Emergency Management Agency and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.