Charles A. Gentile
Head, Tritium Systems Group
Princeton University - Plasma Physics Laboratory
Princeton, New Jersey

Mr. Gentile's career spans over 30 continuous years in the field of nuclear research, fission power production, magnetic fusion energy (MFE) research, and inertial fusion energy (FE) research. He has worked in the commercial nuclear power sector in both PWR and BWR facilities.

Post 9/11, he began work on the development of the Miniature Integrated Nuclear Detection System (MINDS). MINDS is a real time, radionuclide identification system, specifically engineered for homeland security deployments.

The concept for MINDS is based upon earlier work he performed--prior to 9/11--for determining the distribution of radionuclides resident inside the magnetically confined Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor.

MINDS is valued for its ability to, in a matter of seconds, identify radionuclides at levels slightly above the ambient background. This feature provides a rapid means of assessing large numbers of packages, components, luggage and populations with minimum impact on the flow of commerce and traffic.

A main feature of the system is the ability to accurately differentiate threat materials that may be found in radiological dispersion devices (RDD), commonly known as dirty bombs, from non-threat radionuclides used in medical procedures, or naturally occurring isotopes commonly found in certain consumer products.

As a result of his work, MINDS has been successfully licensed to the private sector for marketing and deployment. Two patents have been issued for the technology. For the development of MINDS, Mr. Gentile has received the 2008 Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award granted by the Research and Development Council of New Jersey; and the 2009 National Excellence in Technology Transfer Award granted by the Federal Laboratory Consortium.

Mr. Gentile is a graduate of the University of Buffalo. He is a member of the American Nuclear Society, and a plenary member of the American Health Physics Society.

Milind Tambe, Ph.D.
Professor of Computer Science and Industrial and Systems Engineering
University of Southern California
Viterbi School of Engineering
Los Angeles, California

Dr. Tambe's research is focused on Artificial Intelligence, with an emphasis on agent-based and multi-agent systems. His research has resulted in significant advances in game theoretic algorithms that are essential to critical applications of counter-terrorism and homeland security. His game theoretic approach provides "intelligent" randomization of security forces' actions with security guarantees, significantly increasing adversary cost and uncertainty and providing a powerful deterrence.

Dr. Tambe's research in game theory, a fundamental theory of understanding how people or agents interact with each other, focuses on Stackelberg games. These games refer to real-world situations where police commit to some security schedules, and the adversaries can observe police actions over time, and then choose a location and time of their attack. Solving such games leads to the optimal randomized strategy for the police, e.g. how to randomize their patrols. His research has led to fundamental advances in algorithms for Stackelberg games; this research has been published in a dozen papers in journals and prestigious conferences in Artificial Intelligence.

One major success is the Assistant for Randomized Monitoring Over Routes (ARMOR) system, deployed at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) since August 2007. ARMOR randomizes when and where police checkpoints are set up on in-bound roads into the airport, as well as randomizing patrols of bomb-detecting canine units at the airport terminals. ARMOR has been credited with helping LAX police prevent several loaded weapons from being carried into LAX, and in seizing large quantities of drugs

Dr. Tambe and his research group's papers have been selected as best papers or finalists for best papers at over a dozen premier Artificial Intelligence and Operations Research Conferences and workshops, and their algorithms have been deployed for real-world use by several agencies including LAX police and Federal Air Marshals Service.

He received a M.Sc. (Computer Science) from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, India, and Ph.D. (Computer Science) School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University.

Law Enforcement National Data Exchange
FBI Criminal Justice Information Services
Clarksburg, West Virginia

To meet the nation's critical need to share criminal justice life-cycle information among agencies, the FBI, in concert with its local, State, tribal and Federal partners, created the Law Enforcement National Data Exchange (N-DEx). This nationally-scaled system has been designed to share criminal justice information across jurisdictional boundaries in a way not previously possible

Building upon and complementing already successful sharing systems where they exist, the N-DEx system is a cornerstone of the United States Department of Justice's Law Enforcement Information Sharing Program. The effort also follows the mandate set forth by the "National Strategy for Law Enforcement Incident Sharing" established by the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Sharing (CJIS) Division Advisory Policy Board (APB). The CJIS APB is comprised of representatives from criminal justice agencies across the country.

