ADSA28 Agenda and Presentations

Introductions

Welcoming Remarks – SENTRY

Michael Silevitch | SENTRY
Michael B. Silevitch is currently the Robert D. Black Professor of Engineering at Northeastern University in Boston, an elected life fellow of the IEEE, the Director of of the Homeland Security Center of Excellence for the Soft Target Engineering to Neutralize the Threat Reality (SENTRY),  the Founding Director of the Homeland Security Center of Excellence for Awareness and Localization of Explosives Related Threats (ALERT), and the Director of the Bernard M. Gordon Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems (GordonCenSSIS), a graduated National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center (ERC).

Northeastern University Welcome

Gregory Abowd | Northeastern University
Gregory D. Abowd is the Dean of the College of Engineering at Northeastern University, where he is also a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering with affiliate appointments in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences and the Bouvé College of Health Sciences. His research falls largely in the area of Human-Computer Interaction with an emphasis on applications and technology development for mobile and ubiquitous computing in everyday settings.

Welcoming Remarks – DHS

Will Farmer | Department of Homeland Security
Will Farmer works in the Office of University Programs at the Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate (S&T). Will is the Program Manager for two Centers of Excellence: SENTRY, which focuses on engineering solutions to protect soft targets, and CIRI, which focuses on increasing the resilience of our nation’s critical infrastructure. Prior to joining DHS, Will worked for the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, where he developed requirements for medical countermeasures following CBRN incidents. Will earned his bachelor’s and master’s degree in biology from American University.

Setting the Stage

Carl Crawford | Csuptwo
Carl Crawford is president of Csuptwo, LLC, a technology development and consulting company in the fields of medical imaging and explosive detection for Homeland Security. He has been a technical innovator in the fields of computerized imaging for more than thirty years. His technology has resulted in 90 U.S. Patents.

Harry E. Martz | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Harry Martz is the Director for Non-destructive Characterization Institute and a distinguished member of the technical staff at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He is also Principal Investigator (PI) on Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology, Homemade Explosives Identification, Detection and Mitigation (HEIDM) program. Harry joined the Laboratory to develop the area of X-ray imaging and proton energy loss computed tomography for the nondestructive inspection of materials, components, and assemblies.

SENTRY and ADSA Engagement

Michael Silevitch | SENTRY

Keynote

Laura Parker | Department of Homeland Security
Laura Parker is the Senior Advisor for Sensors in the Science and Technology Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security. Previously, she was the Program Manager for the ALERT Center of Excellence, a DHS-sponsored consortium of universities led by Northeastern University to perform research that address explosive threats. Laura was also the Program Manager for the Next Generation Explosives Trace Detection Program focused on developing advanced explosives trace detectors for use at checkpoints and other DHS operational environments.

Decision Support Systems Development

Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office Perspectives on Protecting Soft targets and Efforts in Decision Support System Development

Kalpesh A. Patel | Department of Homeland Security

Mr. Kalpesh A. Patel is currently serving as the Executive Director for Technology and Capability Readiness within the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office (CWMD), responsible for collaborating with other DHS components, industry stakeholders, national laboratories, academia, the interagency to understand the current state and readiness level of technologies and capabilities related to CWMD’s and its supported operational partners’ missions and understand how these align to potentially close gaps in capabilities.

Decision Support Systems

Michael B. Hartnett | Ilitch Sports and Entertainment

Mr. Hartnett currently serves as Vice President of Venue Security for Ilitch Sports and Entertainment. In this position, he is responsible for leading the daily security operations and event-based security for the Detroit Red Wings, the Detroit Tigers, Little Caesars Arena, Comerica Park, the Fox Theatre and three outdoor music amphitheaters. Mr. Hartnett is focused on creating a safe and secure environment across all venues in the Ilitch Sports and Entertainment family.

Technological and Architectural Design Changes for Schools

Lawrence P. Filippelli | Lincoln Public Schools

Lawrence P. Filippelli, Ed.D. has served as the Superintendent of Schools in Lincoln, RI since 2018 and was named the 2023 Rhode Island AASA Superintendent of The Year. He previously served as Superintendent of Schools in Scituate, RI from 2016-2018, and assistant superintendent in Scituate from 2009-2016. He serves as adjunct faculty both at Providence College in the Graduate Program in Educational Administration and in the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership at Johnson & Wales University.

