Centers and Institutes

DHS Center of Excellence in Border Security and Immigration

The Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence in Border Security and Immigration is a partnership between Texas A&M Engineering and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Recently unveiled at the Second Annual DHS University Network Summit, this center will address both research and education issues important to the Department of Homeland Security. The center is funded over a six year period, it will conduct research and develop technologies, tools, and advanced methods to balance immigration and commerce with effective border security. UTEP will Co-Lead the effort in conjunction with the University of Arizona.

As one of the UTEP partners Texas A&M has been Selected by the Department of Homeland Security to execute three key research investigations:

• Screening, Scanning, and Inspection Process
• Procedures at Border Crossing Points of Entry
• Surveillance and tracking Technologies

The Texas A&M University System has also been selected by the Department of Homeland Security to provide key leadership in designing, developing and leading an educational agenda to support the DHS mission.

Principle Investigator at Texas A&M University System:

Dr.Don Philips

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Texas A&M Engineering Programs collaborates annually with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the Response Robot Evaluation Exercise. This is in support of the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to develop performance standards for robots applied to urban search and rescue (US&R). NIST leads this effort, collaborating with Texas A&M Engineering researchers, and subject matter experts within the FEMA US&R teams, including Bob McKee from Texas Task Force 1. The NIST exercise is hosted at Disaster City, a 52 acre complex with extensive real-world scenarios including collapsible buildings, rubble piles, passenger trains, among others and located at Texas Engineering Extension Service in College Station, TX.

The 2007 NIST Event held on June 18 - 22 was a success. You can Download the 2006 report below.

The NIST Robotics Event is now scheduled annually for the week prior to Thanksgiving.

TEES Contact for the NIST Response Robot Event

Julie Masser

View the Department of Homeland Security Urban Search and Rescue Robot Performance Standards Report

Download the 2006 Response Robot Evaluation Exercise Report

The Texas A&M Integrative Center for Homeland Security explores the entire range of homeland security activities, identifies educational, research, and outreach needs, and helps match them against the many world class capabilities of the Texas A&M University System.

Director

Dave McIntyre

The National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense (FAZD), the Department of Homeland Security Center for Excellence, is designed to have the capacity and flexibility to address the range of threats presented by deliberately (or accidentally) introduced foreign animal and zoonotic diseases.

Director

Neville Clarke

The Texas Center for Applied Technology (TCAT) is focused on expanding the research and technical expertise of The Texas A&M University System by establishing partnerships and alliances with industry, government agencies and other universities to promote the economic development of Texas and the nation.

Director

Don Dickson

The proliferation of nuclear weapons, equipment, and information is a major threat to world peace and the threat of nuclear or radiological weapons use by sub-national groups is growing. The Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI) is a university-based entity that focuses on graduate education, research, and service on a variety of topics related to the safeguarding of nuclear materials and the reduction of nuclear threats. NSSPI works in collaboration with our national laboratory and other partners to develop technological solutions to problems associated with the malicious use of nuclear materials and to study policy issues related to nuclear security.

Director

William S. Charlton

The Offshore Technology Research Center (OTRC) was created in 1988 to conduct basic engineering research and develop systems for the economical and reliable recovery of hydrocarbons and other energy sources at ocean depths of 3,000 feet or more. It houses one of only three deepwater wave basins in the world, and the sole facility in the United States. The OTRC has approximately 26 investigators in several departments at the two campuses, performing interdisciplinary research in five principal areas: Floating Structures, Risers and Moorings, Materials, Sea floor Engineering, and Sub sea Systems.

Director

Richard Mercier

The Aerospace Vehicle Systems Institute (AVSI) is a cooperative of aerospace companies, the Department of Defense and Federal Aviation Administration working together both to improve and to improve the integration of complex subsystems in aircraft. AVSI's mission is to lead and facilitate cooperation between industrial organizations, academic institutions, government agencies and to accelerate development of "faster, cheaper, better" vehicle systems, architectures, tools and processes.

Acting Director

Fred Fisher

The Center conducts research and develops undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs. Its service to industry and government include accident investigation and analysis services, particularly for accidents suggesting new phenomena or complex technologies. The Center also helps private and public enterprises evaluate and minimize risk.

Director

Sam Mannan

The Center for the Study of Digital Libraries provides expertise and experience to help transfer collections of all types into useful digital libraries. Center staff includes experts in key new technologies required for digital libraries: electronic document modeling and publication, hyperbase systems, process-based and spatial hypermedia systems, collaborative systems, and computer-human interaction. The Center's program of research responds to the U.S. government's National Challenge program for research in information infrastructure technology. It provides a leadership role in the on-line development and application of world-wide access to digital library services.

Director

Richard Furuta

Researchers in the National Center for Electron Beam Food Research (formerly Food Irradiation Center), which has been recently designated as a National Research Center, use high- and low-energy electron beams to reduce the number of bacteria and other pathogens in and on food and other materials. The work is primarily directed at spontaneous, food-borne illness but is also relevant to bioterrorism issues.

Director

Suresh Pillai