Year 4 Program Review Highlights ALERT Student Involvement
The ALERT Year 4 Program Review was held on January 11th & 12th at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. The purpose of this review was to evaluate the ALERT research portfolio at both the theme and project levels, as well as the Center’s education program, transition efforts, and industrial partnerships. Several graduate students from ALERT’s academic partner institutions presented at this year’s review on behalf of the research projects in which they are currently involved.
University of Rhode Island PhD candidates, Austin Brown and Kevin Colizza presented on ALERT research related to the characterization and safe elimination of explosives materials, which they conducted under the guidance of Dr. Jimmie Oxley. Research in explosives characterization and elimination is especially important to those in the Homeland Security Enterprise tasked with the detection, identification, and destruction of homemade explosives (HMEs), such as bomb squads, and other first-responders.
Purdue University M.S. candidate, Nick Cummock presented on ALERT research led by Dr. Steven Son and related to small-scale characterization of homemade explosives (HMEs). The specific compositions of HMEs are nearly limitless, so making accurate assessments of threats from these materials is challenging. This research project seeks to develop a small-scale experimental approach that will result in quicker and more cost-effective characterization of HMEs, leading to greater accuracy in modeling and prediction of explosives related threats.
University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez M.S. candidate, Amanda Figueroa presented on her research project led by Dr. Samuel Hernandez. This research project deals with the use of infrared spectroscopy (IR) in standoff mode and coupled to laser sources operating in the mid-infrared (MIR) to develop confirming orthogonal chemical sensors for detecting explosives residues on clothing, travel bags, personal bags, laptop bags/cases, skin, and other substrates.
Xiao Wang, another Purdue University student and PhD candidate, presented on ALERT research conducted under the guidance of Dr. Charles Bouman and Dr. Ken Sauer related to advanced baggage screening and automatic target recognition (ATR), which is achieved via algorithms and devices primed to recognize objects based on data obtained from sensors. This research project seeks to improve the detection of potential threats in scanned baggage and reduce the false alarm rate without compromising safety at airport security checkpoints, resulting in a reduction of security costs and an overall safer and smoother experience for passengers.
Northeastern University PhD candidate, Mengran Gou presented on ALERT research led by Dr. Octavia Camps and Dr. Mario Sznaier and related to video-based methods to identify and track potential threats in heavily crowded public spaces. Video-based methods have an enormous potential for providing advance warning of terrorist activities and threats. In addition, they can assist and substantially enhance localized, complementary sensors that are more restricted in range, such as radar, infrared, and chemical detectors.
In addition to the outstanding ALERT student presentations that took place at the Year 4 Program Review, the Center introduced four new research projects taking place at Boston University, Duke University, Purdue University, and the University of Notre Dame.
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