Next Generation Alert Standardization Solution for Soft Target Alert Notification

Kamran Atri | A4SAFE Inc.

Kamran Atri is the founder of A4SAFE, Inc., which provides program management and information technology expertise to public sector clients in the Homeland Security and Defense sectors. He is a recognized National Security Technologist and Senior Advisor at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other U.S. Government Agencies for over eighteen years. He worked in the areas of identity management at screening, Internet of Things, Immigration and Law, First Responders Technologies and Data Standardization, and R&D to production transition Subject Matter Expert for DHS Science & Technology (S&T) Directorate. He also architected and developed several Government solutions and systems.

Keynote

Protecting Major Sporting Events

Jim Bamberger | Transportation Security Administration

Captain Jim Bamberger serves as the Director of the Multimodal and Public Area Capabilities (MPAC) Division within RCA. As the Division Director, Captain Bamberger provides leadership for program managers and technical experts for surface security technology and airport infrastructure protection programs. He collaborates with TSA offices, DHS, and other federal, state, and local law enforcement, security and intelligence organizations, and transportation agencies to evaluate advanced technologies and facilitate industry awareness to help address transportation security vulnerabilities.

Decision Support Systems Development

Leveraging Decision Support Systems to Protect Surface Transportation

Kevin Gaddis | Transportation Security Administration

Kevin Gaddis is the Operations Division Director for Surface Operations in Security Operations, at TSA. Kevin started with TSA on July 18, 2021. Prior to joining TSA, Kevin served over 26 years with the Metro Transit Police Department in Washington, DC, retiring as Deputy Chief of the Homeland Security Intelligence and Investigations Bureau. He also served as the Deputy Chief of the Patrol Operations Bureau or six years. Kevin Commanded the Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility Inspections (Internal Affairs) for four years. He held numerous other assignments to include District Commander. Prior to serving in the Metro Transit Police Department, Kevin served over six years’ active duty in the United States Marine Corps.

Interoperability

Cross-agency Interoperability

Charles J. Guddemi | DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency

Charles J. Guddemi is the District of Columbia’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency’s (HSEMA) Statewide Interoperability Coordinator (SWIC). He is responsible for coordinating interoperability and communications projects involving voice, data, and video. Charlie chairs the District’s Interoperable Communications Committee (ICC) and Cellular Industry/WiFi Provider Working Group. He serves as the secretary for the Statewide Interoperability Executives Council (SIEC). He is a member of the National Council of Statewide Interoperability Coordinators (NCSWIC), FEMA’s Region III Regional Emergency Communications Coordinators Working Group (RECCWG), FCC’s Region 20, and White House National Security Council (NSC) Improving Wireless Broadband Infrastructure in the Nation’s Capital Working Group.

Effective Interoperability and Decision Support Across Time and Space

Scott Howard | University of Notre Dame

Dr. Scott Howard is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. His research focuses on developing new hardware and machine learning solutions for real-time sensing, analysis, and decision support in biomedical, ecological, and security applications. Prof. Howard earned a PhD in electrical engineering from Princeton University and was a post-doctoral research associate in the School of Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell University. He was a recipient of the NSF CAREER award and his work is supported by DHS, NSF, NIH, USDA, and NASA.

The Importance of Immediate, Clear, and Thorough Communication in Emergency Response

John McNutt | BluePoint Alert Systems

John McNutt graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of WI – Platteville and worked in the construction management industry for several years. In 2001 he became a founding partner of Shales McNutt Construction, LLC, and John quickly earned a reputation as a trusted partner for his clients. John leads business relationships with integrity, transparency, and humility, an approach which earned him repeat business with numerous clients.

