Anthrax attacks, hurricane-spawned disasters, willful acts of terrorism--not exactly the stuff of light conversation at a continental breakfast.

But homeland security and the University's efforts to engage in related research were the topic du jour at a breakfast gathering May 4 for more than 80 faculty, staff, and administrators.

"I've heard from you that there is a need to expand the dialogue across the campus--to include people from many different disciplines--as we consider how best to engage in homeland security research," said Harris Pastides, vice president for research and health sciences.

Disciplines as diverse as library science, engineering, journalism, and medicine were represented at the breakfast, which included opening remarks by President Sorensen, who shared with the group experiences from his service as an advisor on high-profile national preparedness boards.

The breakfast participants spent the bulk of the two-hour gathering in small discussion groups, brainstorming ideas for potential research topics and collaborations in homeland security.

"The University can play an important role in responding to both willful and natural disasters by conducting research into ways we can better prepare for future eventualities," said Lee Pearson, USC's homeland security liaison for the Office of Research and Health Sciences. "Research is one of our strengths as a university, and USC is exploring ways to apply that strength in a manner that will promote the security and resiliency of our nation."

Faculty participants at the breakfast meeting cited a number of advantages the University has in its bid to pursue more such research.

"We already have lots of linkages with communities across the state," said Randy Folks, director of the Center for International Business and Education Research, which itself has a mandate to conduct homeland security research. "And we have connections to many of the national laboratories."

"Other universities might have jumped ahead of us in particular areas," said Julie Nichols, Newsplex projects director, "but we have many areas of specialization that we can capitalize on [in homeland security research]." Those include cyber security, studies in tourism safety, and disease tracking through epidemiology and biostatistics.

Alvin Fox, a School of Medicine professor who has conducted extensive research on anthrax, stated that the breakfast meeting was a good way to foster more interdisciplinary research but said a really big push--perhaps a multi-university research initiative--will require the University administration to lead the way. "Individual faculty can't do it," he said.

"What's missing are the core questions that people rally around," said Madilyn Fletcher, director of the Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences. "There are more than enough questions to address [in the realm of homeland security], but it has to be the questions that the University wants to address."

"And it has to be the questions that funding agencies are interested in, too," Fox added. "He who pays the piper picks the tune."

Key points from the morning's discussion groups will be compiled and forwarded to the Office of Research and Health Sciences. Pastides plans to reconvene the faculty in the early fall--near the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina--to move the research agenda forward.

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