Description
DHS requests applications from U.S. colleges and universities to serve as a lead institution for a university-based Center of Excellence (COE) focusing on research and education in risk studies, economics, and operations research (REOR) as they relate to terrorism and all hazards. This funding opportunity announcement (FOA), DHS-10-ST-061-001A, requests applications to serve as a lead institution (with proposed partners). A companion FOA, DHS-10-ST-061-001B, for partner-ONLY applications will be posted separately. As appropriate to meet its needs, DHS may add partner institutions to this COE consortium from applications either for lead or for partner-only institutions, provided these partners proposals successfully pass a technical merit review. DHS seeks to develop a Center that will promote rigorous, innovative and path-breaking research in how the risks and consequences of terrorism and other low-probability events are evaluated and countered. DHS expects this COE not only to break new ground but also to creatively adapt existing approaches to resolve problems estimating or predicting the risk of terrorist attacks and other adverse events related to DHSs mission. Tools and methods proposed under this funding opportunity should be rooted in valid scientific research and theory and must improve DHSs ability to forecast terrorist reactions and responses to alternative mitigation measures. Knowledge generated by research under this effort must be amenable to integration into operations research, economics, and other social science and behavioral models and tools. Methods developed must be sufficiently user-friendly to stimulate adoption by analysts responsible for performing cost/benefit and risk of mitigation alternatives analyses. This COE should use interdisciplinary teams of economists, risk analysts, game theorists, operations researchers, psychologists, and other social, biological or physical scientists or engineers to develop entirely new approaches to risk and economic analysis of terrorist attacks. DHS expects that the REOR COE will increase our capacity to model and predict terrorist behavior, including target choice and success probabilities, the actions and responses of those affected by terrorism or fear of terrorism, the likely costs of terrorist events and responses to terrorist threats, and the effectiveness of policies and programs to manage risk. In addition, the REOR COE should have the capacity and intent to design, develop and disseminate data collections that will innovatively expand our capacity to understand and predict terrorism risk and the likely costs of possible terrorist activities as well as other catastrophic hazards. Finally, DHS expects the REOR COE to pursue an educational mission developing innovative learning approaches that will enable students to understand and analyze terrorism and other risks. The COE should produce a cadre of well-trained students with the skills the nation needs to better anticipate and counter risks to its well-being. This COE will become a fully integrated component of the existing network of DHS COEs and will be expected to take advantage of the networks resources to efficiently develop mission-critical research and education programs. S&Ts University Network is a consortium of COEs that share resources and data, and collaborate on research projects in order to provide cost-effective results to support the DHS mission. REOR COE applicants should plan to: (1) integrate proposed work with that of other COEs as appropriate; and (2) develop methods to ensure that REOR work leverages, but does not duplicate, the methods or data collection efforts of other COEs. Applicants should pay particular attention to the extensive body of research that DHS has supported at the National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events at the University of Southern California, the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland, as well as the data analytics and visual analytics conducted for DHS at Purdue and Rutgers under the Command, Control and Interoperability COE.