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ORAU-ORNL Joint Initiative Focuses on Human Factors of Homeland Security and National Defense
Representatives from ORAU, ORNL, the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation attended a workshop, during summer 2008, at the Pollard Technology Conference Center, Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Participants in a a joint initiative between Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) heard presentations from both potential government sponsors and ORNL researchers and discussed possible collaborative efforts between government agencies and university and lab partners.
All of the activities of this workshop held during the summer of 2008 at the Pollard Technology Conference Center in Oak Ridge, Tenn., were geared toward helping the newly formed institute set its future directions in the biometrics and social systems arenas.
The panel, composed of representatives from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Justice, told researchers that the ORAU-ORNL initiative has a potential role in research directed at improving “multi-modal biometrics,” which refers to using a combination of biometric technologies to verify or identify persons.
Questions addressed to the panel by researchers at the workshop stressed that the numerous biometric technologies were at different levels of maturity and that ample work remains to be done in this field.
In addressing the workshop goal of building a framework for the initiative, researchers expressed that development will take time and patience and that projects should be both substantive and have recognizable and reachable goals. Comments from the researchers also reflected a belief that while many aspects of the initiative’s thrust areas of biometrics and social systems sciences will be driven by DHS initiatives, other agencies will benefit.
This ORAU-ORNL joint initiative seeks to leverage the research capabilities of a variety of sources–including DOE labs, the ORAU consortium of universities and other related entities.
The research is focused on a wide range of human factors related to homeland security and national defense requirements, as well as to state and regional bodies and private industry.