SERRI Closeout Report - Southeast Region Research Initiative

This material is based upon work supported by the US Department of Homeland 

Security under US Department of Energy Interagency Agreement 43WT10301. 

The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors 

and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, 

either expressed or implied, of the US Department of Homeland Security.

FOREWORD 

The Southeast Region Research Initiative (SERRI) 

was established in the spring of 2006 and will end on 

December 31, 2012. The projects summarized in this 

report were funded by an interagency agreement 

between the US Department of Homeland Security’s 

(DHS’s) Science & Technology Directorate (S&T) and the 

US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National 

Laboratory. The goal of the SERRI program was to assist 

state, local, tribal, and regional leaders in developing the 

tools, technologies, systems, and methods required by 

communities, states, and regions to prepare for, respond 

to, and recover from the effects of man-made or natural 

disasters. Capabilities developed through this program’s 

applied and basic research and development were 

intended to help a region respond effectively to both 

short- and long-term events. 

Mike Matthews 

DHS S&T SERRI Program Manager 

An ancillary program goal was to demonstrate the 

benefits of leveraging homeland security-related research 

through operational capabilities within the southeastern 

United States. Because of its diverse and representative 

infrastructure makeup, the southeastern United 

States, in particular the state of Mississippi, was chosen 

as a primary location for initial implementation of the 

SERRI program. As a principal activity, SERRI sponsored 

university research directed toward solutions to critical 

homeland security needs of local, regional, state, and 

national interest. These needs originated from customers 

such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the 

National Preparedness Directorate, and a host of agencies 

supported by S&T. The program would not have been as 

successful as it was without the close partnership and 

collaboration with these many customers. Transition, 

commercialization, and implementation of innovations 

based upon SERRI-sponsored research were pursued 

to help drive research results into useful technologies, 

products, and services available to emergency/disaster 

responders and practitioners. 

Overall, in assessing the performance of the projects over 

more than six years, it is evident that taxpayers’ dollars 

were well spent in the development of needed solutions 

through cutting-edge research and development. It has 

been a pleasure to observe the continued dedication and 

enthusiasm of the SERRI performers during this span of 

time, and I am confident that many SERRI-funded projects 

will continue to be supported and result in solutions that 

will continue to help protect the nation. 

The Southeast Region Research Initiative 

i

FOREWORD 

The compelling idea behind the Southeast Region 

Research Initiative (SERRI) was to expand and amplify 

the concepts of the Department of Homeland 

Security’s (DHS’s) University Centers of Excellence. 

In a ground breaking program that went well beyond 

university research into DHS challenges, Oak Ridge 

National Laboratory supervised and coordinated a 

consortium of federal laboratories tightly linked to 

the full spectrum of regional research universities to 

provide cutting-edge science and technology development 

unmatched by any other homeland security 

research organization. The southeastern United States 

was a ready-made regional test bed for the examination 

of DHS validated critical requirements. The robust 

cross section of homeland security environments— 

recurrent natural disasters, large cities and sparsely 

settled rural areas, major ports and rivers, critical 

power and transportation infrastructure—coupled 

with a long history of regional collaboration in disaster 

response, economic development, intergovernmental 

agreement, and strong congressional support created 

a unique platform for addressing regional homeland 

security challenges with national implications. 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory accepted the 

responsibility of managing and coordinating the 

SERRI program as a laboratory priority. A focus on 

DHS research requirements, creation of partnerships 

that enabled the best science, validation of results, 

effective program management, and fiscal responsibility 

were grounding principles from the first day. 

In addition to pure research, SERRI also sought to 

combine science and technology with validated 

operational approaches. Many of its projects were 

specifically designed to develop interactions among 

regional homeland security stakeholders and develop 

regionally deployable systems and solutions. SERRI 

was designed to be a resource for regional lessons 

learned and best practices; an incubator for regionally 

interoperable systems; and a facilitator of regionally 

rationalized plans, policy, and procedures but always 

with an eye to applying those regional concepts on 

a national scale. SERRI’s bottom line goal was to be 

an exemplar homeland security regional research 

and applications center. 

General Warren C. Edwards (Retired) 

Director, Community and Regional 

Resilience Institute 

[SERRI Program Director (2006–2011)] 

ii 

The Southeast Region Research Initiative

INTRODUCTION 

The Southeast Region Research Initiative (SERRI) was 

created by congressional mandate in 2006. The principal 

mission of the SERRI program was to support the 

Infrastructure Protection and Disaster Management 

Division (now the Resilient Systems Division) within the 

US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and 

Technology Directorate (S&T) and its operations within 

the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

Early on, DHS selected the US Department of Energy’s 

(DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to administer 

the program through an interagency agreement 

between DHS S&T and DOE. (ORNL has a long history 

of successfully managing similar programs and projects, 

is located in SERRI’s “home” region, has experience in 

many of the research areas of interest, and has extensive 

relationships with other organizations in the region.) 

In meeting the SERRI charge, ORNL and DHS developed 

a program to assist homeland security practitioners in 

developing the tools, technologies, systems, and methods 

required by communities, states, and regions to prepare 

for, protect and mitigate against, respond to, and recover 

from the impacts of natural and man-made disasters. 

Since its inception, SERRI has evolved and matured, 

and its mission has been modified in accordance 

with DHS guidance. 

Primary funding was received from the spring of 

2006 through fiscal year 2010. These funds were used to 

establish a diverse portfolio of research projects vetted 

by DHS S&T as being relevant to the missions of DHS S&T 

and the SERRI program. The portfolio consisted of about 

100 projects demonstrating the application of science 

and technology by universities, federally funded research 

and development centers (FFRDCs), and the private sector 

to enhance regional preparedness, protection and mitigation, 

response, recovery, and resilience to the impacts 

of natural disasters and man-made incidents or terrorist 

events. These projects included research activities which 

addressed regional issues related to chemical and biological 

defense; cyber security threats; incident management 

and information sharing to improve emergency operations 

and enhance awareness of threats; infrastructure protection, 

with special emphasis on flood management; 

resilient and sustainable infrastructures to mitigate the 

effects of natural and man-made disasters; and social, 

economic, and infrastructure resilience from the effects 

of natural or man-made disasters with a special emphasis 

on rapid recovery. 

The southeast region of the United States was plagued 

by numerous major disasters during the period from 2006 

through 2012, including numerous tornadoes, hurricanes, 

floods, and man-made disasters (e.g., the BP oil spill). These 

disasters resulted in devastating social and economic 

losses for individuals, families, businesses, communities, 

and the region as a whole. Products resulting from research 

funded by the SERRI program were used to support and aid 

in emergency operations during many of these incidents. 

At the same time, these incidents were used to better 

understand the needs of homeland security practitioners 

during emergency operations and the factors impacting 

the region’s resilience to disasters. 

The impact of the SERRI program on homeland security 

operations extends beyond providing support during 

the disasters that have plagued the region and beyond 

the numerous scientific and technological publications, 

tools, systems, and methods developed to improve 

preparation, response, recovery, and mitigation activities. 

The intangible benefits include community and public 

networks that are more engaged in working together 

to make their communities, their businesses, and their 

emergency operations more resilient to disasters. These 

intangible products also include a larger pool of STEM 

(science, technology, engineering, and math) scholars 

with experience in applying science and technology to 

develop solutions to large-scale problems that impact 

emergency operations; disaster management; homeland 

security; national security; and the resilience of the 

citizens, businesses, and critical infrastructures of the 

region and the nation. 

The Southeast Region Research Initiative 1

SERRI RESEARCH SELECTION PROCESS AND MANAGEMENT 

The research areas supported by SERRI over the course of the 

program were determined based on requirements provided by 

DHS S&T and FEMA Region IV, the FEMA region encompassing most 

of the states in the SERRI program. In general, these requirements 

addressed basic and transformational research with an emphasis 

on preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery, infrastructure 

protection, and community resilience in the event of natural and 

man-made disasters. The DHS S&T High Priority Technology Needs 

and the DHS S&T Broad Agency Announcements often served as 

resources and reference guides in compiling requirements for SERRIfunded 

research. Additional requirements were provided by FEMA 

Region IV in 2010. Those requirements basically extended existing 

research activities and thus confirmed the relevance of SERRI research 

activities to operational capability gaps in emergency and disaster 

management. (See the appendixes for a complete list of projects.) 

For the majority of the projects, requests for proposals describing 

the SERRI program, goals, and requirements were published. 

Submissions were evaluated and selected based on feedback and 

ranking provided by an external panel of subject matter experts 

and an internal panel of DHS program managers. 

Over the course of the program, there were 10 semiannual reviews, 

beginning in 2007, and one joint FEMA Region IV gap analysis meeting. 

Various subject matter experts from DHS and other government 

agencies participated in the review meetings. The intentions of these 

meetings were to improve projects under the SERRI program through 

a systematic, cyclical review process; provide a tool for continuous 

improvement to both the investigators and the management team at 

ORNL; ensure schedules, deliverables, and milestones were met; and 

provide transparency and accountability of projects and visibility to 

other agencies. These meetings confirmed the relevance of SERRI 

research activities and helped extend and fine-tune them to better 

meet ongoing needs. 

UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI 

UM is committed to continually 

enhancing its research expertise and 

infrastructure. The SERRI program has 

been instrumental in building UM 

research capacity in emergency and disaster 

preparation, management, mitigation, 

and recovery. Specific capabilities have 

been strengthened in flood modeling and 

simulation, water resources assessment, 

critical infrastruture assessment and 

protection (including ballistic and blast 

resilience), socioeconomic vulnerability 

analysis, decision support systems, 

geographical information systems, 

and high performance computing. 

—Dr. Alice M. Clark 

Vice Chancellor for Research and 

Sponsored Programs 

2 


SERRI AND THE DHS QUADRENNIAL HOMELAND SECURITY REVIEW 

In February 2010, DHS released the first Quadrennial Homeland 

Security Review Report (QHSR report). The purpose of the 

QHSR, as required by law, is to outline the strategic framework 

to guide the activities of participants in the homeland security 

enterprise toward a common end: a vision for our homeland 

as safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other 

hazards and where American interests, aspirations, and way 

of life can thrive. The QHSR report outlined five homeland 

security missions and their associated goals to serve as a 

guide for the whole enterprise through 2014. 

JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY 

• Mission 1: Preventing Terrorism and Enhancing Security 

• Mission 2: Securing and Managing Our Borders 

• Mission 3: Enforcing and Administering Our 

Immigration Laws 

• Mission 4: Safeguarding and Securing Cyberspace 

• Mission 5: Ensuring Resilience to Disasters 

Although the SERRI program was active before the release 

of the QHSR report, SERRI management decided to use the 

report to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. The 

evaluation criteria included a comparison/ranking of SERRI 

research activities against the QHSR goals and missions. The 

results showed a strong alignment of the SERRI research 

activities with the missions and goals outlined in the report, 

especially Mission 5. 

