In its 21st year, CREATE achieved a new milestone: cumulative research funding has topped $90 million, more than doubling the initial 10 years of funding awarded to CREATE as the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) first University Center of Excellence.
CREATE has retained its focus on advanced models and tools for evaluating the risks, costs, and consequences of threats to human livelihood. However, CREATE’s scope and purpose have grown beyond its initial mission of addressing terrorism threats to include all threats to homeland security, including those posed by natural disasters. CREATE’s work has included research on risk, behavioral, economic, and decision analysis, applied to an array of threat areas, including cybersecurity, biological threats, climate, infrastructure, supply chains, physical security, and weapons of mass destruction.
During its lifetime, CREATE has been supported by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), DHS University Centers of Excellence, and DHS component agencies. Additional support has come from the Department of Defense, including the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). CREATE has also received support from the National Science Foundation and national laboratories, including the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Air Force Research Laboratory.
CREATE’s director and co-founder, Randolph Hall, thanked Congress for its wisdom in establishing the Centers of Excellence program when it created the Department of Homeland Security: “The House and Senate had remarkable foresight, understanding that assessment of homeland security threats and countermeasures must be both objective and imaginative, drawing from the talents only U.S. universities can provide.” In this regard, CREATE has established its reputation for integrated, holistic, and impartial analysis, providing independent assessments of hazards—both malevolent and unintentional—including terrorism, accidents, and naturally occurring events.
As an interdisciplinary center, CREATE draws from the talents and expertise of the Price School of Public Policy and the Viterbi School of Engineering, along with the psychology and economics departments. Its research fellows include an international roster of exceptional faculty from various disciplines, all united by the goal of using objective, evidence-based analysis to make the world safer and more secure against catastrophic threats.
Posted February 2, 2025