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Command, Control and Interoperability Center for Advanced Data Analysis (CCICADA)

Clockwise from top left: 1) REU panelists Darlena Kern, Sinan Ozdemir, and Alexander Saffer; 2) Graduate student speaker Andrew Rodriguez; 3) Michael Moriarty displays a map showing the nearly 20 disasters that were recognized by presidential declaration on July 15; 4) REU Director Eugene Fiorini.

Over the summer, the Command, Control and Interoperability Center for Advanced Data Analysis (CCICADA) hosted a group of middle and high school students from the Bronx in New York City and gave them a taste of college life. The students and several of their teachers attended a one-day “Student Conference on Discrete Mathematics: One Way to Exciting Careers in Homeland Security.”  The visiting students were participants in a summer program at Hostos Community College (located in the South Bronx) that is part of the longstanding NASA/STEP Proyecto Access Program to engage historically underrepresented and/or economically disadvantaged middle and high school students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.

The Proyecto Access Program at Hostos is a year-round program with an intensive summer session that emphasizes the development of abstract reasoning, critical thinking and problem solving skills. The conference at CCICADA was supported through a DHS University Programs grant to the small business, Discrete Teaching, as part of a DHS initiative to build capacity for 21st CenturySTEM education at community colleges serving underrepresented populations.

Discrete Teaching is working with Hostos Community College faculty and staff to introduce the students to topics in discrete mathematics and to build a sustainable discrete mathematics course into their summer program. Unlike other areas of mathematics, discrete mathematics often requires little advanced training which allows students to very quickly explore wide ranging applications and engaging topics – like cake cutting and finger print analysis – that require little in the way of mathematical pre-requisites.

The Hostos group met with CCICADA faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students participating in the research experiences for undergraduates (REU) program, as well as several distinguished outside visitors. CCICADA Director, Dr. Fred Roberts, kicked off the day by welcoming the students and presenting examples of how the mathematical and computational sciences can be brought to bear in the realm of homeland security.  CCICADA graduate students lightened things up with presentations on some of their favorite topics, including the mathematical underpinnings of doodling, the use of computers to simulate everything from car design to urban security, and fair allocation of scarce resources with a hands-on activity in cake cutting.

The Hostos students joined the REU students for the conference’s keynote talk by Michael F. Moriarty, Deputy Regional Administrator for FEMA’s Region II, which encompasses an area that includes both New Jersey and New York and a population of over 30 million. Mr. Moriarty explained FEMA’s responsibility as a coordinator of local, state, regional and national efforts in responding to emergencies ranging from hurricanes and earthquakes to possible terrorist attacks, and he detailed the “four phases of emergency management” – preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. The group also got a glimpse of upcoming technologies from Mitch Erickson from the DHS Science and Technology Directorate. An example that he cited was the Iris scanning technology as a more secure and convenient alternative to passwords for accessing computers and network applications and services.

The afternoon included a tour of Rutgers civil engineering labs and a panel discussion with REU students on college life and preparing to major in a STEM field. They talked about choosing a college, applying to college, selecting a major, how to be successful in college and common pitfalls. REU Director, Dr. Eugene Fiorini, showed the students how math plays a role in crime scene investigations and returned to the theme of biometrics with a discussion of discrete math in finger print analysis.

The day ended with a talk by Dr. Barry Tesman of Dickinson College on “codes”. He explained the meaning and origin of codes that appear in everyday life, such as zipcodes, area codes, and ISBN codes. He also described less familiar codes such as Morse code, semaphore codes for visual communication at a distance, and simple substitution ciphers for encrypting a message.