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Center of Excellence for the Study of Preparedness and Catastrophic Event Response (PACER)

The role of universities and research organizations as part of this country’s strategic approach to Homeland Security is to harness the nation’s scientific knowledge and technological expertise to help protect America and our way of life from terrorism. Moreover, this same knowledge and expertise can be applied to helping this country prepare for and respond to other high consequence events, whether natural or manmade, by promoting novel thinking, generating innovation, and teaching and training the next generation of leaders in science, government, and education. Recognizing this particularly important role in our nation’s defense, in December 2005, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded Johns Hopkins University’s Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR) a multiple year grant to establish the National Center of Excellence for the Study of Preparedness and Catastrophic Event Response (PACER) to lead a consortium studying how the nation can best prepare for and respond to potential large-scale incidents and disasters.

Homeland Security Center of Excellence consortium, led by CEPAR and under the direction of Principal Investigators Dr. Gabor Kelen and Dr. Lynn Goldman, comprises leading universities, premier corporations with extensive research and development infrastructure, and key government and national organizations from around the country. This consortium also includes the significant involvement of and contributions by minority serving institutions and organizations. Collectively, PACER engages in multi-disciplinary, trans-institutional research to study deterrence, prevention, preparedness and response, including issues such as risk assessment, decision-making, infrastructure integrity, surge capacity and sensor networks, and to create knowledge directed toward increased national preparedness for weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and other catastrophic high consequence events.

The mission of PACER is improve the Nation’s preparedness and the ability to respond in the event of a high consequence natural or manmade disaster to alleviate the event’s effects by developing and disseminating best scientific practices. To best achieve this mission, PACER is conducting seventeen different projects focused on five key areas of research: preparedness theory and practice; response networks; analysis, modeling, and simulation; science, technology, and engineering; and education. The education research area, in particular, has been tasked with developing an infrastructure to train disaster experts, from today’s scientists to tomorrow’s leaders in academia, health care, and public service. Furthermore, PACER has established eight principals around which research projects focus: understanding high impact Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive (CBRNE) events; conducting inquiries that serve the goals of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Response Plan (NRP); providing relevance to first responders at all levels; engaging all levels of government, public and private sectors for a fully integrated approach; leveraging the diverse resources of our partners to augment efforts; developing educational programs and concepts for broad dissemination to train future leaders, experts, and scholars; engaging appropriate efforts to achieve sustainability; and maintaining flexibility, given the potential changing threats and the need to be prepared for all hazards.

Harnessing the scientific capabilities of some of this nation’s finest research institutions, and collaborating with federal, state, and local government partners, PACER will not only further our knowledge and understanding of high consequence events, but will further our country’s ability to effectively deter as well as prepare for and respond to such events.