KCI Program Archive

Round 3: Grants Announced May 2008

I. Technical Topic Area: Blast Mitigation

Terrorists have a wide range of weapons to use against us, but the weapon of choice so far appears to be explosives. They are low in cost, readily available, easy to assemble and cause significant damage. It is not surprising that the NIHS research portfolio would include significant work toward mitigating the effects of explosives.

Reducing the Explosive Potential of Ammonium Nitrate Fertilizer

Dr. Darrell Taulbee, University of Kentucky; $835,765; 24 Months

Round 1: Grants announced November 2004

Modeling / Simulation Analysis

Murray State University in partnership with Morehead State and UK received $385,556 to simulate catastrophic events related to dam breaches and evaluate the subsequent damage and ability of emergency responders to react to such events.

Perimeter Defense

The University of Kentucky in partnership with Western Kentucky University and U of L received $654,668 to develop a high-tech surveillance and face recognition system.

Quantitative Risk Assessment

The Challenge

The task of assuring the security of our homeland involves protecting the citizens of the United States, the nation's critical infrastructure and key assets. This is necessary to sustain the nation's vitality against terrorism and other threats. This protection must originate at the community level. It requires discovering, developing and deploying new technology that will support first responders and key decision makers in local communities.

The Mission

NIHS' mission is to discover, develop and deploy solutions that protect and preserve the critical infrastructure of the nation's communities.

The Institute

NIHS aligns projects and research objectives with the needs and requirements of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The strategy is to manage a distributed research enterprise that effectively transitions research and development into solutions. NIHS works with DHS to determine technology needs at the community level. Then, teams are quickly assembled from multiple universities to develop solutions to the needs.

The Strategy

Through management of the Kentucky Critical Infrastructure Protections Program (KCI), the National Institute for Hometown Security (NIHS) provides an ongoing, integrated program dedicated to developing new technologies and devices. NIHS works through qualified academic institutions to accomplish the technological objectives.