The DHS S&T Centers of Excellence (COEs) develop multidisciplinary, customer-driven, homeland security science and technology solutions and help train the next generation of homeland security experts.

Providing Practical Homeland Security Solutions

The COE network is an extended consortium of hundreds of universities conducting groundbreaking research to address homeland security challenges. Sponsored by the Office of University Programs, the COEs work closely with the homeland security community to develop customer-driven, innovative tools and technologies to solve real-world challenges. COE partners include academic institutions; industry; national laboratories; DHS operational components; S&T divisions; other federal agencies; state, local, tribal and territorial homeland security agencies; and first responders. These partners work in concert to develop critical technologies and analyses to secure the nation.

Current COEs

• Arctic Domain Awareness Center of Excellence (ADAC), led by the University of Alaska Anchorage, develops and transitions technology solutions, innovative products, and educational programs to improve situational awareness and crisis response capabilities related to emerging maritime challenges posed by the dynamic Arctic environment.
• Borders, Trade, and Immigration Institute (BTI), led by the University of Houston, develops technology-based tools, techniques, and educational programs for border management, immigration, trade facilitation, and targeting and enforcement of transnational borders.
• The Center for Accelerating Operational Efficiency (CAOE), led by Arizona State University, applies advanced analytical tools to optimize efficiency in homeland security operations.
• Center of Excellence for Awareness and Localization of Explosives-Related Threats (ALERT), led by Northeastern University, develops new means and methods to protect the nation from explosives-related threats.
• The Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis Center (CINA), led by George Mason University, develops strategies and solutions to enhance criminal network analysis, forensics, and investigative processes for on-the-ground use by agents and officers to predict, thwart, and prosecute crimes.
• Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence (CRC), led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, conducts research and education to enhance the Nation’s ability to safeguard people, infrastructure, and economies from catastrophic coastal natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes.
• Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute (CIRI), led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, conducts research and education to enhance the resilience of the Nation’s critical infrastructure and its owners and operators.
• Maritime Security Center of Excellence (MSC), led by Stevens Institute of Technology, enhances Maritime Domain Awareness and develops strategies to support Marine Transportation System resilience and educational programs for current and aspiring homeland security practitioners.
• The forthcoming Center of Excellence for Cross-Border Threat Screening and Supply Chain Defense, led by Texas A&M University, will focus on technologies detecting biological threats moving through global supply chains, data integration and analytics to support threat detection, and novel methods to minimize risks to DHS operations.

Emeritus COEs

• National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE), led by the University of Southern California, develops advanced tools to evaluate the risks, costs and consequences of terrorism.
• Center for Visualization and Data Analytics (CVADA), co-led by Purdue University (visualization sciences – VACCINE) and Rutgers University (data sciences – CCICADA), creates the scientific basis and enduring technologies needed to analyze large quantities of information to detect security threats to the nation.
• Food Protection and Defense Institute (FPDI), led by the University of Minnesota, defends the safety and security of the food system by conducting research to protect vulnerabilities in the food supply chain. FPDI was formerly named the National Center for Food Protection and Defense (NCFPD).
• Center of Excellence for Zoonotic and Animal Disease Defense (ZADD), co-led by Texas A&M University and Kansas State University, protects the nation’s agriculture and public health sectors against high-consequence foreign animal, emerging and zoonotic disease threats.
• Coastal Hazards Center of Excellence (CHC), co-led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Jackson State University, performs research and develops education programs to enhance the nation’s ability to safeguard populations, properties and economies from catastrophic natural disasters.
• National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), led by the University of Maryland, provides policy makers and practitioners with empirically grounded findings on the human elements of the terrorist threat and informs decisions on how to disrupt terrorists and terrorist groups.

Learn More

• Search the COE project database and learn about ongoing efforts at http://www.hsuniversityprograms.org/.
• Contact the Office of University Programs by emailing universityprograms@hq.dhs.gov.

Mandate

From the Homeland Security Act of 2002:

“The Secretary, acting through the Under Secretary for Science and Technology, shall establish … a university-based center or centers for homeland security. The purpose of this center or centers shall be to establish a coordinated, university-based system to enhance the nation’s homeland security.”