SERRI has made a significant impact to 

research and education programs at Jackson 

State University. The variety of programs funded 

by the initiative over the years in the area of 

disaster resistance/emergency management 

has enabled our researchers to develop products 

currently being used by emergency personnel 

across the state, cutting edge products to inform 

weapons of mass destruction prevention using 

bioinformatics and high throughput computational 

tools, and education of our students for 

the next generation labor force in homeland 

security agencies. This program has also infused 

the local economy with millions of dollars. 

—Dr. Felix Okojie 

Vice President of Research and 

Federal Relations 


SERRI REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS 

SERRI was established as a regional pilot program that 

would leverage specialized and complementary capabilities 

in the southeast region of the United States, focusing 

primarily on capabilities in a nine-state region (Alabama, 

Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, 

South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) while also engaging 

support from outside the region based on capabilities 

needed to address homeland security requirements. The 

rationale for using the southeast United States as the 

target region included a wide range of factors, the most 

significant being the wealth of research capabilities 

resident among public and private entities in the region 

that could be leveraged to develop regional systems and 

solutions to homeland security issues with national implications. 

In addition, this nine-state region has a history of 

disasters that likely exceeds that of other regions across 

the nation, a history that has driven the close collaboration 

reflected in organizations such as the Southern Growth 

Policies Board and the Southern Governors Association. 

Within this region, SERRI developed three major 

components, representing key strategic partnerships, 

to implement the larger program. 

Southeast Region Universities 

Alabama 

• Jacksonville State University 

• Tuskegee University 

• University of Alabama–Huntsville 

Georgia 

• Georgia Institute of Technology 

Florida 

• University of Florida 

Kentucky 

• University of Kentucky 

• Morehead State University 

North Carolina 

• North Carolina Central University 

• North Carolina State University 

• Western Carolina University 

South Carolina 

• Clemson University 

• College of Charleston 

• University of South Carolina 

Tennessee 

• Austin Peay State University 

• Lemoyne Owen College 

• Middle Tennessee State University 

• Tennessee State University 

• University of Tennessee 

• University of Memphis 

Mississippi 

• Alcorn State University 

• Jackson State University 

• Mississippi State University 

• University of Mississippi 

• University of Southern Mississippi 

Federal Laboratories 

• Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

• Savannah River National Laboratory 

• Y-12 National Security Complex 

• Engineer Research & Development Center 

• Construction Engineering Research Laboratory 

• National Sedimentation Laboratory 

Other Associated 

Universities 

• Arizona State University 

• Dartmouth College 

• Emory University 

• Florida International University 

• Louisiana State University 

• Northwestern University 

• Oregon State University 

• Texas A&M University 

• University of Colorado 

• University of Houston 

• University of New Orleans 

• University of Southern California 

• University of Rhode Island 

• University of Washington 

4 


Mississippi Research Initiative (MRI) 

Because of its diverse and representative 

infrastructure and its history with disasters, 

the state of Mississippi became the primary 

location for the implementation of SERRI. 

Through partnerships with five Mississippi 

universities, Alcorn State University (ASU), 

Jackson State University (JSU), Mississippi 

State University (MSU), the University 

of Southern Mississippi (USM), and the 

University of Mississippi (UM), SERRI 

addressed a broad range of homeland 

security issues common to the southeast 

region and the nation. SERRI-funded 

research activities at these five universities 

were the outcomes of winning proposals 

that included a broad range of partnerships 

with FFRDCs, with other research universities 

across the nation, and with private sector 

partners across the nation. More than 50% 

of SERRI funding supported MRI related 

research activities. 

Aftermath of a hurricane. 


Regional Research and Operational Support Initiative (RROS) 

RROS focused on the larger southeast region (i.e., beyond 

Mississippi) and the resources in the other eight SERRI 

states, including FFRDCs and a host of regional research 

universities and private organizations with specialized 

capabilities. 

In general, SERRI’s regional partners were chosen because 

of their special capabilities to address homeland security 

and emergency preparedness challenges. Typically these 

partners also had a history of regional collaboration in 

natural disaster response and intergovernmental agreements 

already in place that served as vehicles for regional 

cooperation. Because of the economic, geographic, and 

meteorological diversity in the region, it made an 

excellent test bed for the application of science and 

technology solutions to homeland security and 

emergency operations. 

The programmatic goal was to provide solutions to 

regional preparedness challenges in the shortest time 

possible. One outcome was research results that culminated 

in tools or products with a clear path to usability and 

interoperability across the region. Another outcome was 

strengthened networks among the regional homeland 

security stakeholders. More than 20% of SERRI-funded 

research activities were conducted by RROS partners. 

Number of RROS Projects and Funding 

Project Lead 

Number 

of 

Projects 

Fully 

Burdened 

Costs 

University of Florida 1 1,007,335 

Middle Tennessee State University 2 640,612 

Western Carolina University 1 421,490 

North Carolina Central University 1 18,696 

University of Tennessee 2 552,560 

Arizona State University 1 147,500 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory 13 15,962,998 

Austin Peay State University 1 365,000 

Y-12 National Security Complex 2 760,338 

FLASH 1 120,000 

Small Planet Works 1 50,000 

Clemson University 1 629,515 

Savannah River National Laboratory 2 2,550,000 

US Army Engineering Research and Development Center 1 8,300,000 

AMSE Innovative Technologies Institue 1 918,219 

Tennessee State University 2 208,740 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory - Enterra Solutions 1 250,000 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory - Psydex 1 350,000 

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet & University of Kentucky 1 645,724 

Saliant, Inc. 1 281,988 

Tuskegee University 1 130,000 

Total 38 34,310,715 

6 


Community and Regional 

Resilience Institute 

In 2007 program managers within DHS S&T recommended that 

the growing resilience field of study be examined to determine 

its relevance to DHS and to identify significant research gaps 

that could be addressed by making resilience a SERRI program 

element. Interviews were conducted with representatives 

from government, the private sector, trade associations, and 

researchers active in the field. Based on these interviews, DHS 

determined that the most fruitful area of concentration for 

the SERRI resilience initiative was at the community level. This 

led to the third component in the SERRI regional partnership 

architecture, the Community and Regional Resilience Initiative, 

which has since transitioned to the Community and Regional 

Resilience Institute (CARRI). CARRI is a coalition of national 

experts brought together to develop the processes and tools 

with which communities and regions can better prepare to 

withstand the effects of natural and man-made disasters by 

collaboratively developing an understanding of community 

resilience that is accurate, defensible, welcomed, and applicable 

to communities across the region and the nation. The mission 

of CARRI requires that partnerships be established on a national 

level to understand the broad range of communities, disasters, 

threats, and best practices associated with mitigation, response, 

preparation, and recovery operations. CARRI formed a series of 

nationwide partnerships and represented about 15% of SERRI 

research funding. 

MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY 

We have been extremely pleased with the 

research support provided to Mississippi 

State University under the Southeast Region 

Research Initiative. We were able to support 

meaningful interdisciplinary projects that 

made a difference in our region and nationally. 

The program was able to not only 

support our research into areas of interest to 

the Department of Homeland Security but 

also successfully connect our research interests 

to those of the Department of Energy 

laboratories and introduce our researchers 

to new potential collaborative opportunities. 

Through the SERRI program, we have been 

able to advance our research capability in 

cyber security, remote sensing, community 

disaster resilience, post-disaster response, 

and many other areas. This is a program 

that has made a difference in our region 

and the nation. 

—Dr. David R. Shaw 

Vice President for Research and 

Economic Development 


SERRI PROJECTS 

SERRI funded nearly 100 projects during the period from 

2006 through 2012. All projects were vetted by DHS S&T 

as being relevant to homeland security before final 

selection for funding. The objective of funded projects 

was to combine science and technology with validated 

operational approaches to address regionally unique 

requirements and suggest regional solutions with 

potential national implications. The majority of these 

research projects were university based. In addition to 

semiannual review meetings, the SERRI management 

team conducted site visits throughout the program to 

review project progress. 

Results from the SERRI-funded projects are applicable 

to a variety of threats, including cyber attacks, chemical/ 

biological hazards to the food and water supply, natural 

disasters (e.g., tornadoes and hurricanes), and terrorism. 

Many of these threats pose risks to critical infrastructures 

and key resources (CI/KR). Among the 18 critical infrastructures 

identified by DHS, SERRI projects were applicable 

to 13, or more than two-thirds of them. 

Regardless of the nature of the threat, the majority of 

SERRI projects were relevant to disaster management, 

with cross-cutting emphasis on critical infrastructure 

protection and disaster resilience. 

Disaster Mitigation Projects 

Disaster mitigation projects funded by SERRI are listed in 

Appendix A. These projects were focused on developing 

tools and techniques for hazard mitigation. They included 

developing capabilities to track barges carrying hazardous 

commodities; detect the presence of chemical and 

ALCORN STATE UNIVERSITY 

Alcorn State University was proud to participate in 

four SERRI projects. Prior to participation in the SERRI 

program, Alcorn State had limited research outside of 

the areas of agriculture and advanced technology. These 

research awards have opened up opportunities for 

research in the areas of chemistry, business, and [other] 

advanced technologies. Approximately 12 undergraduate 

students participated in one of the projects; two 

students received master’s degrees and one is a candidate 

for the master’s degree in May 2013—all as a result 

of this project. Numerous collaborations have been built 

with other institutions that directly relate to the SERRI 

projects; however, the most important development 

from these research awards was the improvement of 

the university’s overall research infrastructure. 

—Samuel L. White 

Executive Vice President/Provost 

8 


iological agents in the food and water supply; detect 

malicious activities and vulnerabilities in supervisory 

control and data acquisition systems; monitor and improve 

the resilience of the power grid; harden government 

and commercial facilities against blasts; detect troubled 

zones, assess risks, and prevent failures of dams and levees; 

improve the situational awareness of state fusion centers 

and emergency operations centers; track the movement of 

hazardous materials on the nation’s highways; understand 

the impact of hurricane winds and storm surges; and make 

homes and families more resilient to weather related 

disasters through improved roofing systems, better 

building materials, storm shelters, and the use of mold 

prevention methods. 

Disaster Preparedness Projects 

Disaster preparedness projects funded by SERRI are listed 

in Appendix B. These projects were related to identification 

of preparedness gaps in the law enforcement community, 

education and development of the next generation of 

homeland security practitioners, development of computational 

tools and databases to forecast the impacts of floods 

and to support the development of emergency action 

plans, development of serious gaming tools to improve 

planning and training for first responders, understanding 

the critical factors influencing community and infrastructure 

resilience, and identifying best practices for business 

continuity planning. 

