MSU engineering faculty member鈥檚 DHS grant helps assess public space safety, protect civilians against threats
Contact: Camille Carskadon
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜n industrial and systems engineering associate professor in Mississippi 大象APP鈥檚 Bagley College of Engineering has been awarded a U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant to make civilians and first responders safer during active shooter incidents.
Mohammad Marufuzzaman, who serves as the MSU department鈥檚 graduate coordinator, is delving into the intricacies of individual behavior during public safety threats and developing tailored training and response strategies for first responders thanks to more than $118,000 in funding from DHS鈥檚 multi-institutional Security Science and Technology Center of Excellence鈥擲ENTRY (Soft target Engineering to Neutralize the Threat Reality)鈥攍ed by Northeastern University. Project co-principal investigators include Associate Research Professor Daniel Carruth of MSU鈥檚 Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems and Lucas Cagle, a former MSU employee and current electrical and computer engineering doctoral student, along with research assistants Abdur Rahman and Mohamad Dehghan.
鈥淯nfortunately, intentional attacks in public spaces have increased alarmingly over the past decade and raised a serious security concern in public safety; however, our knowledge base on attack detection and civilian response strategy under such violence is limited,鈥 Marufuzzaman said. 鈥淪uch a lack of understanding hinders the development of effective training modules, building assessments, response and mitigation strategies for both civilians and law enforcement officers in such events, which are highly unpredictable.鈥
At the culmination of this year-long project titled 鈥淢odeling and Behavior Analysis to Assess Public Space Safety and Protract Soft Targets Against Active Shooter Attacks,鈥 Marufuzzaman and his team will introduce groundbreaking software for DHS and first responders to assess the risk in any indoor public workplace during an intentional attack. The software will allow users to simulate various scenarios, providing valuable insights to enhance safety in public spaces during an active shooter situation.
Additionally, the team will collaborate with the Starkville Police Department to ensure research components are of practical relevance and the project outcomes are readily implementable.
MSU鈥檚 Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering is online at and can be found on and . The Bagley College of Engineering is online at听听and can be found on听,听听听and听听at @msuengineering.
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