$500,000 in student fellowships available for homeland security research
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University is seeking applicants for up to $500,000 in graduate student fellowships to develop interdisciplinary homeland security researchers with STEM backgrounds.
Now in its third year, the federal program was launched to encourage undergraduate and graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to pursue a career working or conducting research in homeland security.
Applications are due Nov. 12 through the university's program, which is managed by the Purdue-led center Visual Analytics for Command, Control and Interoperability Environments, or VACCINE. Award winners are scheduled to be announced Nov. 23.
Program co-administrator David Ebert, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, said the awards will be provided to full-time graduate students with a research focus in the visualization and data sciences and HS-STEM fields, and to senior undergraduate students applying to graduate school. Winners must gain acceptance into an appropriate graduate program at Purdue.
"We continue to have strong interest in this program from students at the graduate levels," said Ebert, Purdue's Silicon Valley Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "We also are reaching some of the best and brightest students with impressive backgrounds and diverse interests, preparing the leaders of tomorrow in the STEM areas and the expanding field of study in homeland security."
Recipients are eligible for $27,600 a year, or a maximum of $82,800 over three years. The students will attend several homeland security functions and submit semester summaries of their work and activities. They also will complete a year of service working in an approved homeland security-related position sanctioned by the Department of Homeland Security.
For more information, go to https://visualanalytics-cci.org, or contact Marti Burns, assistant director of engagement and education for VACCINE, at 765-494-2216, mhburns@purdue.edu.
Purdue recipients from the first two years are now participating in full-time positions and research projects in terrorism and infectious diseases, visual analytics for law enforcement, cyber threats, Indiana State Department of Health emergency response exercises, explosive and radiation detection, and aircraft safety.
VACCINE, located in Purdue's Discovery Park, is one of two parts of a $30 million parent center concentrating on developing new methods to aid homeland security personnel in preparing for, preventing, detecting, responding to and recovering from terrorist attacks as well as natural and human-caused crises.
The parent center - the Command, Control and Interoperability Center of Excellence - is co-led by Purdue and Rutgers University. Purdue and its team of 18 universities focus on the visualization sciences, while Rutgers leads efforts in the data sciences component.
Researchers at VACCINE are developing interactive software algorithms that create visualizations, graphics and maps with essential information to help emergency personnel who use a variety of devices, from office desktop computers to mobile phones in the field.
Writer: Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu
Sources: David Ebert, 765-494-9064, ebertd@ecn.purdue.edu
Marti Burns, 765-494-2216, mhburns@purdue.edu