The driving core of N-DEx is its main mission: "To enable the sharing of complete, accurate, timely, and useful information across jurisdictional boundaries and to provide new investigative tools that enhance the nation's ability to fight crime and terrorism." The overarching goal of N-DEx is to get the "right information" to the "right people" at the "right time."

With Raytheon as the lead contractor, N-DEx is being built and deployed in three increments. Each increment serves to bolster the system with additional capacity, services, and capabilities while allowing for lessons learned to be incorporated in the next one. This incremental approach also enabled the expedited fielding of an operational system to those on the front lines in the battles against crime and terrorism.

The N-DEx system reached a major milestone at the end of August 2010 by surpassing 100 million searchable records contained within the innovative and trailblazing project. N-DEx is being built and maintained at the FBI, CJIS Division in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Once fully deployed, the N-DEx system will be capable of containing in excess of one billion searchable records.

Budhendra Bhaduri, Ph.D.
Group Leader
Geographic Information Science & Technology
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Dr. Budhendra Bhaduri leads the Geographic Information Science and Technology group at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and is a founding member of the U.S. Department of Energy's Geospatial Sciences Steering Committee.

He is internationally recognized for his leadership role in conceiving, designing, and implementing innovative geocomputational methods and algorithms to solve a wide variety of national and global problems involving population dynamics modeling, natural resource studies, transportation modeling, critical infrastructure protection, and disaster management. Dr. Bhaduri is a principal member of the LandScan population modeling programs at ORNL and leads the LandScan USA project.

The unanticipated occurrences of most natural and technological disasters put a large number of people at risk. High resolution population distribution data is nucleus to disaster management. Commonly available Census data has traditionally been the exclusive source for population information. However, typical Census data is constrained both in space and time and fails to capture the obvious dynamic behavior of population as functions of space and time. Using an innovative approach with geographic information science and remote sensing, human activity patterns are modeled to produce LandScan USA data that describes US population for 90m cells for nighttime residential and daytime scenarios.

LandScan USA potentially magnifies the utility of high-resolution population data across a broad range of applications. Among all, disaster and consequence management, public health, and socio-economic analysis are the three areas where the impacts are immediate and most significant. The main accomplishment of LandScan USA is its impact on enabling the homeland security and defense community to estimate populations at risk during emergency preparedness and in saving lives during emergency response.

Dr. Bhaduri received his B.Sc. and M.Sc.(Geology) from the University of Calcutta, India, MS (Geology) Kent State University, and Ph.D. (Earth & Atmospheric Sciences) Purdue University.

James J. Thomas
Laboratory Fellow
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Mr. James J. Thomas is an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow and Laboratory Fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with over 35 years of experience. He is being honored for his leadership in establishing the growing science of visual analytics and associated technology to aid in detecting, predicting, preventing and responding to acts of terrorism and other catastrophic threats.

Mr. Thomas is founder and past Director of the Department of Homeland Security National Visualization and Analytics Center. His responsibilities at PNNL include establishing investment directions for Information and Computing Technology (ICT), representing ICT in and outside PNNL, leading major technology initiatives, mentoring staff, and being a Principal Investigator on several major science programs. He has a broad working knowledge of information technology, but specializes in the research, design, and implementation of innovative information and scientific and analytic visualization, multimedia, and human computer interaction technologies. Recently developed technologies set a new stage for visualization of masses of multimedia information sources.

Mr. Thomas has numerous patents and extensive publications, with several publications being widely referenced and re-printed. More recently he has led teams in text, numerical, image, and video analysis for massive information spaces. He has received several international science awards including "Top 100 Scientific Innovators" (Science Digest), two R&D 100 awards (1986 and 1996) presented annually for the 100 most technologically significant products and advancements, and two Federal Laboratory Consortium Technology Transfer Awards (1989 and 1999) for innovation in transferring research technology to industry and universities.

Mr. Thomas holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Eastern Washington University and a Master of Computer Science from Washington State University.

James Jones, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
Idaho National Laboratory
Idaho Falls, Idaho

Dr. James Jones is a senior research scientist at the Idaho National Laboratory, and a recognized expert in photonuclear measurement techniques. He specializes in the development of electron and charge particle accelerator technologies and advanced detection sensors for nuclear treaty verification, illicit material detection, and nondestructive evaluation.

In more than a decade of research, Dr. Jones has established successful collaborations with private industry, universities and government agencies addressing national and international security needs. He holds two U.S. patents for the development of nonproliferation technology, and maintains dual faculty appointments at Idaho State University and the Idaho Accelerator Center.

