Six students from the Stochastic Geomechanics Laboratory, under supervision by Dr. Zenon Medina-Cetina, were selected by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to represent Texas A&M University’s Cross-Border Threat Screening and Supply Chain Defense (CBTS) Center of Excellence (COE) at the Centers of Excellence Summit 2021, which took place virtually May 17 to the 21st.
The DHS Science and Technology Centers of Excellence develop multidisciplinary, customer-driven, homeland security science and technology solutions and help train the next generation of homeland security experts. The annual COE Summit presents a unique opportunity for participants to work with researchers from academia and industry, as well as to connect with federal, state, and local stakeholders from the DHS operational and support components.
The theme of this year’s summit was University Research and Workforce Development for a Safe and Secure Homeland, which included general and panel sessions, the COE Capabilities Showcase, and Student Research Symposium. To learn more about the COE Summit goals and agenda, click here.
CBTS Center of Excellence students presented their research and its impact on the regional management of the current COVID-19 pandemic in two different ways.
Audrey Guzman (Undergraduate Student, Statistics), Cesar Torres (Undergraduate Student, Biomedical Engineering), Jimmy Barnett (Undergraduate Student, Geographic Information Systems) and Alexi Allen (Master’s Student, Civil and Environmental Engineering) took part in the Grand Challenge Tabletop Exercise (TTX) on May 18.
The students involved viewed this opportunity as a valuable learning experience. “Participating in the Tabletop exercise not only taught me a lot about the subject of the exercise, but how to work together in a team and utilize everyone’s expertise to find a solution to an issue,” Jimmy Barnett said. More than anything, the team building and problem-solving skills used in the exercise were the most valuable parts to me.” Audrey Guzman wholeheartedly agreed: “The Tabletop Exercise Event was a very enlightening experience,” she said; “the takeaways from this event are proving to be substantial in my education and research with the CBTS-TAMU team and I am very grateful that I was able to participate,” she concluded.
They also highlighted the importance of interdisciplinarity involved in the subject matter. In Cesar Torres’s words, “the DHS COE Summit taught me a tremendous amount about the collaborations involved in risk management. My experience in the Tabletop Exercises was very insightful, as it simulated the dynamic and “out-of-the-box” thinking involved in responding to supply chain disruptions. Industry leaders that are normally involved in these processes were present and provided us with new avenues to approach our responses, which helped broaden my perspective on the impact of disruptions in the supply chain industry.” Alexi Allen echoed the sentiment: “as someone unfamiliar with the topic of border security and imports, it was interesting to see how the DHS handles threats and the amount of department interconnectedness involved in keeping the public safe.”
The CBTS COE also selected three students to showcase their research related to the current pandemic challenge within the Homeland Security Enterprise by participating in the Student Poster Competition, with the following posters:
“Model Development for Bayesian Risk Assessment and Management of Supply Chains Impacted by COVID-19 and Other Converging Threats”, led by Juan Pablo Alvarado (Ph.D. Student, Civil and Environmental Engineering, R-7 CBTS-TAMU DHS-CWMD), and co-authored by Guillermo Duran, Enrique Zarate Losoya, and Alexi Allen, graduate students at TAMU, and Matt Cochran,DVM; Greg Pompelli, PhD; and Zenon Medina-Cetina, PhD.
Watch Juan Pablo’s presentation of this poster here: https://youtu.be/Ojza1HIdeh4 | Download poster
“Design, Development, Implementation, and Operation of CBTS-SGL Data Lake System to Produce Risk Analytics of Supply Chains Impacted by COVID-19 and Other Converging Threats”, led by Guillermo Duran (Ph.D. Student, Civil and Environmental Engineering, R-13 CBTS-TAMU DHS-CWMD), and co-authored by Oscar S. Siordia, PhD, Minerva Rojas, Rubén Valdez-Escobedo, Pedro Luis Cauich-Rodriguez, Matthew J Mjelde, Jason Demshar, Michael S. Leary, Brad W. Goodman, Juan Pablo Alvarado, Enrique Zarate-Losoya, Araceli Lopez-Acosta, Audrey Guzman, Alexi Allen, Cesar Torres, Maria Jose Perez-Patron, PhD, Miriam Olivares, Matt Cochran, DVM, Greg Pompelli, PhD, and Zenon Medina-Cetina, PhD.
Watch Guillermo’s presentation of this poster here: https://youtu.be/3iAjZ4Msgxo | Download poster
After the event, Guillermo described his involvement as a very positive experience:“COVID-19 Impacts on Vaccination Supply Chains”, led by Enrique Z. Losoya (Ph.D. Student, Interdisciplinary Engineering, R-13 CBTS-TAMU DHS-CWMD), and co-authored by Juan Pablo Alvarado-Franco, Guillermo Duran-Sierra, Maria Jose Perez-Patron, Miriam Olivares, Matt Cochran, DVM, Greg Pompelli, PhD, and Zenon Medina-Cetina, PhD.
Watch Enrique’s presentation of this poster here: https://youtu.be/5ys7IwBypgA | Download poster
Participating in CBTS projects presents a unique opportunity for SGL students, as it enriches their professional expertise and allows them to be actively involved in national security development and near-real-time decision-making, while also contributing to the mission set by the Department of Homeland Security for the entire network of Centers of Excellence.
“The DHS COE Summit was a great opportunity to participate as a team leader to showcase the R-13 CBTS-TAMU DHS-CWMD work. It was challenging to summarize all the great work in a 5 min poster presentation, but also a unique and exceptional experience where DHS staff provided feedback to all participants”
We thank Dr. Matt Cochran, Research Director, and Jenny Ligon, Director of Education at the Cross-Border Threat Screening and Supply Chain Defense Center of Excellence, for their continued support of our SGL students.