Disaster Response Projects 

Disaster response projects funded by SERRI are listed in 

Appendix C. The projects provided tools and methods 

to rapidly repair levee breaches, better understand flood 

propagation caused by dam or levee breach and perform 

consequence analysis to support emergency operations 

activities, identify essential geospatial information needed 

to improve emergency response operations, predict the 

dispersion of hazardous materials in wastewater and 

storm water systems and the dispersion of toxic gases in 

the atmosphere, support emergency response through 

improved incident management, and develop regional 

networks for rapid response. These projects also provided 

situational awareness tools to give first responders a 

common operating picture. 

Disaster Recovery Projects 

Disaster recovery projects funded by SERRI are listed in 

Appendix D. These projects yielded tools and techniques 

focused on debris management, damage assessment, 

modeling and simulation of socioeconomic resilience 

after a disaster, understanding the social and economic 

impediments to recovery on the Gulf Coast after large 

scale catastrophes, and management of large scale 

animal fatalities to better our understanding of the 

handling of mass fatalities. 

MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY 

The asphalt industry can significantly 

improve disaster recovery efforts in 

almost any situation where pavement 

damage hinders the operation. Using 

warm mix technology to produce hotmixed 

and warm-compacted asphalt 

that can be hauled very long distances 

(e.g. six hours) from areas with power 

and functioning infrastructure is viable 

for emergency paving. 

—Issac Howard 

Assistant Professor 


IMPACT OF SERRI PROJECTS 

SERRI projects were funded as basic fundamental research 

activities in compliance with National Security Decision 

Directive 189, which defines fundamental research as “basic 

and applied research in science and engineering, the results 

of which ordinarily are published and shared broadly within 

the scientific community, as distinguished from proprietary 

research and from industrial development, design, production, 

and product utilization, the results of which ordinarily 

are restricted for proprietary or national security reasons.” 

While each project produced open source publications, 

several projects resulted in technology products. These 

products have been field tested and validated in representative 

operational environments or used in support of 

actual disaster operations. Such evaluation activities have 

encouraged technology transition and implementation of 

SERRI-sponsored research in useful products and services 

available to homeland security responders and practitioners 

and have also led to opportunities with other agencies, 

including further development of many of these products 

and technologies. A significant by-product of SERRI activities 

has been its impact on STEM graduates, exposing them 

to the world of research and preparing them for homeland 

security and national security careers. 

Publications 

The principal deliverable of each project was a final report 

describing the project’s key activities, findings, and results. 

Where applicable, these reports describe the features and 

capabilities of prototype solutions, results of operational 

tests, feedback from prospective end users, new knowledge 

and insights gained that will improve homeland security 

operations, and other pertinent discoveries and recommendations. 

About 150 reports were submitted. These reports 

are available to the public from the SERRI website 

(www.serri.org). 

Additional project technical publications, including more 

than 200 journal articles, more than 100 conference 

presentations, numerous theses and dissertations, and 

four book chapters, are also available on the SERRI website. 

Practical Applications 

Technology products developed through SERRI-funded 

projects have already been used to support emergency 

and disaster management activities for natural and 

man-made disasters impacting local communities, 

the southeast region, the nation, and other countries. 

UNIVERSITY OF 

SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI 

SERRI had a profound and lasting impact 

on the University of Southern Mississippi. 

Through the support provided to our faculty 

and student researchers, numerous projects 

were started and pursued that all either created 

products or developed the scientific foundations 

for technologies aimed at preventing or 

mitigating catastrophic events, both natural 

and man-made. Every project at USM that was 

supported by SERRI resulted in meaningful 

advancement in areas that would strengthen 

the nation’s ability to respond to threats and 

therefore increase the security landscape of 

our country. Furthermore, the SERRI research 

projects provided educational opportunities to 

our students, both graduate and undergraduate, 

to work first hand in cutting edge science 

focused on issues of homeland security. Such 

opportunities not only ensure a steady supply 

of future security related professionals but also 

underpin the STEM efforts so badly needed in 

our country. The SERRI programs initiated at 

USM are all proceeding forward in some form 

or another as they have “graduated” from the 

past cycle of SERRI support. 

—Dr. Gordon Cannon 

Vice Provost for Research 

10 


Hurricane Katrina 

SERRI research activities began one year after Hurricane 

Katrina struck the southeast region in August 2005. In an 

effort to develop lessons learned from Katrina, MSU conducted 

research to capture information about the role of 

geospatial technologies that would impact emergency/ 

disaster preparedness and response operations. In addition, 

MSU conducted a study on Katrina debris management 

in coastal Mississippi that has identified the need 

for standardization in collecting debris information to 

improve debris prediction methods and speed recovery 

operations. Research was also conducted by UM to 

understand levee failures during Katrina, yielding new 

techniques to monitor, assess, and stabilize levees to 

prevent failures. A considerable amount of socioeconomic 

data was also collected and analyzed by USM in the 

aftermath of Katrina to assess the effectiveness of disaster 

response through the examination of economic and 

social data as a measure of the restoration and resilience 

of Mississippi Gulf Coast communities. This research was 

expanded to continue to study and understand the socioeconomic 

factors influencing and hindering the resilience 

of Gulf Coast communities post-Katrina, when they were 

affected by new disasters such as the 2010 BP oil spill and 

the economic recession that started in 2008. Lessons from 

this study are applicable to developing new policies that 

may help improve response and recovery operations. 

Practical Application of SERRI Research Products 

Year Events SERRI Products 

• MSU developed a database of lessons learned about the role of geospatial 

2005 Hurricane Katrina 

information in improving emergency/disaster response. 

• USM collected and analyzed socioeconomic data to assess the effectiveness of 

recovery in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region. 

• Mississippi universities (e.g., JSU, MSU, UM, and USM) produced materials 

studies and technology products relevant to improving levee protection. 

• MSU’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Center SCADA Lab supported the 

2009 Cyber Security 

FBI investigation and interdiction of a computer hacker and also discovered 

vulnerabilities in a commercially available SCADA tool used in control 

systems operations. 

• USM collected and analyzed socioeconomic data to study the impact on longterm 

BP Oil Spill 

recovery and resilience in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region based on the 

occurrence of serial disasters. 

• JSU developed an incident management and situational awareness tool [the 

Yazoo City 

Disaster Response Intelligent System (DRIS)] that supported and enhanced 

Tornado 

local emergency response operations. 

• Austin Peay State University and ORNL developed a hand-held mobile 

2010 Nashville Flood 

damage assessment tool called the Disaster Mitigation and Recovery Kit, or 

DMARK, that was used to assist first responders in securing preliminary 

damage assessments needed to request federal assistance for recovery 

operations. 

• The UM National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering 

(UM-NCCHE) developed a two-dimensional flood simulation model, the 

Pakistan Floods 

Decision Support System for Water Infrastructural Security (DSS-WISE), 

which was used by the USACE ERDC Military Hydrology Division to provide 

situation awareness to the US and Pakistan governments by simulating the 

propagation of flood waters and the time needed for them to recede. 

2011 

Mississippi River 

Flood 

2012 Hurricane Isaac 

• JSU used the DRIS tool to provide the Mississippi Emergency Management 

Agency (MEMA) with critical geospatial information and maps needed to 

support evacuation plans and response operations. 

• MSU levee assessment studies assisted in monitoring possible levee failures. 

• UM-NCCHE used DSS-WISE to assist MEMA and the US Department of 

Agriculture Agricultural Research Service in planning for flood emergency 

management operations by modeling several hypothetical levee breaches in the 

Mississippi Delta and in other areas along the Mississippi River. 

• In February 2012 UM-NCCHE, in collaboration with other federal agencies, 

made DSS-WISE available for web based automated dam break flood 

simulations through the Dam Sectors Analysis Tools link at Argonne National 

Laboratory. The tool was used to support FEMA through emergency 

simulations for two dams in imminent danger of failure, potentially affecting 

people in Louisiana and Mississippi, during the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac. 


Cybersecurity 

In collaboration with the FBI, the earliest results from 

application of SERRI-funded work came in June 2009 

when the supervisory control and data acquisition 

(SCADA) cybersecurity research at MSU resulted in 

the arrest of a control systems hacker. The project also 

supported a subsequent FBI raid on three other members 

of the hacker group and confiscation of their computers. 

Another key result was the identification of a serious 

vulnerability in human machine interface software used 

by the Department of Defense and in the private sector 

to support key critical infrastructure operations. 

Local and Regional Disasters 

In 2010 products from several key SERRI projects were 

used to support responses to local and regional disasters. 

This included application of the JSU incident management 

and situational awareness tool (the Disaster Response 

Intelligent System, or DRIS) in the tornado aftermath in 

Yazoo City, Mississippi, and use of the Austin Peay-ORNL 

mobile damage assessment tool (the Disaster Mitigation 

and Recovery Kit, or DMARK) to assist first responders 

during the 1,000-year floods that struck middle and 

west Tennessee. 

Major Flood Incidents 

USACE has used the Decision Support System for Water 

Infrastructural Security (DSS-WISE), developed by the 

UM National Center for Computational Hydroscience and 

Engineering (UM-NCCHE), extensively in the United States 

and around the world. The tool simulates propagation of 

floodwaters over complex real topography and predicts 

how long it will take floodwaters to recede. In 2010, 

USACE used DSS-WISE to simulate catastrophic flood 

in Pakistan to provide situation awareness to the US and 

Pakistan governments. UM-NCCHE used DSS-WISE during 

the Mississippi River floods in April and May 2011 to run 

various what-if scenarios to aid federal and state agencies 

in their efforts for flood preparedness and emergency 

management in the Mississippi delta and other areas along 

the Mississippi River. The floods during this period were 

among the greatest and most damaging recorded along 

the Mississippi in the past century, comparable in extent 

to the major floods of 1927 and 1993. 

During Hurricane Isaac, which occurred in August 2012, 

UM-NCCHE used DSS-WISE at the request of FEMA to 

perform emergency simulations for two dams in 

imminent danger of failure. 

Technology Transition 

DSS-WISE 


Emergency/disaster management requires the collection 

and analysis of enormous [amounts of] data and 

information in real time. However, this kind of system 

is not developed yet. Current practice is primarily based 

on manual data collection, analysis, and reporting 

systems, which results in the delayed prediction of 

future events (e.g., the prediction of failure after the 

failure has occurred). Developing a system that can 

provide real-time measurement, analysis, and reporting 

will greatly enhance the preparedness for a disaster. 

—Dr. Chung Song 

Associate Professor 

The transition of DSS-WISE to an operational web based 

system for use by dam safety officers nationwide was one 

of the most important achievements of the SERRI program. 