Currently, he is leading efforts to develop a long-range, nonintrusive nuclear materials detection technology called the Photonuclear Inspection and Threat Assessment System (PITAS). PITAS represents a breakthrough homeland security technology capable of detecting hidden nuclear materials at several hundred feet. This technology utilizes a high-energy linear electron accelerator to produce a controlled photon inspection beam. If nuclear materials are present, the inspection beam produces fission reactions within the nuclear material, resulting in the emission of prompt and delayed neutron and gamma-rays. These rays are analyzed by a series of detectors, which alert operators to the presence of illicit nuclear materials. The technology performs this process within minutes, while leaving no residual environmental impact.

Dr. Jones holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas, a master’s degree in nuclear science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a doctorate in nuclear science and engineering from Idaho State University.

Douglas L. McMakin
Staff Engineer
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Richland, Washington

Mr. Douglas L. McMakin is Staff Engineer in the Applied Physics Group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy, and has worked in the Radar Imaging Laboratory since 1987.

As Project Manager and Technical Lead at the Radar Imaging Laboratory, Mr. McMakin and his team developed and tested innovative real-time microwave and millimeter-wave holographic-imaging systems for airport personnel screening for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (now the TSA) and body-measurements for biometrics and clothing applications using various planar and cylindrical imaging techniques. Mr. McMakin was very active in the commercialization of these technologies with two licensed partners L-3/SafeView (www.safeviewinc.com) and Intellifit (www.intellifit.com).

Mr. McMakin is being honored for the development of the first-of-its-kind personnel security system that safely detects non-metallic and metallic objects, including explosives that might be worn by a suicide bomber. The system uses a cylindrical holographic imaging technology to conduct a 360-degree whole-body scan in 1.5 seconds. It bounces low-powered, non-ionizing millimeter waves off a person, penetrating clothing and reflecting off the body. Reflected signals are collected by the array/transceiver and sent to a high-speed image processing computer, which forms a high-resolution three-dimensional image of the body and any hidden objects. The system provides a safe, fast and effective alternative to metal detectors, X-ray machines and pat-down searches at security checkpoints.

Mr. McMakin was born in Richland, Washington, and received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Washington State University, Pullman, in 1986. He received a R&D 100 award in 2004 and a Federal Laboratory Consortium Technology Transfer award in 2005. Additionally, he won the R&D Magazine's Editors Choice award for "Most Promising New Technology for 2004." He has received seven patents from the U.S. Patent Office, and has several more patents pending.

Donna H. Branson, Ph.D.
Regents Professor and Director
Institute of Protective Apparel Research and Technology
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, Oklahoma

Dr. Branson co-led an industry-academic team of researchers from 2001-2004 to develop a prototype of portable cooling vests for first-responders to hazardous materials incidents. More recently, she led the development of QuadGard® an innovative limb armor system weighing 10 pounds, which provides protection for the arms and legs of our armed forces against devastating injuries caused by shrapnel. The design challenge was to accommodate conflicting requirements including--providing ballistic protection for arms, legs and associated joints while maintaining full soldier mobility; and minimizing additional weight and heat stress, in a time-sensitive manner. More than 5,000 units of QuadGard® are now being used in Iraq.

Ronald Eaglin, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Engineering Technology
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida

Dr. Ronald Eaglin has designed and is currently working on Florida Integrated Network for Data Exchange and Retrieval (FINDER), a successful project that links over 120 law enforcement agencies in the State of Florida.

Beginning in 2000, a group of Florida sheriffs and police chiefs started working with the University of Central Florida to develop a low-cost technological solution to defeat career criminals who exploited the lack of information sharing between jurisdictions. By 2003, the Florida Law Enforcement Data Sharing Consortium deployed FINDER as a regional information sharing solution for the I-4 Corridor. Quickly yielding dramatic results, FINDER has grown into a statewide network, and other States are asking to connect with FINDER to establish an effective information sharing network across the Southeast and beyond.

FINDER allows an officer or detective to instantly search hundreds of police databases throughout the State of Florida, and conduct queries on property, motor vehicles, pawn activity, and persons and their known associates. This capability enables law enforcement to locate individuals who may be connected with potential acts of terrorism. To connect the dots that can solve or prevent crimes, you first have to have the dots. FINDER provides the information needed to make this critical connection.

