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DHS Research Areas

In the research area descriptions below, the following abbreviations are used:

“S&T” for “DHS Science and Technology Directorate”
“DHS COE” for “DHS Center of Excellence”, i.e. one of twelve groups of university-led research partners addressing research problems of vital interest to homeland security
“HS-STEM” for “DHS-related science, technology, engineering, and mathematics”

Advanced Data Analysis and Visualization: information extraction, knowledge management, and visualization of large quantities of data to enhance data fusion, situational awareness, and threat detection. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS S&T area: e.g. Biology, Computer Science, Engineering, Health Sciences, Mathematics, and Psychology.

S&T Division:	Infrastructure Protection & Disaster Management; First Responders GroupCyber
DHS COE:	Command, Control and Interoperability (C2I); Rutgers University, Purdue University
Websites:	http://ccicada.rutgers.edu/
	http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/vaccine/

Biological Threats & Countermeasures: assessment, characterization and prioritization of chemical-biological threats; detection and warning systems; agro-defense and food security; biological countermeasures; and decontamination, restoration and medical response to biological threat events. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS S&T area: e.g. Biology, Veterinary Science, Emergency Medicine, Chemistry, Agriculture, Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, Health Sciences, Mathematics, Physics, and Planetary Science.

S&T Division:	Chemical/Biological
DHS COEs:	Food Protection and Defense, University of Minnesota
	Foreign and Zoonotic Disease Defense, Texas A&M University
	Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment, Michigan State University
Websites:	http://www.ncfpd.umn.edu/
	http://fazd.tamu.edu/
	http://www.camra.msu.edu/

Border Security: technologies to monitor and inspect cargo that cross our land, maritime borders and ports of entry; tools to monitor people who cross our land, maritime borders and ports of entry; evaluation of the policies and procedures designed to secure the border while welcoming legitimate visitors and trade. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS S&T area: e.g. Computer Science, Engineering, Social Science, and Aeronautics.

S&T Division:	Borders & Maritime
DHS COE:	Border Security and Immigration; University of Arizona, University of Texas at El Paso
Website:	http://www.borders.arizona.edu/

Chemical Threats and Countermeasures: assessment, characterization and prioritization of chemical-biological threats; detection and warning systems; agro-defense and food security; chemical countermeasures; and decontamination, restoration and response to chemical threat events. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS research area: e.g. Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering/Science, Biochemistry, and Meteorology.

S&T Division:	Chemical/Biological
DHS COE:	Food Protection and Defense, University of Minnesota
Website:	http://www.ncfpd.umn.edu/

Communications and Interoperability: interoperable communication for emergency responders. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS S&T area: e.g. Engineering.

S&T Division:	Infrastructure Protection & Disaster Management; First Responders GroupDHS
DHS COE:	Command, Control and Interoperability (C2I); Rutgers University, Purdue University
Websites:	http://ccicada.rutgers.edu/
	http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/vaccine/

Community, Commerce and Infrastructure Resilience: multidisciplinary research to develop approaches to improve community resilience across the United States, improving community resilience and determining ways where public investments can foster resilient communities. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS research area: e.g. Economics, Social Sciences, Psychology, Public Health, Urban Planning, Environmental Studies, and Engineering.

S&T Division:	Infrastructure Protection & Disaster Management
DHS COEs:	Preparedness & Catastrophic Event Response, Johns Hopkins University
	Coastal Hazards; University of North Carolina, Jackson State University
Websites:	http://hazardscenter.unc.edu/
	http://jsucoe.org/
	http://www.jsums.edu/cset/or/centers/centndciem.htm

Emergency Preparedness and Response: decision support tools to aid in the preparation or response to catastrophic events; studies of public risk communication; medicine and public health; business technology for first-responders. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS S&T area: e.g. Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, Physics and Quantitative Political Science.

S&T Division:	Infrastructure Protection & Disaster Management
DHS COEs:	Coastal Hazards; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Jackson State University
	Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorist Events, University of Southern California
Websites:	http://hazardscenter.unc.edu/
	http://jsucoe.org/
	http://www.jsums.edu/cset/or/centers/centndciem.htm
	http://create.usc.edu/

Explosives Detection, Mitigation, and Response: the detection, mitigation, and response to explosives in a wide variety of contexts. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS S&T area: e.g. Chemistry, Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, and Social Sciences.

S&T Division:	Explosives
DHS COE:	Explosives Detection, Mitigation, and Response; Northeastern University, University of Rhode Island
Website:	http://www.northeastern.edu/alert/

Food and Agriculture Security: assessment, characterization and prioritization of chemical-biological threats; detection and warning systems; agro-defense and food security; biological or chemical countermeasures; and decontamination, restoration and medical response to biological or chemical threat events. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS S&T area: e.g. Agriculture, Bio-Chem, Epidemiology, Veterinary Science, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics, Mathematics, Engineering, Physics, Planetary Science, and Health Sciences.

S&T Division:	Chemical/Biological
DHS COEs:	Food Protection and Defense, University of Minnesota
	Foreign and Zoonotic Disease Defense, Texas A&M University
Websites:	http://www.ncfpd.umn.edu/
	http://fazd.tamu.edu/

Human Factors: integration of human factors concerns into homeland security technologies to improve utility and operator safety; assessments of public acceptance of homeland security technologies; use of technology to discern critical aspects of human behavior. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS S&T area: e.g. Computer Science, Engineering, Health Sciences, Psychology, and Social Sciences.

