This month marks the start of two new projects in the defense domain. The first project is funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) through Applied Research Associates, Inc. focusing on “modeling Human-Infrastructure Interactions Following Nuclear Detonations,” as part of DTRA’s Social Impacts of Nuclear Detonations (SIND) program. The project team includes Dr. William G. Kennedy (PI) and Dr. Hamdi Kavak (Co-PI) from Mason as project leads. Two consultants of this project are Dr. Andrew Crooks at the University at Buffalo, NY and Dr. Christopher Dyer of the University of New Mexico. This three year project will support two graduate students.

The second project is called “Detecting Criminal Disruption of Supply Chains”, conducted through George Mason University’s Center for the Investigation of Networked Adaptation (CINA). Serving as a Co-PI, I am part of a team dedicated to identifying and understanding criminal activities that disrupt critical supply chains. This two-year project investigates how illicit networks exploit vulnerabilities in supply chain systems and evaluates intervention strategies to mitigate these threats. By examining real-world disruptions and applying advanced analytical tools, our goal is to enhance resilience and adaptability across various sectors impacted by these criminal networks. The project is funded by the Department of Homeland Security, lead by Dr. Carlotta Carlotta Domeniconi from GMU and Fred Roberts from the Rutgers University. In addition myself, Dr. Sean Luke and Jim Jones serve as GMU Co-PIs. Other collaborators include Dr. Andrew Crooks from the University at Buffalo as well as Drs. Alok Baveja, Weiwei Chen, Dennis Egan, Aman Goswami, Rong Lei, Peter Marsh, Benjamin Melamed, and Viswanath Narayan from Rutgers.