Matthew Hanson, Ph.D.
LSTAT Team
Integrated Medical Systems, Inc.
Signal Hill, California

The government/industry LSTAT Team includes representatives of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and Integrated Medical Systems, Inc. (IMS). Comprised of medical experts in the fields of emergency medicine and critical care, as well as technical experts in the fields of systems integration and information technology, the LSTAT Team has been collaborating for several years on the development and deployment of the Life Support for Trauma and Transport (LSTAT) patient care platform.

A portable intensive care unit only 5 inches thick, LSTAT includes a ventilator, defibrillator, infusion pump, suction, physiological monitor and blood chemistry analyzer. In addition, LSTAT collects, stores and can transmit time-synchronized patient data from all the devices continuously. The LSTAT platform allows caregivers to “bring the hospital to the patient” during natural or man-made disasters. Developed initially by and for the military (just like the nation’s civilian ground and air ambulance systems), the LSTAT is increasingly being evaluated for and included in military, government, and civilian plans for homeland security operations.

Edward L. Reber, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist
Idaho National Laboratory
Idaho Falls, Idaho

Through the years, Dr. Edward L. Reber has worked on many different projects including nuclear nonproliferation, basic nuclear research, and spent nuclear fuel characterization, among others. Dr. Reber and his team at the Idaho National Laboratory are currently involved in the research and development of the Idaho Explosives Detection System (IEDS).

The IEDS is an accurate, easy-to-use explosive detection system developed to screen trucks entering a facility, such as a military base, for explosives within five minutes. The system has two pulsed neutron generators, capable of detecting powerful explosives in quantities small enough to fit in a car’s trunk. The system uses detectors to measure gamma rays released from these excitations. The gamma rays are then analyzed to determine whether explosives are present or not.

The first deployable Idaho Explosives Detection System is being constructed and will be installed at a military base within the year.

Timothy M. Swager, Ph.D.
John D. MacArthur Professor and Department Head
Department of Chemistry
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dr. Swager’s research interests are in design, synthesis, and study of organic-based electronic, sensory, and liquid crystalline materials. His research in electronic polymers has been directed at the demonstration of new conceptual approaches to the construction of sensory materials. In particular, he has developed conjugated polymer sensory transduction schemes that translate molecular recognition events into readily measured signals.

The fundamental tenet of this research is that the cooperative nature of these materials produces enhancements in observable signals relative to monomeric analogs. Dr. Swager has shown this amplification to be general and applicable to any signal, which is dependent upon the transport properties of the system. Materials and methods from the Swager laboratory are the enabling technology for the explosive detectors that have become the flagship products of Nomadics, Inc. These systems have demonstrated unprecedented sensitivities for the detection of the explosive TNT. Related technologies are under development for the detection of chemical weapons, toxic industrial chemicals, and biological molecules.

Ace Sarich
Vice President
VoxTec, a Division of Marine Acoustics, Inc.
Annapolis, Maryland

Mr. Sarich, as Vice President of VoxTec solely develops and manufactures the Phraselator®, a handheld, voice-actuated translation device being used worldwide by American soldiers and domestically in law enforcement and healthcare settings. The Phraselator is capable of speaking thousands of phrases in nearly 60 languages. It is used to provide instructions, give directions or ask questions with easily conveyed responses. Mr. Sarich travels frequently to the Middle East where he trains soldiers in the field on the use of the Phraselator.

Chris Cherry
Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff
Sandia National Laboratories
Albuquerque, NM

Mr. Cherry is currently involved in the research and development of specialized explosive systems, explosive entry, shaped charge technology and advanced explosives ordnance disposal (EOD) disablement tools. Mr. Cherry has invented, designed and patented many EOD and Explosive tools, and has designed many advanced initiation and explosive breaching systems. Mr. Cherry provides advanced training for military personnel, as well as local, State and Federal bomb squads, and is the creator of Operation America.

Aaron Diaz
Staff Scientist
Nondestructive Characterization and
Measurement Sciences Group
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Richland, Washington

Mr. Diaz's research has focused on ultrasonic nondestructive examination measurements, imaging and analysis. This work has resulted in the development of the Acoustic Inspection Device, a state-of-the-art technology used by U.S. and international Customs Officers at ports-of-entry, IRS Fuel Compliance Officers and other law enforcement officials for counterterrorism and drug interdiction activities. Mr. Diaz is routinely sought out by his peers and colleagues to consult on the most difficult non-destructive evaluation problems. His expertise has led to significant national and international recognition.

