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Examples of Excellence

• California Maritime Academy
• California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
• California State University Fresno
• California State University. Long Beach
• California State University, Stanislaus
• San Diego State University
• San Francisco State University
• San Jose State University

 

Cal Maritime Academy

Bruce Clark, Cal Maritime Academy, discussed a variety of education and research
programs in Maritime and Transportation Security, Global Studies and Maritime Affairs, and Marine Transportation. Bruce noted and acknowledged Donna Nincic, Chair of Global Studies and Maritime Affairs, and Paul Leyda, Chair of Marine Transportation.

Donna is also a member of the CEMHS Planning Committee. In terms of education and training, the Cal Maritime Academy has a Bachelors and Masters Programs with a Transportation Security Emphasis and variety of certificate programs and other programs (like academic minors) in Maritime Security, Marine Firefighting Program, and a variety of approved and certified NIMS-ICS short courses.

In terms of research, Cal Maritime is involved with Maritime Domain Awareness, Sensor/ Detection Systems, and Public/Private Partnerships.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo) and Dan Turner have many important EM-HS education programs and research projects underway. In terms of education programs, Dan described an undergraduate minor in Disaster Management (DM) and Homeland Security, an Academic Certificate in DM/HS, a B.S. in Forestry with Wildland Fire Concentration, and an academic partnership with CA OES at the CA Specialized Training Institute (CSTI).

Research in EM-HS at Cal Poly includes Hazard Mitigation, Wildland Urban Interface Fire, Critical Infrastructure Protection, Improvised Explosive Device (IED) protection systems, and Business Continuity.

Professors and departments involved include:

• Forestry & Natural Resources
• City and Regional Planning
• Engineering (Mechanical, Civil, and Others)
• Political Science
• Business
• Continuing Education
• Graphic Info Systems (GIS)

Courses developed include:

• Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) courses
• Designing Disaster Resistant Communities
• Hazard Mitigation
• Critical Infrastructure Protection

Future objectives at Cal Poly, SLO include a Masters Degree program in Fire Protection Engineering, a hybridized delivery Masters Degree in DM-HS, and an academic partnership with the California National Guard for a Graduate Certificate in Homeland Defense.

California State University Fresno

Fresno State University introduced a new (Fall 2008) Graduate Certificate program in Homeland Security. This program and related course development are funded through a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Scientific Leadership Award for Minority Serving Institutions grant awarded in December, 2007. The graduate certificate program includes a Research Emphasis on Border Security and Immigration Reform.

Courses developed under this grant include:

• Terrorism and the Historical Context
• DHS Management and Interagency Cooperation
• Homeland Security Policy
• Border and Transportation Security
• Provision of Victim Services to Disaster and Terror Related Events
• Geophysical Analysis of Natural Disaster/Terrorist Events
• Radical Ideology

These courses will be prepared and distributed upon completion through a variety of channels so that faculty members from various institutions can utilize this course material as a foundation to customize and enhance these online and traditionally offered classes.

California State University, Long Beach

Joanne Tortorici Luna of Cal State Long Beach presented the Volunteer Crisis Resource Team (VCRT). VCRT began as an extracurricular project after 9/11 the “Campus Climate Committee” that developed into a joint project of the CSULB Police, Counseling and Psychological Services, and Student Services.

Volunteers are trained in basic disaster psychology/ acute stress management and engage in follow-up training, live skill drills (i.e. evacuation and active shooter) and virtual discussions via the campus BeachBoard website. VCRT is currently in the process of developing student participation via a service learning course (in development).

Forouzan Golshani, Dean of Engineering, presented some very interesting research on “Technologies for Prediction, Preparedness and Management of Mega-Disasters.”

The presentation included ways in which we collect data through technology and how we can better utilize technology to organize data and help us “connect the dots faster.” After all, it is not necessarily a lack of information that makes pattern identification difficult in EMHS, but rather having too much information to collect, analyze and distribute efficiently.

California State University, Stanislaus

Ashour Badal, (Senior Associate Director, Executive MBA Program) from CSU Stanislaus is engaged in collaborative research with Cal OHS (Matthew Hawkins-Estes and Frank Quiambao) on a project studying radicalization. Extremism and radicalization are important factors to understand in terms of root causes of terrorism; and in particular, how these groups may be growing in power within California prisons and institutions.

Many are very eager to see the products of this collaborative research between Cal OHS and CSU Stanislaus. This an excellent example of the type of agency-university partnership that we are striving to develop in EM-HS fields.

San Diego State University

San Diego State University’s presentation by Eric Frost was a delightful tour of cutting education and research programs that underscore the type of presence CSUs can secure with strong leadership, hard work, innovative programs and partnerships, and support by campus administration. In 5 years of SDSU EM-HS education programs, they evolved from a M.S. Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, Homeland Security; into a standalone M.S. Degree in Homeland Security (Eric Frost and Jeff McIllwain, co-directors). Their Graduate program has approximately 130 active students and 50 graduates from a national and international pool of students.

With an interdisciplinary faculty (approximately 27 combined from many departments) and broad specializations (including Information and Communications Systems, Science and Technology, Terrorism and Irregular Warfare, and Critical Infrastructure Protection), they have developed a multitude of EM-HS courses. It is my understanding that Jeff McIllwain develops many courses for the program and includes hefty reading loads for each.

SDSU’s Current/ Planned EM/HS Programs

• Graduate Program in Homeland Security (Master of Science)
• Graduate Program in Public Health-Global Emergency Preparedness and Response
  (GEPAR): SDSU College of Health and Human Services.
• Information and Decision Systems: College of Business, Homeland Security is
  specialization in Ph.D. program that is nearly complete.

Two additional points of note include about SDSU EM-HS programs include their external grant and funding expertise (Barry Janov, Director of Sponsored Research, and Bob Welty, Director of the Homeland Security Research Foundation) have generated more than $5 million dollars in research grants from agencies including the National Institute of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, National Science Foundation, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marines, City of San Diego, SPAWAR, and many others.

Secondly, SDSU sustains significant partnerships with all levels of government, the Community, NGOs, corporations, civilian-military, and other domestic and international universities to build stronger HS-EM education and research ties with a whole variety of external stakeholders.

San Francisco State University

San Francisco State University showcased the Disaster Preparedness for Vulnerable Populations (DPVP) Project- a Multidisciplinary Approach Through Service Learning project (Gerald Eisman).

DPVP targets outreach and disaster preparedness to at-risk senior citizens and disabled individuals with many activities and home visits led by students. DPVP engages San Francisco State Faculty from the Departments of Asian American Studies, Nursing, and Raza Studies.

Additionally, San Francisco State is involved in a research project entitled, “Disaster Preparedness among Consumers and Providers of In-Home Supportive Services: A Research Study for the San Francisco In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority,” that involves consumer telephone survey research and outreach programs for at-risk populations in disaster/ emergency preparedness.

San Jose State University

Frannie Edwards of San Jose State presented two very exciting programs, the Collaborative for Disaster Mitigation and the SJSU Mineta Transportation Institute EM/HS program.

The Collaborative encourages the development of emergency management courses throughout the university, and

• involves public outreach (i.e. through an annual Business and Continuity Conference)
• involves students and translations of public education models
• involves federal (NASA-Ames Research Center) and state (Seismic Safety Commission) agencies.

Involved Academic Departments include Engineering, Public Administration, and Biology.

The SJSU-Mineta Transportation Institute EM/HS program provides education and EM and HS knowledge to transportation managers as well as research supporting the DHS Transportation Security Center of Excellence; and Collaborative for Disaster Mitigation.