This was accomplished through the collaboration of 

UM-NCCHE and the Dams Sector-Specific Agency (Office 

of Infrastructure Protection, DHS National Protection and 

Programs Directorate), USACE, and Argonne National 

Laboratory. From February 2012 through November 2012 

more than 110 dams in 19 states were studied using this 

web based automated dam break flood simulation and 

mapping service, called DSS-WISE-DSAT (Dam Safety 

Analysis Tools). Currently UM-NCCHE has an agreement 

with FEMA to integrate DSS-WISE-DSAT with a software 

tool for emergency action plan preparation for dams. 

12 


RRLB 

ERDC pioneered a new generation of rapid repair of levee 

breach (RRLB) tools under a SERRI-funded project. During 

the project, the concept evolved to include multiple 

components such as the portable lightweight ubiquitous 

gasket, the rapidly emplaced protection for earthen levees, 

and the rapidly emplaced hydraulic arch barrier. RRLB devices 

are primarily tubes made of high strength fabrics designed 

to be partially filled with water and then floated into a levee 

breach where they plug and thus stop or greatly reduce water 

flow through the breach. The RRLB program has attracted the 

interest of state and local government agencies involved 

with flood protection. 

RRLB devices for repairing 

levee breaches and protecting 

levees from overtopping. 

Asphalt Roofing 

Among the many factors that contribute 

to our societal vulnerability to hurricanes, 

tornadoes, and high-wind storms, the poor 

performance of residential roof cover systems 

is the single largest unresolved problem. Loss 

of roof cover is a gateway to water damage to 

mechanical, electrical, and structural systems 

and building contents. SERRI-funded research 

at the University of Florida on the wind 

resistance of asphalt shingles for residential 

roof covering has attracted great interest 

from FEMA and the asphalt roofing industry. 

The research has the potential to transform 

the manufacturing and installation of asphalt 

roofing to make residential structures more 

resilient to storms and wind-driven rain. 

Damaged roof shingles repair. 


CARRI 

During its research phase CARRI devoted 18 months to 

coordinating an effort to build a Community Resilience 

System (CRS) to provide community leaders a systematic 

way to organize and provide coherence to their efforts 

to build disaster resilient communities. The resulting CRS 

answers this need with a system that is practical, simple, 

and useable by all communities and directly supports the 

FEMA whole community philosophy. The CRS’s simple but 

powerful web based software guides a community and 

its champions through a process to improve resilience, 

provides access to the resources in user-friendly formats, 

and documents the results of the community’s actions. 

In October 2011, CARRI was funded by FEMA to pilot and 

test its CRS in several communities. CRS is currently being 

implemented in eight communities. (See the CARRI website 

for more information: http://www.resilientus.org.) 

Other Products 

Other SERRI products have been shared with potential 

end users for further examination and evaluation. These 

include the incident management and situational awareness 

tools developed by JSU [e.g., DRIS and the Disaster 

Incident and Situation Collaborative Operational Virtual 

Environment Resource for MS (DISCOVER MS)], which have 

been made available to state and local emergency operating 

centers. As a result, JSU has received funding from the 

Mississippi Department of Homeland Security for further 

development of DISCOVER MS. A mobile damage assessment 

tool developed by RunMobile is under review by 

FEMA Region V. Geospatial tools developed by MSU 

under the Katrina Lessons-Learned Project and the Debris 

Management Project are being examined for use by 

Mississippi Power and by the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration. ASU has received funding 

from the Office of Naval Research to expand its SERRIfunded 

biometrics research on facial recognition. The 

SCADA security work at MSU has resulted in a very strong 

and productive relationship with Pacific Gas and Electric 

and with Energy Inc. (a Mississippi based utility company). 

These relationships and other strategic partnerships are 

being used by MSU to expand its SCADA security work 

relative to the power grid. MSU has also established 

significant international collaborations relative to SCADA 

security with Queensland University of Technology in 

Brisbane, Australia, and with the University of 

South Australia in Adelaide, Australia. 

14 


Intangible Benefits 

STEM Workforce Development 

STEM workforce development has been an important 

by-product of SERRI-funded activities. SERRI has provided 

hands-on training in a broad range of homeland security 

related disciplines to more than 300 students. To date, 

105 undergraduates, 178 graduate students, and 25 post 

docs have participated on SERRI projects. As of December 

2012, the number of completed degrees included 94 bachelor’s 

degrees, 87 master’s degrees, and 32 doctoral degrees. 

Another 60 students are expected to receive STEM undergraduate 

and graduate degrees by the end of 2013. Moreover, 

several students who worked on SERRI-funded projects are 

now employed with national security and homeland 

security agencies. 

SERRI projects not only gave students hands-on experience, 

but also gave them the opportunity to excel on national 

and international stages: 11 SERRI students were selected to 

compete in a field of more than 70 students in the 2009 DHS 

Student Day Poster Competition, SERRI students from MSU 

won top honors in two categories at the 2008 International 

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 

another SERRI MSU student won the Best Undergraduate 

Poster Award at the 2010 IEEE Power Energy Society 

Transmission and Distribution Conference for a poster based 

on a SERRI-sponsored project he worked on, a doctoral 

student working on a SERRI-funded project at USM earned a 

student scholarship award for a presentation on the project 

at the 2008 Chemical and Biological Defense Physical 

Science and Technology Conference, and a student at Middle 

Tennessee State University won first place in the Student 

Poster Competition at the 2011 DHS Science Conference 

for a poster describing the SERRI project she worked on. 

SERRI projects have also impacted high school students, 

including a student from Virginia who was mentored by the 

UM-NCCHE director while developing a one-dimensional 

dam break flood model. The student is now a freshman at 

Brown University, majoring in applied mathematics and 

computer science. 

A by-product of placing SERRI program management at 

ORNL that strongly supported STEM workforce development 

was the ability to establish summer internships and faculty 

research positions at ORNL for students and research 

faculty. Forty-seven students and nine faculty members were 

engaged in homeland security related research (funded by 

SERRI) at ORNL during the summers of 2008–2012. 

Craig Dixon (PhD candidate) 

Department of Civil and 

Coastal Engineering, 

University of Florida 

Project: Residential Roof Covering 

Investigation of Wind Resistance 

of Asphalt Shingles 

The SERRI program provided me the 

opportunity to conduct cutting-edge 

research on one of society’s greatest 

unresolved vulnerabilities to hurricanes: 

the loss of asphalt shingle 

roof covering. With the support of 

SERRI, we elucidated the key failure 

mechanisms and then transferred 

this knowledge to a diverse group of 

stakeholders. SERRI’s support has 

also benefitted my own professional 

development through immersion in 

innovative experimental research and 

presentation of results to peers in the 

engineering community. 


Dr. Benjamin Thomas, ORNL SERRI Operations 

Manager, and SERRI students selected to compete in 

the 2009 DHS Student Day Poster Competition. 

Other Intangible Benefits 

The impact of the SERRI program extends far 

beyond the cutting-edge tools, systems, methods, 

and processes developed for emergency and disaster 

management and infrastructure protection. It also 

extends to the human networks that have developed 

among researchers, homeland security practitioners, 

and communities. Among these are the diverse networks 

established by CARRI to help propel a national 

focus on disaster resilience. Another is the network 

of community leaders and first responders developed 

to address preparedness issues through the work of 

projects such as the Regional Emergency Planning 

Model Project at Western Carolina University and at 

MSU. Additionally, the work done by USM on sport 

stadium safety and security has resulted in an extraordinary 

network of safety, security, and emergency 

professionals at the collegiate and professional sports 

levels engaged with the private and public sector to 

address key relevant issues. The SERRI-funded work 

at USM played a large part in influencing the establishment 

of the National Center for Spectator Sports 

Safety and Security and its annual conference and 

exhibition, which draws national participants from 

all sports at the collegiate and the professional levels. 

Bradley Reaves, MSU undergraduate, 

presenting his award-winning poster 

at the 2010 IEEE Power Energy Society 

Transmissions and Distribution 

Conference. 

MSU SERRI student 

Saurabh Prasad and Project PI 

Dr. Lori Bruce display the 1st 

place award in the 2008 IEEE 

IGARSS International Student 

Paper Contest. 

SERRI has given me my first glimpse of professional success. It has allowed 

me to interact with experts in different fields, conceptualize problems and 

their solutions, and present my ideas in worthwhile projects. I am proud to 

have participated in developing DSS-WISE and the numerical flood model 

CCHE2D-FLOOD, which are widely used to solve real-world problems. 

Through my involvement in research with DSS-WISE, I feel that I have made 

a useful contribution to protecting the critical infrastructure of this country. 

In return, SERRI has invested in my academic and professional education 

and has launched me into a competitive world where my experience and 

research will prepare me for challenges ahead. 

Marcus McGrath 

Graduate Assistant, (PhD candidate) 

University of Mississippi 

Project: Simulation-Based Decision Support System for Water Infrastructural Security (DSS-WISE) 

16 


LESSONS LEARNED 

There is a very diverse pool of science and technology 

talent in the southeast region relative to numerous 

aspects of flood protection. 

As might be expected, numerous lessons that impact 

disaster/emergency operations and infrastructure protection 

were learned from the SERRI-sponsored research (see 

appendixes). The SERRI program resulted in the discovery 

of unique/specialized capabilities in the southeast region 

that are essential to improving how communities mitigate 

against, prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural 

and man-made disasters. Even as flooding is the number 

one disaster that plagues the nation, there is an extremely 

vast pool of talent in the southeast region, especially 

among universities in the state of Mississippi, with diverse 

expertise relevant to flood protection and flood management, 

including flood modeling and simulation, and an 

array of techniques to monitor and assess the health of 

levees and dams for public safety. 

Innovation and educational reforms are imperatives 

for disaster resilience. 

Disaster resilience must be driven by innovation and 

an improved understanding of the nation’s emergency/ 

disaster management enterprise. Innovation should not 

be based on retrofitting existing infrastructures but on 

actually developing a new frontier of infrastructures that 

are superior to existing aging infrastructures and that 

have inherent smart capabilities and strong engineering 

features to advance emergency/disaster management 

operations and critical infrastructure protection. Shaping 

the nation’s enterprise for emergency/disaster management 

requires educational reforms relative to hazard 

awareness and requires technology innovations that 

influence new streams of economic development. 

dered from operational testing due to factors such 

as resource constraints on emergency management 

agencies and the need to focus on regular, routine, and 

real emergencies. For example, when FEMA has a disaster, 

collaborative R&D related efforts must give way to disaster 

operations activities. America needs a disaster research 

national laboratory or a consortium of disaster research 

sites that includes experts on diverse threats; that stays 

abreast of essential requirements, failures, and successes 

during disasters; and that has facilities to conduct 

extreme testing and evaluation of technology products 

which can be rolled out to communities to improve 

disaster resilience. 

America’s critical infrastructures (dams, bridges, etc.) are 

aging, and retrofitting is not the solution for present day 

and future disasters. 