Daniel V. Lim, Ph.D.
Professor of Microbiology
Department of Biology and Center for Biological Defense
University of South Florida
Tampa, FL

Dr. Lim was selected for his work in developing a test capable of identifying the presence of anthrax, ricin and other bioterrorism hazards in food, water and blood. He works closely with companies, Federal and State agencies, the military and other universities on development and implementation of these rapid detection procedures. Dr. Lim is also associated with the USF Center for Biological Defense and is routinely invited to speak on the subjects of biodefense and biothreat agents at national conferences and workshops.

William Berger, J.D.
Team Leader, Be 'S.A.F.E.R.' Program
National Self-Defense Institute
Chief of Police, North Miami Beach, Florida

Chief William Berger is the Team Leader of the Be 'S.A.F.E.R.' program (acronym for Strategic Actions For Emergency Response), a unique, proven, community-based training tool that humanizes clinical Disaster/Emergency preparedness information. The packaged one-hour program encourages citizens to focus on terrorism awareness, and gives answers to the question, "What can I do?"

Be 'S.A.F.E.R.' works primarily with local law enforcement agencies to promote community policies for disaster prevention through being vigilant, informed, and communicating with law enforcement; training officers to facilitate classes for citizens based on the needs of the community. Empowering individuals through education and training, the program heightens perceptions with the realization that Past is Prologue, invites family participation and intergenerational dialogue, deals with lessening fear, provides tools to form a Neighborhood Disaster/Emergency Action Group, stimulates volunteerism for various agencies at local levels, and engenders patriotism.

Joany Jackman, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist
The Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory
Laurel, Maryland

Dr. Jackman joined the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in 2000 where she has continued her work in rapid pathogen identification and advises in biocontainment facility design and operations. As Senior Scientist at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Dr. Jackman is developing methods to analyze breath for novel markers of infection. This technology uses proteins and lipids secreted by the host in response to pathogens in the lungs to detect signs of infection prior to the appearance of symptoms. The technique is non-invasive and rapid. Analysis is carried out using mass spectrometry of exhaled breath. Both the pattern of secreted proteins and the chronology of their production is used to evaluate: 1) whether an exposed individual has been infected; 2) to classify the infection as viral or bacterial; and 3) to potentially type infections by agent or class of agent.

This technology will allow rapid triage of individuals at the scene of a potential bioterrorist attack. It will allow emergency medical personnel to focus their resources on the most seriously ill individuals and permit rapid and early treatment. This technology, once fully developed, will reduce the impact of bioterrorism, by improving the outcome and treatment of exposed populations. It has a dual use potential for organizations such as the World Health Organization.

Michael B. Cantor, Ph.D.
President
WayPoint Research, Inc.
Atlanta, Georgia

Dr. Michael Cantor is President of WayPoint Research, Inc., an Atlanta company specializing in performance improvement through personnel selection instruments. He trained in experimental psychology, physiology and human factors engineering; did basic research in information processing and, since 1983, has applied behavioral science to performance improvement in the workplace.

He has developed WayPoint, a four-minute, non-verbal test which assesses a person's ability to operate a man/machine system such as driving, pipeline control, piloting aircraft, filling drug prescriptions, law enforcement and baggage handling, among others. For example, baggage screeners are often the first line of defense against terrorist activity targeting airlines. Dr. Cantor believes these baggage screeners need to be evaluated for their aptitude for this important job.

Four studies have validated WayPoint as a pre-employment test for security screeners. One study was done by the U.S. Customs in Tacoma and three others at major airports around the United States and in Europe. The studies showed that the WayPoint test accurately identifies people with the ability to find weapons on an X-ray screen, in a suitcase, etc.

Frances S. Ligler, D.Phil., D.Sc.
USN Senior Scientist for Biosensors and Biomaterials
Naval Research Laboratory
Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering
Washington, D.C.

Dr. Ligler is currently the Navy's Senior Scientist for Biosensors and Biomaterials and a member of the Center of Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering at the Naval Research Laboratory. She has pioneered the development of ultra-sensitive antibody-based detection systems for biological agents and other hazardous materials. Her team is well-recognized for the ability to develop a biological sensor from concept to commercial product.