For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
WASHINGTON—Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today delivered remarks at the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science Conference and 5th Annual University Network Summit—highlighting DHS’ continued collaboration with America’s science and engineering communities to help secure our nation and applauding the collaborative research efforts of the DHS Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) University Centers of Excellence and their partners in leveraging our latest science and technology to protect against and respond and recover from terrorism, natural disasters and other threats.
“The DHS Centers of Excellence are a cornerstone of the Department’s effort to engage the best and brightest minds at our nation’s universities to help solve our homeland security challenges,” said Secretary Napolitano. “We must continue to expand our collaboration with the science and engineering communities to address the evolving homeland security threats we face.”
During her remarks, Secretary Napolitano highlighted the continued successes of S&T’s 12 University Centers of Excellence—which have generated over 70 tools, technologies and knowledge products since 2003 for use across the homeland security enterprise, ranging from food protection and defense to catastrophic event response.
Secretary Napolitano also underscored the Department’s commitment to working with science and technology partners throughout the nation to protect our nation’s surface transportation systems and secure the global aviation and cargo supply systems.
Earlier this month Secretary Napolitano delivered remarks to more than 400 students and faculty as part of the historic Compton Lecture series at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)—reiterating the Department’s commitment to advancing research in the fields of science and engineering that impact homeland security, highlighting the Loaned Executive program and Cyber Workforce Initiative, two DHS programs designed to attract top professionals in the scientific and cyber fields, and underscoring the important role of science and engineering experts in helping America prepare for and respond to a wide range of ever-evolving threats.
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