Many of the nation’s major tools for emergency/disaster 

management are vintage technologies, and some are 

brute manual practices for data collection. Similarly, many 

of the nation’s systems for flood protection (e.g., dams and 

levees) are aging structures not well suited for present day 

threats and the frequency of the occurrence of various 

threats. Thus, there is a strong need for modernization 

and quantum advancement of these tools and systems 

based on assessments and experience gained from local 

and regional catastrophes to develop an advanced toolset 

of best practices, standards, tools, and systems that will 

significantly improve the nation’s resilience to disasters. 

America needs a disaster research national laboratory 

or a consortium of disaster research establishments. 

Research and development (R&D) for emergency/disaster 

management is essential to resilience. Such R&D can be 

enhanced by dedicated research laboratories that include 

specialized facilities and/or test beds dedicated to physical 

modeling and simulation and to requirements based technology 

development, testing, evaluation, and deployment 

of technology products. Often products developed by 

universities, the private sector, and even FFRDCs are hin- 


Social science advances are needed 

for pre-disaster and post-disaster 

preparedness to enhance the nation’s 

resilience. 


Preparedness for weather related 

events can likely be improved by long 

term weather forecasts and by social 

science research leading to more 

effective severe weather warnings 

and warning dissemination. Preparedness 

for post-disaster is a key area 

for resilience improvements and 

requires more social science studies 

to help reduce socioeconomic losses 

post-disaster. 

Homeland security solutions 

developed in the southeast region 

have national implications. 

Among the many lessons learned from 

the SERRI program, perhaps the single 

greatest lesson was the discovery of 

unique, specialized capabilities in the 

southeast region that are essential to 

improving how communities prepare 

for, respond to, mitigate the effects 

of, and recover from natural and manmade 

disasters—something that can 

be transitioned to make the entire 

nation safer and more resilient. 

Flooding is one of the most frequent natural hazards in the United States 

and across the world, causing recurrent loss of life and property damage. 

Despite advances in science and technology, the damage to property, . . . 

continues to increase. Although hydrometeorological factors such as 

climate change play a role, the principal reason for the observed increase 

in damages is the increase in vulnerabilities due to human development 

and urbanization. 

Our SERRI proposals were motivated by the observation that a new generation 

of robust, two-dimensional numerical models were needed to study 

the flood risk due to failure of water infrastructures or hydrometeorological 

forcing. . . . It became clear that the new generation flood modeling and 

decision making tools should not only be based on the latest numerical 

schemes and take advantage of the latest advances in multicore architecture 

of desktop computers for higher computational speed, but also provide full 

integration with geographical information systems (GISs) and remote sensing 

technologies. Integrated with GISs, new generation tools should allow 

quick and easy input data preparation and post-processing (flood mapping, 

flood hazards risk mapping, loss of life and property damage estimations, 

etc.) of the numerical results by interfacing them with various geospatial 

data layers. The academic setting in which these projects were conducted 

gave numerous graduate students the opportunity to actively participate 

in the research and development activities, and enabled educating the next 

generation of scientists and engineers who will shape the future of critical 

infrastructure protection. 

18 

The Southeast Region Research Initiative 

The modeling, simulation, and decision making tools developed under our 

SERRI projects (DSS-WISE and WGFEM) radically changed engineering 

practice and provided agencies with the ability to address dam and levee 

safety issues in a time- and cost-effective manner. Short-courses were 

organized to educate the engineering workforce to understand and 

efficiently use these new technologies. The new science and technology 

were also disseminated through journal and conference papers, reports, 

workshops, and conferences. 

—Dr. Mustafa S. Altinakar, Director, 

National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering

—I want to personally thank you for the time and effort you 

put in toward supporting FEMA and the people of Louisiana 

and Mississippi during Hurricane Isaac and its aftermath. 

Your support and DSS-WISE have proven to be vital 

assets during the response effort. The use of DSS-WISE 

has definitely given FEMA the ability to provide real-time 

dam inundation information during emergency operations. 

This is something we have not been able to do in the past. 

—James Demby, Jr., PE 

Technical and Policy Advisor, 

National Dam Safety Program, 

Federal Emergency Management Agency 

—The introduction of DSS-WISE has been very 

welcome here at the US Army Engineer Research and 

Development Center. We have used the model on at least 

20 different Requests for Information (RFI) over the past 

few years. These RFIs come from US troops in the field 

as well as US Department of Defense Combined 

Commands and US Embassies abroad. DSS-WISE has 

given us the capability to produce better and quicker 

products in support of RFIs. We will continue to use 

the model, and I am most interested in seeing the 

continuation of development of the model capabilities. 

—Dr. Mark R. Jourdan, PE 

Research Hydraulic Engineer 

Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, 

US Army Engineer Research and Development Center 


SUMMARY 

The principal mission of the SERRI program was to support 

the Infrastructure Protection and Disaster Management 

Division (now the Resilient Systems Division) within DHS 

S&T and its operations within FEMA. The program was 

managed and operated by ORNL through an interagency 

agreement between DHS S&T and DOE from spring 2006 

to December 31, 2012. Yearly funding for the program 

continued from FY 2006 through FY 2010 and totaled 

$117,291,625. 

SERRI funded roughly 100 research and development 

projects demonstrating the application of science and 

technology by universities, FFRDCs, and the private 

sector to enhance regional preparedness, protection 

and mitigation, response, recovery, and resilience to the 

impacts of natural disasters and man-made incidents or 

terrorist events. These projects included research activities 

addressing regional issues related to chemical and biological 

defense; cyber security threats; incident management; 

information sharing to improve emergency operations 

and enhance awareness of threats; infrastructure protection 

with special emphasis on flood management; resilient 

and sustainable infrastructures to mitigate the effects of 

natural and man-made disasters; and social, economic, 

and infrastructure resilience from the effects of natural or 

man-made disasters with an emphasis on rapid recovery. 

Although most SERRI-sponsored research was active 

before the release of the QHSR report, it aligns well with 

the missions outlined in the QHSR report, especially with 

respect to addressing each of the four goals under 

Mission 5 (Ensuring Resilience to Disasters). 

The impacts of SERRI-funded research include new 

discoveries documented in open source research publications, 

technical support for real disasters, STEM workforce 

development, and the transition of technology products 

to operational environments. SERRI research has resulted 

in nearly 150 technical reports, more than 200 journal 

articles, more than 100 conference presentations, numerous 

theses and dissertations, and four book chapters. 

A key by-product of the SERRI program was its impact on 

STEM workforce development. More than 300 students 

were involved in SERRI-funded research, which provided 

exposure to and hands-on experience with an array of 

homeland security issues. Through December 2012, more 

than 200 of the 300 undergraduate and graduate students 

involved with SERRI-funded research had completed STEM 

degrees. Roughly another 60 of these students are projected 

to graduate with STEM degrees in 2013. Moreover, 

many of the students who participated on SERRI-funded 

activities are already employed in homeland security and 

national security related jobs. This includes employment 

with ERDC, USACE, the Naval Research Laboratory, Mississippi 

Department of Transportation, Louisiana Department 

of Transportation, Illinois Department of Transportation, 

Tennessee Department of Agriculture, and the US Army 

Aviation & Missile Research, Development & Engineering 

Center, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. 

Most notable among the many by-products of SERRI 

research activities is the wide range of human intelligence 

networks that have been established. Prominent among 

them are the community based networks of first responders 

brought together to address disaster resilience in 

their communities and regions. Additionally, there are the 

networks established between homeland security practitioners 

(boots-on-the-ground personnel and end users) 

and researchers to better understand emergency/disaster 

management requirements and the essential capabilities 

and features needed in technology products and processes 

to improve local, state, and federal emergency and 

disaster operations. 

Among the many lessons learned from the SERRI program, 

perhaps the single greatest lesson is the fact that the 

southeast region has a considerable wealth of talent and 

resources to address an array of homeland security issues 

to help make the nation more resilient to disasters. 

The transition of SERRI technology products is likely to 

continue beyond the life of the SERRI program. Research 

funded by SERRI has propelled many technology products 

beyond laboratory experiments, and several products 

are ready for either field testing or operational testing. 

Researchers are exploring opportunities to continue the 

research and development activities begun under SERRI 

either within DHS or with other federal agencies. 

20 


APPENDIX A. DISASTER MITIGATION 

—Our present investigation on the natures of binding of highly toxic nerve agents (NAs) on model cement and paintpolymer 

surfaces has revealed that they are weak and such adsorbed NAs could be neutralized through destructive 

hydrolysis. Although it is possible to mitigate such a situation, it is needed to remain prepared to avoid such eventuality 

as NA contaminations can cause heavy toxicity problems in the environment within a very short period. 

—Dr. Jerzy Leszczynski 

Professor of Chemistry and President’s Distinguished Fellow, 

Jackson State University 

—In the area of mitigation, we have learned that by utilizing a superior energy dissipation mechanism, CarbonFlex, 

the potential damage in structural components under the duress of either earthquake or tornado loading may be 

dramatically mitigated. The logic behind the application of the CarbonFlex material in this case is that in the event 

that the input energy (from earthquakes or tornados) would manifest itself as potential structural damage, for 

example as cracking, the superior fracture toughness and damping provided by CarbonFlex will dissipate this 

energy, thus substantially improving and sustaining the integrity of the structural systems. 

The application of the CarbonFlex material to bridges (or even low-rise wood-framed constructions) under the 

potential impact of earthquakes (or even blast loading) is paramount due to its ability to reduce displacements 

and accelerations by providing significant damping and fracture toughness. 

—Dr. Thomas Attard 

Arizona State University 

—The SERRI project allowed us to research the security protection mechanisms associated with hardware and 

software components that electronically manage critical infrastructure applications. We were able to demonstrate the 

lack of security protections and the ease of attack by an adversary. Over several years of effort and research, we have 

become quite knowledgeable of vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure controlling systems and have been able to 

build tools that help to mitigate them. 

—Dr. Rayford Vaughn 

Associate Vice President for Research and William L. Giles Distinguished Professor, 

Mississippi State University 

—In developing methods for use of remote sensing technology to monitor and assess critical infrastructures such as 

dams and levees, it is helpful to have accurate, precise, and timely “ground truth” data about known problem areas— 

for example, locations and exact boundaries of seepage and slump slides on earthen levees, including the dates of 

discovery and of any repairs. This information is not only useful in doing research to develop these methods, but can 

also improve operational use of the resulting monitoring tools, since some methods require or benefit from updated 

“training” with each new image acquisition. In our experience, the data provided by the levee board and Corps of 

Engineers were lacking in detail and completeness for this purpose. The recently created National Levee Database 

provides a mechanism for collecting and storing these data, but individual groups that collect [such] data need to 

consider it a priority to populate this database. 