Agent-Based Modeling to Enhance School Safety

Burçin Becerik-Gerber | University of Southern California

Dr. Becerik-Gerber is the Chair and Dean’s Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Southern California. She also serves as the co-director of the Center for Intelligent Environments (CENTIENTS) at USC. Her research focuses on interactions between the built environment and its users and aims to understand and predict how and why humans interact with their built environment. She then uses this information to develop novel technologies, interfaces, tools to improve human experience, well-being and performance as well as to achieve societal objectives, such as energy efficiency, safety, security, health. In her work, Burçin uses machine learning and data science to improve design, construction and system intelligence of user centered built environments.

Protecting Commercial Soft Targets

Nicholas E. Ortyl | Leidos

Nick brings over 20 years of expertise in engineered products across defense, industrial, automotive, and agricultural sectors. He began his career developing sensors and control systems for the automotive, aerospace, and oil & gas industries. Later, Nick pivoted to work on navigation, guidance, and communication systems for semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles, where he led global engineering teams at John Deere. His more recent roles at L3 Technologies and Parsons Corporation centered on C5ISR, SIGINT, RF, imagery, and Beyond Line of Sight (BLoS) systems for government, military, and law enforcement clients. Today, as Chief Engineer for Security Enterprise Solutions at Leidos, Nick leads scientists and engineers in developing advanced technology for commercial infrastructure.

Soft Target Security: Examining the Need and Readiness for Sector-Specific Standards

Jennifer Hesterman | Independent Security Consultant

Dr. Jennifer Hesterman is a retired Air Force colonel who served in three Pentagon tours and commanded in the field multiple times. Her final assignment was Vice Commander, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, where she led installation security, including protection of Air Force One. A counterterrorism and soft target hardening expert, she provides security assessments for our nation’s critical infrastructure and instructs graduate-level courses for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency and advises the Homeland Security Training Institute at the College of DuPage and the Crisis Response Journal.

Keynote

United Nations Perspective on Protecting Soft Targets

Ignacio Ibáñez | United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism

Ignacio Ibáñez is the Head of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) in Madrid, Spain, and Coordinator of the Global Programme to Counter Terrorist Attacks against Vulnerable Targets. From 2017 to 2021 he was the Head of the Front Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism of the United Nations (UN) in New York. Prior to this, he was Political Affairs Officer at the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force of the UN Department of Political Affairs. From 2007 to 2014 Mr. Ibáñez was the Head of the legal, financial crimes, and maritime security programs of the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism of the Organization of American States (OAS, Washington D.C.). Prior to that he worked at the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, covering Latin America and the Caribbean, and at the UN Industrial Development Organization, in Vienna (2006-2007).

Risk Assessment and Mitigation

Risk Assessment for Integrated Cyber and Physical Attacks on Stadiums and Transportation Systems

Fred Roberts | Rutgers University

Fred S. Roberts is a Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Rutgers University and Director of the Command, Control, and Interoperability Center for Advanced Data Analysis (CCICADA), an emeritus DHS Center of Excellence (COE). For 16 years he directed DIMACS, the Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science, which was founded as one of the original NSF Science and Technology Centers. Roberts is the author of four books, the editor of 25 additional books, and has written over 220 scientific articles. His contributions include best practices for stadium security widely used by the NFL, NBA, NHL, and Major League Baseball; a ground-breaking simulation of the world’s busiest bus terminal in NYC; automated tools to help TSA adjudicate applications from aviation workers with a criminal record.

A Graph Neural Network Approach for Analyzing Urban Rail Transit System Threat Deterrence

Samrat Chatterjee | Northeastern University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Samrat (Sam) Chatterjee is an Affiliate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University in Boston, MA and a Chief Data Scientist and Team Lead with the Data Sciences and Machine Intelligence Group at the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA. His research, in support of multiple DHS, DOE, and DoD sponsors, is focused on infrastructure network resilience modeling, homeland security risk and decision analytics, and multi-agent learning and optimization. He has authored 2 books, 6 book chapters, and over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers, and technical reports, and received multiple best paper awards.

