Director’s Message, Summer 2024
Dear SENTRY Community,
As we close out an eventful summer, I am pleased to share some exciting developments and recognize the dedication of our team in pursuing our mission to better secure soft targets and crowded places.
On June 6-7, SENTRY held a center-wide 2024 Retreat at the Northeastern University Arlington Campus. We discussed integrating project-specific research into the Virtual Sentry Framework, explored potential project demonstrations that will be a significant part of our 2025 Annual Meeting, and strategized for the future. Thank you to all attendees for your invaluable participation and partnership.
The 2024 Reconnect Workshop held in Pennsylvania from June 16-19, gathered government and industry professionals together with faculty from Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and community colleges. This year’s event, titled “AI for Security and Security for AI: A Two-way Exploration” centered on the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and security, highlighting how AI can bolster security measures by detecting threats and anomalies with unprecedented accuracy and speed. This annual workshop supports SENTRY’s workforce and professional development efforts by equipping faculty participants with practical knowledge about SENTRY research and related topics, which they can then use to create teaching modules for integration into their home institutions’ curriculum.
This summer, both the Stadium Security Case Study and Passenger-based Surface Transportation Case Study teams facilitated several site visits to inform ongoing research efforts. Visited facilities include MET Life Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ; Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, NY; Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA; the New Jersey Transit (NJT) Command Center in Newark, NJ; and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (METRO). These site visits offer valuable insights into current best practices for venue security, including collaborations with local and government security entities, video analytic and camera capabilities, screening systems, and emergency evacuation techniques. SENTRY plans to host an Ideation Session on Stadium Security with stakeholders later this year to continue the collaborative momentum from the summer.
SENTRY co-hosted the Expert Briefing: Protecting Educational Institutions and Other Learning Spaces Against Terrorist Attacks with the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) on July 17. The briefing fostered valuable dialogue among esteemed participants across the globe, contributing to the collective effort to protect students, educators, and school facilities from harm worldwide. We invite you to watch presentations from Michelle Laboy, SENTRY Research Lead, and Mark Pompano, Director of Security for Newtown, Connecticut Public Schools, on the SENTRY YouTube Channel.
SENTRY School Security Case Study representatives Deanna Beirne and Jimmie Oxley attended the Rhode Island School Safety Committee 2024 School Safety Conference facilitated by SENTRY Practitioner Advisory Board Member Larry Filippelli on August 15 at Lincoln High School in Rhode Island. The event focused on various risk assessment techniques, swatting, new Rhode Island school safety legislation, and how educators, administrators, first responders, and researchers can work together to reduce the danger to students’ well-being.
Looking ahead, we are pleased to announce that the annual ADSA28 workshop, “Building Effective Security for Soft Targets,” will be held in person in Boston from November 13-14, 2024. As usual, invited experts will convene to discuss soft target security challenges, including developing decision support systems, interoperability, and emerging technologies.
While these expert discussions and collaborations are essential to furthering our research and success as a center, we are also committed to educating the broader public about our work. In this vein, we are excited to announce the launch of a new SENTRY webinar series, which will start in the fall.
Onwards,
Michael Silevitch