—Dr. James V. Aanstoos 



—Under true full scale levee testing, numerical modeling, and slope stability analysis, the three innovative levee 

strengthening systems, the high performance turf reinforcement mat system (HPTRM), roller compacted concrete 

system (RCC), and articulating concrete block system, can reduce the overtopping flow of levees significantly, 

and new design equations for strengthened levees have been developed. The HPTRM system has the best effect 

in reducing and smoothing the overtopping discharge and in reducing the flow velocity on landward-side slope, 

while RCC has the least effect. 

—Dr. Farshad Amini, Chair 

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 


—The consistency of flood protection systems is still an issue. The elevation of flood protection systems is not 

even. Some places are higher than some other places. Lower places will always be vulnerable to overtopping. 

More cost-effective retrofitting techniques for flood protection system should be developed and deployed. 

Replacing I-walls with T-walls is not a cost-effective technique; rather, it is a brute force approach. More 

cost-effective techniques will lower the monetary burden to tax payers. 

—Dr. Chung R. Song 


22 


Appendix A. Disaster Mitigation Projects 


Project Number/Name 

Performing 

Organization 

60001 - Resilient Electric Grid Oak Ridge National 

Laboratory 

63878 - Real-Time Identification and Monitoring of Mississippi State 

Barge-Carried Hazardous Commodities 

63880 - Rapid Detection of Agriterrorism via Remote 

Sensing 

University 

Mississippi State 

University 

Principal 

Investigator Start Date End Date 

Fully 

Burdened Costs SERRI 

Homeland Security 

Thrust Area 

Critical 

Infrastructure 

(CI) Sector QHSR a Goal 

Thomas King 1/1/2007 12/31/2009 $ 1,771,782 RROS b Infrastructure Protection Energy Goal 1.3 - Manage 

Risks to CI 

Mingzhou Jin 12/7/2006 8/31/2012 $ 1,068,888 MRI c Cargo & Maritime 

Security 

Transportation 

Systems 

Lori Mann Bruce 3/26/2007 8/31/2010 $ 1,160,616 MRI Chem/Bio Defense Food & 

Agriculture 

Goal 2.1 - Borders 

Goal 1.2 - CBRNE 

63882 - Southeast Region Critical Infrastructure 

Protection Center Support (CIPC) 

63886 - Semantics-Driven Knowledge Discovery 

System for Wide Area Monitoring of Electric Power 

Grid 

63887 - Computational Tools for Water Security 

(WIS-CSSM) 

63888 - Nano-Particle Reinforced Composites for 

Critical Infrastructure Protection 

63890 - Mississippi Groundwater,Surface Water and 

Dam Inventory and Vulnerability Assessment 

63892 - Real-time Detection of Chemicals and 

Biological Pathogens in Fluids 

63897 - Development of an Integrated Sensor System 

for Real-time Monitoring of Metabolies of 

Organophosphorus Chemical Warfare Agents, 

Pesticides, and E. coli in Food and Water 


University 


University 

Rayford Vaughn 3/14/2007 8/31/2012 $ 1,390,980 MRI Cyber Security Information 

Technologies 

Goal 4.1 - Cyber 

Resilience 

Nicholas Younan 4/19/2007 1/31/2009 $ 613,128 MRI Infrastructure Protection Energy Goal 1.3 - Manage 

Risks to CI 

University of Mississippi Sam Y. Wang 3/1/2007 1/31/2009 $ 970,786 MRI Infrastructure Protection Water Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

University of Mississippi Alexander Cheng 1/26/2007 8/31/2012 $ 1,590,159 MRI Infrastructure Protection Government 

Facilities 

University of Mississippi Robert Holt 

Joel Kuszmaul 

University of Southern 

Mississippi 

64000 - Shelby County Sheriffs Sensor Fusion Center Oak Ridge National 

Laboratory 

64001 - Kentucky Information Fusion Center Oak Ridge National 

Laboratory 

64002 - REALSIM: Data-driven Simulation System 

for Training, Decision Support, and Policy 

Evaluations 

64100 - Localization & Tracking System (LTS) of a 

Client Process for an Internal Wireless Network 

64101 - Wireless Authentication, Localization and 

Tracking System (WALTS) using Radio Frequency 

Identification 

64200 - Data Sharing Middleware Prototype (DSMP) 

for Information Dissemination among Heterogeneous 

Sources 

64300 - Integrated Threat Tracking and Information 

System 

70012 - Secure Border Initiative Unattended Ground 

Sensors 

70023 - Structural, Material and Geotechnical 

Solutions to Levee and Floodwall Construction and 

Retrofitting 

Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

1/23/2007 7/30/2009 $ 1,109,407 MRI Infrastructure Protection Dams Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

Gordon Cannon 3/7/2007 4/30/2011 $ 1,843,913 MRI Chem/Bio Defense Chemical Goal 1.2 - CBRNE 

Alcorn State University Yolanda Jones 1/22/2007 12/31/2009 $ 651,890 MRI Chem/Bio Defense Food & 

Agriculture 

Oak Ridge National 

Laboratory 

Tennessee State 

University 

Tennessee State 

University 

Hamilton Hunter 6/1/2007 12/31/2008 $ 298,462 RROS Information Sharing & 

Management 

Cyrus Smith 6/1/2007 12/31/2008 $ 498,685 RROS Information Sharing & 

Management 

Emergency 

Services 

Emergency 

Services 



Hazards 


Hazards 

Kalyan Perumalla 2/1/2007 12/31/2008 $ 1,043,043 RROS Incident Management Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

Tamara Rogers 6/1/2007 12/31/2008 $ 113,580 RROS Cyber Security Information 

Technologies 

Tamara Rogers 6/1/2007 12/31/2008 $ 97,229 RROS Cyber Security Information 

Technologies 

University of Tennessee Hairong Qi 6/1/2007 7/31/2009 $ 400,000 RROS Information Sharing & 

Management 

University of Kentucky; 

Kentucky Transportation 

Cabinet 


University 

Joe Crabtree 7/3/2007 10/31/2008 $ 645,724 RROS Information Sharing & 

Management 

Emergency 

Services 

Transportation 

Systems 


Resilience 


Resilience 


Hazards 


Patrick Donohoe 12/10/2007 1/31/2012 $ 2,011,965 MRI Border Security Goal 2.1 - Borders 

University of Mississippi Chung Song 11/19/2007 8/31/2012 $ 2,098,218 MRI Flood Protection Dams Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 


72100 - Resilient Home Program Savannah River National 

Laboratory 

72110 - Gap Analysis of the Impact of Mold and 

Contaminated Water on Flooded Homes 

80002 - Lab on a Chip for Rapid Detection of 

Multiple High Consequence Human and Plant 

Pathogens 

80005 - Development of an Ensemble Modeling 

System for the Simulation of Realistic Levee 

Overtopping Flows from Hurricanes 

80006 - Development of a Software Tool for 

Modeling the Impact of Explosions in Urban 

Environments 

Timothy Smail 

John Plodinec 


11/1/2007 12/31/2010 $ 2,554,985 RROS Incident Management Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

Tuskegee University Heshmat Aglan 3/11/2008 5/31/2009 $ 217,314 RROS Incident Management Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

Alcorn State University Yolanda Jones 1/1/2009 8/31/2012 $ 495,537 MRI Chem/Bio Defense Food & 

Agriculture 

Jackson State University Marvin Watts 1/1/2009 9/30/2011 $ 266,029 MRI Flood Protection Commercial 

Facilities 

Jackson State University Robert Whalin 

Shahrouz Aliabadi 

6/1/2009 5/31/2012 $ 884,177 MRI Counter IED Commercial 

Facilities 


Hazards 


Hazards 


80009 - Innovative Levee Strengthening and Testing 

under Full-Scale Overtopping Conditions 

80011 - Effective Mold and Contaminant 

Remediation for Flood and Water Damaged Homes 

Jackson State University Farshad Amini 1/1/2009 9/30/2012 $ 1,498,586 MRI Flood Protection Dams Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 


University 

80023 - Levee Assessment via Remote Sensing Mississippi State 

University 

80024 - Flood-Proof Commercial and Fortified 

Residential Construction for Neighborhood-scale, 

Mixed Used Buildings 

80029 - Nano Coated Smart Sensors for Explosive 

Diagnostics and Monitoring 

80037 - Investigation of a Surge and Wave Reduction 

by Vegetation 


University 

81100 - Biosensor Research Middle Tennessee State 

University 

89900 - Multi-State Sharing Initiative - Fusion Center 

Information Sharing Framework & Development 

Shane Kitchens 

Terry Amburgey 

8/1/2009 8/31/2012 $ 1,173,885 MRI Flood Protection Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

James V. Aanstoos 1/1/2009 8/31/2012 $ 1,490,002 MRI Flood Protection Dams Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

David Perkes 6/1/2009 8/31/2012 $ 843,745 MRI Infrastructure Protection Commercial 

Facilities 


Hazards 

University of Mississippi Tyrus McCarty 6/1/2009 6/30/2011 $ 315,273 MRI Chem/Bio Defense Goal 1.2 - CBRNE 

University of Mississippi Weiming Wu 1/1/2009 8/31/2012 $ 1,632,118 MRI Flood Protection Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 


Laboratory 

Andrienne Friedli 8/5/2008 8/31/2011 $ 312,995 RROS Chem/Bio Defense Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

Frank DeNap 3/1/2009 3/31/2012 $ 650,197 RROS Information Sharing & 

Management 

Emergency 

Services 


Hazards 

89910 - Multi-State Sharing Initiative - Regional Data 

Analysis 


Laboratory 

Brian Klump 3/1/2009 2/28/2010 $ 198,959 RROS Information Sharing & 

Management 

Emergency 

Services 


Hazards 

89920 - Multi-State Sharing Initiative - 

Transportation Corridor 

89930 - Multi-State Sharing Initiative - Mobile 

Computing and Application Development Initiative 


Laboratory 


Laboratory 

Cyrus Smith 3/1/2009 8/31/2012 $ 449,950 RROS Information Sharing & 

Management 

Edmon Begoli 3/1/2009 9/30/2010 $ 438,827 RROS Information Sharing & 

Management 

Transportation Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

Emergency 

Services 


Hazards 

89950 - Multi-State Sharing Initiative - Sensorpedia Oak Ridge National 

Laboratory 

89955 - Multi-State Sharing Initiative - Fusion Center 

Interoperability 

Y-12 National Security 

Complex 

Brian Gorman 8/15/2008 5/31/2010 $ 977,883 RROS Information Sharing & 

Management 

Frank Waller 5/1/2009 7/31/2010 $ 808,216 RROS Information Sharing & 

Management 

Emergency 

Services 

Emergency 

Services 


Hazards 


Hazards 

89960 - Tornado Safe Rooms Federal Alliance for Safe 

Homes 

89970 - Pilot Study for Business Continuity Planning 

(BCP) Best Practices for Small Businesses 

89975 - Business Continuity Planning Gap Analysis 

for Small Minority-Owned Businesses in MS 

89990 - Fusion Center Smart Search Analytics Oak Ridge National 

Laboratory (ORNL) 