Risk Assessment Using Game Theory

Jun Zhuang | University at Buffalo

Dr. Jun Zhuang is the Associate Dean for Research in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Morton C. Frank Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) at the University at Buffalo (UB). Dr. Zhuang obtained his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008. His primary research objective is to integrate operations research, big data analytics, game theory, and decision analysis to enhance mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery in the face of natural and man-made disasters. Additionally, he explores other domains such as healthcare, sports, transportation, supply chain management, sustainability, and architecture. Dr. Zhuang has acted as a principal investigator for more than 40 research grants funded by various organizations, including the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

Agent Based Models to Help Protect Soft Targets

Rainer Hilscher | RTI International

Rainer Hilscher holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Sussex, UK. He currently works at RTI as a senior research data scientist and project director at the Center for Data Science and AI. Dr. Hilscher is currently involved in simulation modeling (chronic diseases, alcohol abuse, soft targets), generative AI, knowledge representation, and data science projects. Dr. Hilscher is PI on a CDC funded Diabetes SDOH micro-simulation project and a CDC funded add-on to the Comprehensive Diabetes micro-simulation project. He is also the lead modeler on a multiple chronic diseases SDOH micro-simulation project. Dr. Hilscher is also the lead modeler on a DHS OBP sponsored agent-based modeling project on Soft Target Security and Prevention. Dr. Hilscher also applies generative AI to the extraction of information from scientific articles for an NIH funded project and an internally funded project.

Emergency Management of Tomorrow Research (EMOTR)

Daniel Cotter | Department of Homeland Security 

Video Analytic Strategies for Security

Video Analytics – Crowd-based Anomaly Detection

Richard J. Radke | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Richard J. Radke joined the Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2001, where he is now a Full Professor. He has B.A. and M.A. degrees in computational and applied mathematics from Rice University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Princeton University. His current research interests involve computer vision problems related to human-scale, occupant-aware environments, such as person tracking and re-identification with cameras and range sensors. Dr. Radke has been affiliated with the NSF Engineering Research Center for Lighting Enabled Services and Applications (LESA), the DHS Center of Excellence on Explosives Detection, Mitigation and Response (ALERT), and Rensselaer’s Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) and Cognitive and Immersive Systems Laboratory (CISL). He received an NSF CAREER award in March 2003 and was a member of the 2007 DARPA Computer Science Study Group. Dr. Radke is a Senior Member of the IEEE and was a Senior Area Editor of IEEE Transactions on Image Processing.

Video Analytics – Anomaly Detection

Galvin Widjaja | Lauretta AI

Galvin Widjaja is the CEO of Lauretta AI, a company that uses computer vision to build knowledge graphs of human activities and interactions in the real world while preserving individual privacy. Lauretta AI is built on the premise that AI can be used to identify individuals based on their intent instead of their behavior. Its security solutions are used by US, Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia law enforcement, operations, and military customers. He is an advocate for AI ethics and responsible data usage in AI. He spends his time outside of work designing strategies to increase his children’s spice tolerance.

Improved Video Analytics for Protecting Soft Targets

Steve O’Connor | Flux Tensor

AI-based Solutions for Crowd Safety

Hadi Amini | Florida International University

Dr. M. H. Amini is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science in the Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Sciences (KFSCIS) and founding director of Sustainability, Optimization, and Learning for InterDependent Networks Laboratory (www.solidlab.network) at Florida International University (FIU) since 2019. He also serves as the Director and PI of ADvanced education and research for Machine learning-driven critical Infrastructure REsilience (ADMIRE) Center, and an Associate Director of the USDOT National University Transportation Center for Transportation Cyber Security and Resiliency. Prior to that, he received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2019. He conducts research on machine learning and optimization algorithms, their security and privacy vulnerabilities, and applications in homeland security and cyberphysical systems.

Video Analytics for Detection of Anomalous Carried Bags

Dan Crick | Iconal Technology

Dr. Dan Crick is a director at Iconal Technology. He graduated with a degree in physics from the University of Oxford in the UK, and a PhD in quantum optics and laser science from Imperial College London. Dan has worked on science and engineering R&D activities across a range of different sectors including medical instrumentation and high-tech manufacturing. At Iconal, Dan has been involved with testing and trialling of new security products and technology, particularly for explosives and weapons detection. He has consulted for various UK government departments, as well as leading the development of new detection concepts through to mid-TRL prototypes.