S&T Division:	Human Factors/Behavioral Sciences
DHS COEs:	Explosives Detection, Mitigation, and Response, Northeastern University
	Border Security and Immigration; University of Arizona, University of Texas at El Paso
	Maritime, Island and Remote and Extreme Environment Security; Stevens Institute of Technology, University of Hawaii
Websites:	http://www.northeastern.edu/alert/
	http://www.borders.arizona.edu/
	http://www.cimes.hawaii.edu/

Immigration Studies: studies of the integration of new immigrants into U.S. society and the consequences of successful/failed assimilation. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS S&T area: e.g. Computer Science, Economics, Social Science, and Political Science.

S&T Division:	Borders & Maritime
DHS COE:	Border Security and Immigration; University of Arizona, University of Texas at El Paso
Website:	http://www.borders.arizona.edu/

Infrastructure Protection: assessment of relative threats and vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure; estimation of consequences of natural disasters or terrorist attacks to critical infrastructure; application of engineering technologies or tools to enhance DHS’ ability to prepare, predict, and minimize or prevent damage to critical infrastructure from natural hazards. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS S&T area: e.g. Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, Physics, Meteorology, Oceanography, Hydrology, Marine Science, and Business Administration.

S&T Division:	Infrastructure Protection & Disaster Management
DHS COEs:	Maritime, Island and Remote and Extreme Environment Security; Stevens Institute of Technology, University of Hawaii
	Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorist Events, University of Southern California
Websites:	http://www.cimes.hawaii.edu/
	http://create.usc.edu/

Maritime and Port Security: technologies and tools to secure national maritime borders and U.S. maritime interests, support global maritime awareness, defend maritime commerce and global supply chains, minimize damage and expedite recovery from attacks or catastrophic events impacting maritime interests, and protect coastal population centers. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS S&T area: e.g. Economics, Chemistry, Operations Research, Computer Science and Engineering, Maritime Engineering and Shipping Supply Chain (MBA), Maritime Meteorology, Remote Sensing.

S&T Division:	Borders & Maritime
DHS COEs:	Maritime, Island and Remote and Extreme Environment Security; Stevens Institute of Technology, University of Hawaii
Website:	http://www.cimes.hawaii.edu/

Natural Disasters and Related Geophysical Studies: assessment of relative threats and vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure; estimation of consequences of natural disasters or terrorist attacks to critical infrastructure; application of engineering technologies or tools to enhance DHS’ ability to prepare, predict, and minimize or prevent damage to critical infrastructure from natural hazards. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS S&T area: e.g. Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, and Physics.

S&T Division:	Infrastructure Protection & Disaster Management
DHS COE:	Coastal Hazards; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Jackson State University
Websites:	http://hazardscenter.unc.edu/
	http://jsucoe.org/
	http://www.jsums.edu/cset/or/centers/centndciem.htm

Nuclear and Radiological Threat Detection: development of new technical approaches to the detection, localization, identification and characterization of nuclear and radiological weapons or materials that could be used in such devices that are outside of regulatory control. Specific areas of research encompass advanced technology demonstrations sponsored by the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO). The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DNDO area: Nuclear Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Sciences, Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Material Science.

DNDO Directorate:	Transformational and Applied Research
DHS COE:	N/A
Websites:	http://www.dhs.gov/transformational-applied-research-directorate

Risk, Economics, and Decision Sciences: applications of advanced methods and techniques to support decision making; quantitative analysis. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS S&T area: e.g. Biology, Chemistry, Agriculture, Computer Science, Economics, Mathematics, and Engineering.

S&T Division:	Operations Research
DHS COE:	Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorist Events, University of Southern California
Website:	http://create.usc.edu/

Social and Behavioral Sciences: social and behavioral analyses of terrorist threats; community preparedness, response and recovery from catastrophic events; economic assessments of terrorism and catastrophic events; and economic and mathematical decision models of terrorist behavior. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS S&T area: e.g. Engineering, Health Sciences, Economics, and Psychology.

S&T Division:	Human Factors/Behavioral Sciences
DHS COEs:	Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, University of Maryland
	Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorist Events, University of Southern California
Websites:	http://www.start.umd.edu/start/
	http://create.usc.edu/

Transportation Security: applications of advanced methods and techniques to support decision making; quantitative analysis; improving the Nation’s preparedness in the event of a high consequence natural or man-made disaster, and developing best practices to alleviate the event’s effects. The following are HS-STEM disciplines that could be necessary to support research associated with this DHS S&T area: e.g. Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Economics, and Business Supply Chain.

S&T Division:	Infrastructure Geophysical; Explosives, Borders & Maritime
DHS COE:	Explosives Detection Mitigation and Response, Northeastern University
	Border Security and Immigration; University of Arizona, University of Texas at El Paso
	Maritime, Island and Remote and Extreme Environment Security; Stevens Institute of Technology, University of Hawaii
Websites:	http://www.northeastern.edu/alert/
	http://www.borders.arizona.edu/
	http://www.cimes.hawaii.edu/