Eric Vaughn 7/1/2009 9/30/2010 $ 126,840 RROS Incident Management Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

Small Planet Works Janice Banks 7/1/2009 6/28/2010 $ 52,850 RROS Business Continuity 

Planning 

Alcorn State University William Piper 9/16/2009 8/31/2012 $ 386,854 MRI Business Continuity 

Planning 

Chad Steed 2/10/2011 8/31/2012 $ 299,918 RROS Information Sharing & 

Management 

Emergency 

Services 


Hazards 


Hazards 


Hazards 

24 


90000 - Network Behaviorial Analysis for Zero-Day 

Detection 

90002 - A Thermal Face Recognition System for 

Security Applications - A Novel Approach by Face 

Pattern Words 

90008 - Screening of Levees by Synthetic Aperture 

Radar 


Laboratory 


Justin Beaver 4/12/2012 9/30/2012 $ 104,514 RROS Cyber Security Information 

Technologies 


Resilience 

Alcorn State University Yufeng Zheng 3/1/2010 9/12/2012 $ 369,128 MRI People Screening Goal 1.1 - Prevent 

Terrots Attack 


University 

James V. Aanstoos 4/26/2010 8/31/2012 $ 840,279 MRI Flood Protection Dams Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

90026 - Minimal Trustworthy Computing Base (TCB) 

for SCADA Security 

90028 - Multi-Fidelity Tools for Blast Analysis in 

Urban Environments 

90031 - Nano-Enhanced and Bio-Inspired Composite 

Materials for Mitigation and Protection of TIH 

Railcars and Stationary Tanks Against High Power 

Impact 

90034 - Geophysical Signatures of Compromised 

Zones within Earthen Embankments and Levees 


University 


University 

Mahalingam 

Ramkumar 

2/15/2010 7/31/2012 $ 227,628 MRI Cyber Security Information 

Technologies 

David Thompson 4/28/2010 8/14/2012 $ 899,061 MRI Counter IED Commercial 

Facilities 


Resilience 


University of Mississippi Ahmed Al-Ostaz 4/30/2010 8/31/2012 $ 1,140,791 MRI Infrastructure Protection Chemical Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

University of Mississippi Craig Hickey 4/27/2010 8/31/2012 $ 1,051,510 MRI Flood Protection Dams Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

90043 - Integrated Visual Application of the Rapid 

Levee Condition Assessment Model: A Tool for 

Water Resource Infrastructure Protection 

90044 - Assessing the Potential of Photocatalytic 

Building Materials for Protecting Infrastructure and 

Developing Resiliency to Natural and Manmade 

Disasters 

90050 - Visual Analytics Enabled Surveillance and 

Detection of Biological Threats from Large Microbial 

Bioinformatics Datasets 

90055 - Nerve Agents: Enhanced Understanding of 

Chemical Mechanisms and Interactions with 

Environment and Relevant Surfaces Addressed by 

Computational Approaches 

90200 - Regional Emergency Planning for Coastal 

Populations:Creating Emergency Response Networks 

in High Risk, Vulnerable Locations 

90300 - Development and Application of a 

CarbonFlex Composite for Structural Damage 

Mitigation and for Sustainable High Strength and 

Energy Dissipation 


Mississippi 


Mississippi 

David Patrick 4/26/2010 4/30/2011 $ 1,270,038 MRI Flood Protection Dams Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

Paige Buchanan 5/3/2010 8/31/2012 $ 1,327,829 MRI Infrastructure Protection Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

Jackson State University Raphael Isokpehi 3/1/2012 9/30/2012 $ 403,490 MRI Chem/Bio Defense Chemical Goal 1.2 - CBRNE 

Jackson State University Jerzy Leszczynski 3/1/2012 9/30/212 $ 442,328 MRI Chem/Bio Defense Chemical Goal 1.2 - CBRNE 


University 

Laura Myers 3/17/2011 8/31/2012 $ 215,241 MRI Incident Management Emergency 

Services 

Goal 5.3 - Effective 

ER 

Arizona State University Thomas Attard 4/11/2011 10/31/2012 $ 216,525 RROS Infrastructure Protection Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

91000 - Residential Roof Covering Investigation of 

Wind Resistance of Asphalt Shingles 

92100 - DHS Serious and Mixed Reality Gaming 

(SeriousMRG) 

University of Florida Forrest Masters 5/28/2010 9/30/2012 $ 1,205,193 RROS Infrastructure Protection Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 


Laboratory 

Robert Abercrombie 

Robert Schicler 

11/16/2012 12/31/2012 $ 130,000 RROS Infrastructure Protection Goal 5.1 - Mitigate 

Hazards 

QHSR: Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (February 2010) 

RROS: Regional Research and Operations Support 

MRI: Mississippi Research Initiative 

ER: Emergency Response 

a 

b 

d 

c 


APPENDIX B. DISASTER PREPAREDNESS 

—There is a need for improvements in severe weather warnings and warning dissemination from Integrated Warning 

Teams (IWTs) led by the National Weather Service (NWS) and comprised of the weather enterprise. Regional weather 

field offices of the NWS are leading IWTs comprised of NWS meteorologists, broadcast meteorologists, emergency 

managers, and other emergency planners who form the weather enterprise for each regional county warning area. 

One of the goals of the IWTs has been to modify current severe weather warnings to better suit the needs of their 

regions and to better prepare the public. Many of these IWTs are using social science research on human behavior 

responses to weather warnings to guide warning improvements. These IWT networks are also integrating the 

perspectives of the various emergency planning stakeholders in the weather enterprise to identify gaps in the 

dissemination of severe weather warnings and to bridge those gaps with the use of multiple warning modalities, 

educational outreach, and innovations in the use of social media to better reach the public with severe weather 

warnings and to reduce fatalities and injuries from severe weather events. Examples of IWTs include the IWTs at 

NWS Peachtree City, Georgia; NWS Birmingham, Alabama; NWS Jackson, Mississippi; and NWS Huntsville, 

Alabama. Other IWTs are located throughout the United States in the various weather forecast offices. Modified 

severe weather warnings are now being tested in the regions listed above. 

—Dr. Laura B. Myers 


—It’s not enough to develop new hardware or software technology; there has to be a follow-on plan to deliver it to 

the first responder community. This should include training to help them incorporate the new technology into their 

daily operations. 

—Dr. Daniel B. Koch 

Senior R&D Staff, 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

—There is a need for visualization tools in evacuation planning and training. To be effective, those tools must be 

capable of adjusting variables that pertain to the venue and the threat confronting the venue. 

Gaming technology transferred to training technology can enhance the learning environment as it pertains to venue 

evacuation planning and training. This occurs when data collection and manipulation tools are merged with graphics 

tools into a configurable application that accurately depicts a venue and possible incidents. 

It is important for adult learners to extend training/learning beyond the classroom through the combination of 

computer-based simulation and take-home training modules. 

With take-home training modules embedded into the SportEvac program, on-demand, just-in-time training allows 

for small group, team-based competency development at the site where the activities/potential incidents take place; 

this adds credible realism to the learning experience in a low-cost, effective way that cannot be easily simulated 

in a live environment. 

Users learned emergency management knowledge/skills/abilities (KSAs) through the SportEvac simulation and 

embedded training scenario modules; however, each user requested the simulation of their own venue/facility 

environment, which could provide additional realism and further enhance their learning experiences. 

—Dr. Lou Marciani, Director 

National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security, 

University of Southern Mississippi 

26 


—Emergency/disaster management requires the collection and analysis of enormous data and information at real 

time bases. However, this kind of system is not developed yet. The current practice is primarily based on the manual 

data collection, analysis and reporting system, which results in the delayed prediction of the future events, such as 

the prediction of failure after the failure had occurred. Developing a system that can provide real time measurement, 

analysis and reporting will greatly enhance the preparedness for a disaster. 

—Dr. Chung R. Song 


—Superposition of reflected shock waves and blast shielding by intervening structures are highly nonlinear 

phenomena. Accounting for these effects correctly is very important to characterize the shock overpressure and 

blast impulse distributions from an explosion in an urban environment. 

Improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in urban environments involve the superposition of reflected shock 

waves from multiple surrounding buildings and blast shielding by intervening structures. Threat planning tools 

must account for these shock superposition and shielding effects to support emergency preparedness or response 

requirements associated with IEDs in an urban setting. 

—Dr. David Sulfredge 

Senior R&D Staff, 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory 



60000 - Community and Regional Resilience 

Initaitive (CARRI) 

60002 - A Regional Resilience/Security Analysis 

Process for the Nation's Critical Infrastructure 

Systems 

Performing 

Organization 


Laboratory 

ASME Innovative 

Technologies Institute 

Appendix B. Disaster Preparedness Projects 

Appendix B. Disaster Preparedness Projects 

Principal 


Fully 



Thrust Area 

Warren Edwards 1/1/2007 9/30/2011 $ 16,558,793 CARRI Community Resilience All - Resilience is 

a cross-cutting 

Critical 



t 

Full Report 

Jerry Brashear 11/5/2010 12/20/2011 $ 1,007,714 RROS b Infrastructure Protection Energy Goal 1.3 - Manage 

Risks to CI 

64003 - Critical Infrastructure Protection Rule Set 

Automation (CIPRSA) 

64500 - Law Enforcement Regional Technology 

Assessment (LERTA) 

64600 - Education, Operations and Workforce 

Development Initiative 


Laboratory 

Saliant, Inc Joe Fitzgerald 

Lee Reese 

Richard Hale 4/1/2007 3/31/2008 $ 248,574 RROS Infrastructure Protection Nuclear Reactors Goal 5.2 - Enhance 

Preparedness 

12/1/2006 9/30/2008 $ 296,844 RROS Incident Management Emergency 

Services 

Goal 5.2 - Enhance 

Preparedness 

Jackson State University David Bandi 5/8/2007 10/31/2008 $ 1,194,220 MRI c Incident Management Goal 5.2 - Enhance 

Preparedness 

64700 - Institute for Biometrics and Social Sciences 

Studies (IABS3) 

Oak Ridge Associated 

Universities 

Blair Ross 3/26/2008 9/30/2009 $ 909,572 RROS Human Factors Goal 1.1 - Prevent 

Terrots Attack 

70004 - Multi-Purpose, Multi-Scale Storm Surge and 

Flood Forecasting for Planning and Preparedness 

Jackson State University Shahrouz Aliabadi 12/1/2007 6/30/2010 $ 2,026,003 MRI Flood Protection Emergency 

Services 

Goal 5.2 - Enhance 

Preparedness 

70027 - Development of an Integrated Simulation 

Tool for Predicting Disastrous Flooding, Water 

Contamination, Sediment Transportation and Their 

Impacts on Environment 

80031 - War Games for Flood Emergency Managers 

(WGFEM) 

University of Mississippi Yafei Jia 11/19/2007 8/31/2012 $ 2,264,044 MRI Flood Protection Dams Goal 5.2 - Enhance 

Preparedness 

University of Mississippi Mustafa Altinakar 1/1/2009 7/31/2012 $ 1,045,952 MRI Flood Protection Dams Goal 5.2 - Enhance 

Preparedness 





a 

b 

d 

c 

28 


APPENDIX C. DISASTER RESPONSE 

—All disasters (natural or man-made) are local! Therefore, when performing research to develop products to 

be used by emergency/disaster managers, it is essential to develop, close partnerships with the first responder 

community to maximize the value of the research performed. First responders know what they need and their 

input to the researcher is invaluable to insure transition of the research product into use. 