Using Anomalous Features

Craig A. Burns | TACT Consulting

In 2018 Craig Burns saw a need in both the private and public sector, the need to be proactive and the ability for prevention before reaction on critical incidents throughout the country. Thus, the creation of TACT Consulting, LLC., a behavioral threat assessment company that specializes in behavior-based approach to preventing targeted violence for terrorist and active killer trends and tactics. Craig Burns started his career with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security –Transportation Security Administration in 2005. In 2007 Craig Burns was accepted into the Behavior Analyst and Detection Program, as Supervisor of the Behavioral Threat Assessment Division. In 2016 Craig Burns was promoted to instructor with the National Training Team (NTT) National Training Instructor for the Behavioral Detection & Analysis Division, Transportation Security Administration, through the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC).

Nose-Computer Interface for High Explosives Detection

Travis Massey | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Dr. Travis Massey is a staff scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a trusted government partner organization. Dr. Massey leads research in extreme scaling of implantable thin-film neural interfaces for applications in medicine, neuroscience, and programs of national interest. He is developing scalable approaches for fabricating and effectively utilizing devices with thousands to hundreds of thousands of microelectrodes, and he collaborates closely with laboratories in academia, industry, and government to develop applications for these devices solving critical problems. Dr. Massey completed his PhD in electrical engineering at UC Berkeley in 2018 prior to joining LLNL as a postdoc, and he has been a PI at LLNL since 2019. In addition to conducting his research, he also now leads LLNL’s Center for Micro and Nanotechnology.

Lab and Operational Assessments of Walk-Through Screening Systems for Mass Casualty Threats

Hasan Shahid | National Urban Security Technology Laboratory

Hasan Shahid is an Engineer at the National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL), a government-owned and government-operated laboratory of the US Department of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate. Hasan manages and supports various projects under NUSTL’s Test and Evaluation Division, including projects within the System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders (SAVER) and Operational Field Assessment (OFA) programs.

Matthew Aderholdt, Sr. | Department of Homeland Security

Mr. Aderholdt is a General Engineer for the Unites States (US) Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science & Technology (S&T) Directorate at the Transportation Security Laboratory (TSL) located just west of Atlantic City, New Jersey. There he works in the Passenger Spectroscopy Branch of the Independent Test and Evaluation (IT&E) division as the Federal Test Lead for Walk Through Metal Detectors (WTMD) and the Deputy Test Lead for Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT). The IT&E division supports the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and other DHS components as an independent certification authority focused on detection performance of security screening equipment.

Using ChatGPT and AI to Detect Active Shooters

David Riedman | Idaho State University

David Riedman is a assistant professor in the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services at Idaho State University and the founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database, an open[1]source research project documenting gun violence at schools in the United States dating back to the 1960s. He is a Ph.D. student, earned a master’s degree in National Security Affairs from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, and has authored multiple peer-reviewed articles on homeland security policy, critical infrastructure protection, and emergency management. He has keynoted the largest conferences for public safety, public health, and campus security to share his research on school shootings.

Pipeline Integrity and Soft Target Protection Using Standoff Ultrasound

Ana Gutiérrez González | Distran

Ana Gutiérrez González is a physicist with a PhD in Physical Chemistry and the co-author of 12 peer-reviewed articles. With expertise spanning surface science, laser spectroscopy, vacuum technology, and ultrasound imaging, Ana has a passion for developing tools to solve complex technical puzzles. For the past four years, Ana has worked at Distran, the pioneering company behind the world’s first ultrasound camera. Currently serving as the Head of the Applications Engineering and Training team, Ana combines deep technical knowledge with strong project management and interpersonal skills, contributing to the creation of sustainable and effective teams.

Next Steps

Summary and Next steps

Harry E. Martz | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Harry Martz is the Director for Non-destructive Characterization Institute and a distinguished member of the technical staff at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He is also Principal Investigator (PI) on Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology, Homemade Explosives Identification, Detection and Mitigation (HEIDM) program. Harry joined the Laboratory to develop the area of X-ray imaging and proton energy loss computed tomography for the nondestructive inspection of materials, components, and assemblies.