Fall 2021 – CREATE News and Updates

Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Threats and Emergencies

Friends of CREATE,

As I reflect on CREATE’s achievements over the last six months, I am both impressed and gratified.  Our work has included important studies of COVID-19 and its economic impacts, border protection, cyber-attacks, risk perception, security against terrorist attacks and risk communication.  We have received research funding from DHS and other sponsors, welcomed outstanding new research fellows, and embarked on research directions that expand the impact of CREATE.

We have received awards for many significant new sponsored research projects: 

•  Adam Rose led a multi-institution team that was funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to model the economic consequences of major disasters.

•  Detlof von Winterfeldt, Isaac Maya and Richard John received funding for “STAMINA III” to optimize the transition of DHS science and technology projects, enhancing responsiveness of R&S to operational needs.

•  Richard John and Isaac Maya represented CREATE in the newly established DHS Center for Engineering Security Environments for Targeted Attacks, led by Northeastern University.  

•  Adam Rose received a grant from the Center for Accelerating Operational Efficiency (a DHS university center of excellence) focused on maritime transportation disruption.  

This fall, we welcomed three new senior research fellows to CREATE: Matthew Kahn, Provost Professor of Economics and Spatial Sciences at USC; Ilan Noy, Professor of Economics and Chair in the Economics of Disasters and Climate Change at the Wellington School of Business; and Larry Palinkas, Albert G. and Frances Lomas Feldman Professor of Social Policy and Health in USC’s Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. 

CREATE researchers were active at the DHS Centers of Excellence 2021 Summit, including presentations by Erroll Southers (“The Current State of Homegrown Violent Extremism”), Adam Rose (“Assessing the Economic Impact of COVID-19”) and Isaac Maya (“CREATE Research Transition and Commercialization”).

In September, CREATE hosted the national 9/11 Symposium, featuring nine DHS Centers of Excellence in a reflection on the lessons learned from university research on 9/11, terrorism and other homeland security threats.

CREATE continues to evolve as we address the types of disasters that most threaten the homeland, including those caused by terrorism, climate induced natural events and accidents.  Our name changed to the “Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Threats and Emergencies” to encompass our all-hazard approach, described in articles prepared by the Viterbi School and the Price School.  Our website was refreshed to better explain our research methods and applications, as well as our many funded research projects.  

Personally, I am writing a book for MIT Press, Breaking Tradition, Trust and Innovation in the American University.  Through the National Academies, I am engaging college and university presidents in a national cohort to incentivize open scholarship (we have 57 participating institutions so far).  I am also active in the University Industry Demonstration Partnership, developing the mechanisms for meaningful partnerships to advance research.

I look forward to working with the CREATE community in the coming year to expand our research, pursuing new funding opportunities that support rigorous and objective analysis, fulfilling our mission to reduce threats, mitigate emergencies and build resilience.  

We welcome new collaborations, participants and ideas for research that make our nation safer against risks of catastrophic events.  Please send your thoughts.

Randy Hall
Director, CREATE