Successful research project transition requires research communication, communication, and communication 

with end users from the initial and throughout the duration of the project. 

—Dr. Robert W. Whalin 

Associate Dean, School of Engineering, 




63879 - Real-Time Operations Support for 

Emergency Evacuations 

Performing 

Organization 


University 

Appendix C. Disaster Response Projects 


Principal 


Fully 



Thrust Area 

Li Zhang 3/15/2007 3/31/2009 $ 366,236 MRI b Incident Management Emergency 

Services 

Critical 




ER d 

63881 - Assured Strategic Communications During 

Natural and Willful Disasters 


University 

Lori Mann Bruce 1/1/2007 7/31/2008 $ 512,333 MRI Incident Management Communications Goal 5.3 -Effective 

ER 

63884 - Capturing Hurricane Katrina Data for 

Analysis and Lessons-Learned Research 


University 

William Cooke 4/9/2007 8/31/2010 $ 1,185,802 MRI Incident Management Emergency 

Services 


ER 

63889 - Specification, Validation, and Verification of 

Imagery Products for Disaster Management and 

Response 

University of Mississippi Gregory Easson 6/1/2007 6/30/2011 $ 1,622,132 MRI Incident Management Emergency 

Services 


ER 

63891 - Simulation-based Decision Support System 

for Water Infrastructural Security (DDS-WISE) 

University of Mississippi Mustafa Altinakar 2/1/2007 11/15/2012 $ 2,473,258 MRI Infrastructure Protection Emergency 

Services 


ER 

63894 - Simulation Environment Planning, Training, 

and Assessment of Emergency Response and 

Evacuation Capabilities at High Consequence Sport 

Events 


Mississippi 

Lou Marciani 4/2/2007 9/30/2012 $ 2,630,988 MRI Incident Management Commercial 

Facilities 


ER 

63899 - Analysis of WMD Materials in Waste and 

Storm Water Treatment Infrastructures in 

Southeastern US Cities 

63905 - All Hazards Emergency Operations 

Management System 


Laboratory 

Robert Jubin 1/9/2007 11/30/2012 $ 1,396,760 RROS c Chem/Bio Defense Chemical Goal 1.2 - CBRNE 

Jackson State University David Bandi 2/12/2007 8/31/2012 $ 1,133,011 MRI Incident Management Emergency 

Services 


ER 

63908 - Disaster Response Intelligent System (DRIS) Jackson State University Gordon Skelton 2/19/2007 8/31/2012 $ 2,331,235 MRI Incident Management Emergency 

Services 

64004 - High Performance Agent Based Topic 

Monitoring 

64400 - Creation of a Regional Emergency Planning 

Model for Continuous Disaster Mitigation Response 


Laboratory 

Western Carolina 

University 


ER 

Jim Treadwell 8/1/2007 2/29/2008 $ 850,188 RROS Incident Management Goal 5.3 - Effective 

ER 

Laura Myers 5/7/2007 5/31/2010 $ 459,937 RROS Incident Management Emergency 

Services 


ER 

70015 - Increasing Community Disaster Resilience 

Through Targeted Strengthening of Critical 


71000 - Utilization of Emergency Management Alert 

Systems: An Analysis of Oktibbeha County and MSU 

Systems 


University 


University 

72200 - Information Sharing Policy Review Y-12 National Security 

Complex 

80014 - Disruptions to Rail - Impacts Analysis and 

Decision 


University 

Isaac Howard 12/10/2007 8/31/2012 $ 2,309,298 MRI Flood Protection Emergency 

Services 

Dallas Breen 5/1/2008 5/31/2011 $ 178,066 MRI Incident Management Emergency 

Services 

Mary Regan 11/1/2007 12/31/2009 $ 580,187 RROS Information Sharing & 

Management 

Charles O'Hara 

Bethany Stich 

Emergency 

Services 


ER 


ER 


7/1/2009 8/31/2012 $ 1,184,638 MRI Incident Management Transportation Goal 5.3 - Effective 

ER 

80026 - Assimilation of NEXRAD Radial Winds in a 

Regional Mesoscale Model and the Use of a 

Lagrangian Model to Estimate the Transport and 

Dispersion of Gases Particles Over the Southern U. S. 


University 

Haldun Karan 1/1/2009 5/31/2011 $ 285,046 MRI Chem/Bio Defense Emergency 

Services 


30 


80041 - Enhancing the Effectiveness of Local and 

Regional Communities in Planning and Training for 

Improvised Explosive Device Threats and Attacks on 

Sport Venues 


Mississippi 


Lou Marciani 1/1/2009 7/31/2012 $ 1,300,071 MRI Counter IED Commercial 

Facilities 


ER 

81000 - Rapid Repair of Levee Breach Engineer Research and 

Development Center 

Don Resio 6/3/2008 12/31/2010 $ 3,180,028 RROS Flood Protection Dams Goal 5.3 - Effective 

ER 

89980 - Virtual Alabama - Ready Rail Oak Ridge National 

Laboratory (ORNL) 

90200 - Regional Emergency Planning for Coastal 

Populations:Creating Emergency Response Networks 

in High Risk, Vulnerable Locations 

90400 - Development of a Prototype Special Event 

Risk Management (SERM) System 


University 

Ho-Ling Hwang 6/1/2009 9/30/2011 $ 99,876 RROS Incident Management Emergency 

Services 

Laura Myers 3/17/2011 8/31/2012 $ 215,241 MRI Incident Management Emergency 

Services 

University of Mississippi Mustafa Altinakar 10/12/2011 8/31/2012 $ 575,641 MRI Incident Management Commercial 

Facilities 


ER 


ER 


ER 





a 

b 

d 

c 


APPENDIX D. DISASTER RECOVERY 

—The asphalt industry can significantly improve disaster recovery efforts in almost any situation where pavement 

damage hinders the operation. Using warm-mix technology to produce hot-mixed and warm-compacted asphalt that 

can be hauled very long distances (e.g. six hours) from areas with power and functioning infrastructure is viable for 

emergency paving. 

—Dr. Isaac L. Howard 


—Resilience and recovery have very different definitions by different persons and positions that people hold. Therefore 

finding a single definition is often difficult. Without baseline data about a community, city, or state, or region, it 

is difficult to accurately measure recovery to a certain level. Moreover, resilience and recovery are not synonymous. 

Recovery is often measured by physical and psychological well-being while resilience is a state of mind of not giving 

up, even if recovery to an old standard or new normal is not yet achieved. 

—Dr. David Butler 

University of Southern Mississippi 

—Because small disadvantaged business owners are most often consumed with daily operational aspects of the 

business, the stakeholder organizations provided a bridge to the broader emphasis on resilience and sustainability. 

They served as a multiplier effect in reaching small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) and bringing them into the 

emergency planning process that the research team alone would not have been able to achieve. 

Initiatives designed to engage SDBs produce greater results when local area first responders are proactively included 

in project development and ongoing initiatives. Community leaders are willing to assist when their interests are also 

identified and served. 

Building and encouraging SDB engagement in business continuity planning and resilience activities requires an 

ongoing, culturally competent, community-based collaboration between the emergency management community, 

the SDB community, and the stakeholder agencies that serve or represent them. 

—Dr. William S. Piper 

Dean, School of Business, 

Alcorn State University 

32 



70020 - Tools for Enhanced Mapping and Managing 

Post-Disaster Debris 

Performing 

Organization 


University 

Appendix D. Disaster Recovery Projects 

Appendix D. Disaster Recovery Projects 

Principal 


Charles Waggoner 

William Cooke 

Fully 



Thrust Area 

12/10/2007 5/31/2011 $ 2,731,187 MRI b Incident Management Emergency 

Services 

Critical 



Goal 5.4 - Rapidly 

Recover 

72000 - Resilient Forest Savannah River National 

Laboratory 

John Plodinec 11/1/2007 12/31/2008 $ 45,348 RROS c Incident Management Food & 

Agriculture 


Recover 

80038 - Socio-Economic Resilience and Dynamic 

Micro-Economic Analysis for Large Scale 

Catastrophe 

University of Mississippi Richard Forgette 

Mark Van Boening 

1/1/2009 6/30/2011 $ 1,033,345 MRI Incident Management Goal 5.4 - Rapidly 

Recover 

80040 - Modeling Micro-Economic Resilience and 

Restoration after a Large Scale Catastrophe: An 

Analysis of the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina 


Mississippi 

David Butler 

Edward Sayre 

6/15/2009 8/31/2012 $ 1,377,355 MRI Incident Management Goal 5.4 - Rapidly 

Recover 

81200 - Aerobic Decomposition as an Alternative 

Method for Managing Large Scale Animal Fatalities 

Middle Tennessee State 

University 

Hugh Berryman 10/1/2009 3/31/2011 $ 165,550 RROS Incident Management Goal 5.4 - Rapidly 

Recover 

89940 - Multi-State Sharing Initiative - Prototype 

Disaster Mitigation and Recovery Kit (DMARK) 


Laboratory 

Hamilton Hunter 3/1/2009 3/31/2010 $ 259,987 RROS Information Sharing & 

Management 

Emergency 

Services 


Recover 

89940 - Prototype Disaster Mitigation and Recovery 

Kit (DMARK) 

Austin Peay State 

University 

Michael Wilson 5/5/2009 9/30/2012 $ 1,094,005 RROS Information Sharing & 

Management 

Emergency 

Services 


Recover 

92000 - Mobile Damage Assessment Testbed 

Development 

RunMobile, Inc. Lisa Seyler 10/11/2012 12/10/2012 $ 45,193 RROS Information Sharing & 

Management 

Emergency 

Services 


Recover 





a 

b 

d 

c 


This report was prepared for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security 

Science & Technology Directorate by the U. S. Department of Energy’s 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 

Benjamin Thomas, Jr, PhD 

Principal Author 

SERRI Program Operations Manager 

VJ Ewing 

Editor 

Tina Curry 

Graphic Designer

36 The Southeast Region Research Initiative

SERRI Closeout Report - Southeast Region Research Initiative

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