Southwest universities team up on border security
The Southwest Border Security Consortium will develop and promote scientific and policy solutions for issues affecting the U.S.-Mexico border region; Universities of Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico among participants; research will focus on agricultural security, cybersecurity, surveillance, and energetic materials research, among other issues
With so much attention being paid to immigration and border security issues, it is a wonder that this did not happen sooner: Nine research universities have teamed up to create the Southwest Border Security Consortium. Intended to develop and promote scientific and policy solutions for issues affecting the U.S.-Mexico border region, “This strategic collaboration will enable us to use our collective resources in an integrated, seamless approach to research and development, testing and evaluation, and training. We also will be able to interface with Mexican stakeholders on border issues,” said Robert Silver of New Mexico State University’s Physical Science Laboratory.
The consortium intends to position itself as a clearinghouse for border security policy and innovations, and it includes such prestigious schools as Arizona State University, University of Arizona, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Tech, University of New Mexico, San Diego State University, Texas A&M, University of Texas at El Paso, and University of Texas at San Antonio. Agricultural and supply-chain security, behavioral and social aspects of terrorism and counterterrorism, cybersecurity, surveillance, energetic materials research, intelligent transportation design, and trade are among the issues the consirtium hopes to take up in the near future.
The consortium was announced at ComDef Tucson 2006, an international conference on technologies for border security, defense and commerce.
-read more in this Medical News report
