Students of Security and Defense of Critical Infrastructure Win Awards

 

On April 23–24, The Infrastructure Security Partnership (TISP) held The 2012 Critical Infrastructure Symposium at the Arlington Hilton Hotel in Arlington, Va. George Mason University, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led the development of the Symposium’s technical program. The event brought together more than 150 students, cadets, educators and practitioners from federal and state agencies, private industry, and more than three dozen military and civilian academic institutions to discuss current critical infrastructure curriculum and future expertise needs in industry.

 

How do you know whether the academic critical infrastructure program you or your child is enrolled in excels? That is a question TISP Director Bill Anderson in the spring of 2009 asked of Don Bliss, Chair of TISP’s Certification, Academic, Research, and Education Programs Committee (CAREPC). Shortly after forming CAREPC to research how academic institutions select course work requirements to earn a degree or concentration in critical infrastructure resilience or protection, Anderson met Lt. Col. Steve Hart, Ph.D., P.E., USA, of West Point and ERDC, who had asked himself the very same question.

 

Logically, TISP and West Point formed a partnership in this important endeavor. The result of the new partnership was an annual event—The Critical Infrastructure Symposium. The 2012 Symposium was sponsored by nine organizations: the Society of American Military Engineers; EMPact America; Drexel University; Concrete Joint Sustainability Initiative; Security Management International LLC; Michael Baker Jr. Inc; IT Cadre; Lane; and Long Island University.

 

The Symposium is an opportunity for academic institutions to highlight their programs and learn from one another, while providing a venue for students to showcase their knowledge and skills. A total of 39 students and cadets exhibited their knowledge by presenting at one of the nine technical sessions or the poster session, and in turn the session moderators evaluated their presentations based on common oral and research criterion. Criterion included measures of succinct description of research objectives and overall thesis, clarity and precision of the research results, as well as speaking skills and ability to communicate with the audience. 

 

TISP awards the best presenters to publically recognize good performance and hard work. For the sake of fairness, graduate students competed with peers and undergraduates competed with their peers. We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 Best Graduate TCIS Panel Presentation, the Best Undergraduate TCIS Panel Presenters, the Best Poster Presentations, and the People’s Choice Poster Presentation.

 

First Place: Ernie Hayden, Cyber Security Governance of the U.S. Electronic Grid, University of Washington (Score 30 out of 30)

Second Place: Patrick Smith and John Bennett, Network-based Risk Assessment of the US Crude Pipeline Infrastructure, Oklahoma State University (Score 29 out of 30)

Third Place: Patrick Trasborg, Increasing the Ductility of Reinforced Concrete Panels to Improve Blast Response, Lehigh University (Score 28 out of 30)

Third Place: Mohammadsaied Dehghanisanij, Characterizing the Dynamics of Vulnerability for a Deteriorating Roadway System, University of Virginia Tech (Score 28 out of 30)

 

First Place: Cadet John Fitzgerald, Sustainable Homes: Worth the Investment, U.S. Military Academy (Score 29 out of 30)

Second Place: Cadet Hanson Causbie, Tactical Nukes: The Future of Nuclear Power in the Deployed Environment, U.S. Military Academy (Score 28 out of 30)

Third Place: Steve Thompson, Strategic Resilience Achieved by Redundancy: An Analysis of the Private and Government-Funded Border Crossing Proposals in the Detroit-Windsor Corridor, Carleton University (Score 26 out of 30)

 

Cadet Graham Warner, Alternative to ASCE Report Card Methodology, U.S. Military Academy

Cadet Scott Mentzer, Educational Program for Future Engineers, U.S. Military Academy

Cadet Lauren Ulmer, Integrated National Natural Gas Strategy: Lessons Learned from the German Perspective, U.S. Military Academy

 

David Billedeau and Crystal Chow,Cooperation in the Critical Infrastructure Community, Infrastructure Protection and International Security, Carleton University

 

The 2013 Critical Infrastructure Symposium will be held April 25-26, 2013 at the Thayer Hotel in West Point, N.Y. Each year the Symposium will alternate between being held at the U.S. Military Academy campus at West Point and another academic institution that offers a critical infrastructure bachelors and/or master degree program.

 

“The strategic partnership between TISP and West Point ideally brings together uncommon views and knowledge that results in innovative thoughts and well-rounded leadership as described in ASCE’s Guiding Principles for Critical Infrastructure Protection,” noted Chair of the TISP Board, Albert Romano.

 

In late October 2011, TISP released an updated version of the Regional Disaster Resilience (RDR) Guide—as an operational guide instructing users how to achieve resilience through a regional risk architecture, partnering with stakeholders and communities, and measuring their degree of resilience to all-hazards. The guide is available for purchase for $25 per hard copy or can be downloaded for free on the TISP homepage (www.tisp.org). 

 

TISP next is developing an RDR Resource Tool Kit to assist in the multistep process, offer examples of resilience plans, and case studies of past disasters. It also is drafting a compendium document for senior company and agency executives to explain the role of infrastructure resilience, titled the Infrastructure Resilience Primer.

 

West Point has been educating future leaders since 1802. Its graduates have opened the Mississippi River to navigation, joined the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans with the Panama Canal, and developed atomic power through the Manhattan Project. Today, West Point cadets and faculty are involved in a wide range of academic research and application projects. Cadets have designed and built a prosthetic foot that allows a lower leg amputee to run at 6-mph, an autonomous aircraft to support the Department of Homeland Security antiterrorism planning, and a water distribution system for Bannerman’s Island in the middle of the Hudson River—just to name a few recent projects. West Point is a cornerstone institution for academia.

 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been streamlining its business practices to provide better service for its customers. One major success story is the consolidation of its research laboratories into ERDC. It consolidated its services into seven laboratories located in four geographic sites across the country: the Coastal and Hydraulics, Environmental, Geotechnical and Structures, and Information Technology Laboratories in Vicksburg, Miss.; the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in Champaign, Ill.; the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, N.H.; and the Topographic Engineering Center in Alexandria, Va. 

 

By consolidating the labs into one research and development organization, ERDC offers its customers one door to diverse initiatives and capabilities.  Integrated teams of engineers and scientists across ERDC can address a broad range of science and technology issues, from Arctic temperatures to vehicle mobility in desert sands; from protecting a wetland to protecting U.S. troops around the globe; from pinpointing the exact location of an artillery round to predicting the extended habitat range of an endangered species.

 

For more information about TISP, West Point, ERDC, or The 2013 Critical Infrastructure Symposium at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., contact Bill Anderson at wanderson@tisp.org or at 703-894-1911.