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Securing the Future: A Conference on the Future of Homeland Security April 11, 2008

What is Securing the Future? Securing the Future is an annual conference for students from the Baltimore area selected by their Principal or teacher to represent their schools as Student Ambassadors. This program is for students with a strong interest in current events, international politics, and/or social studies in general, and is designed to educate them on the importance of, and the current issues surrounding, homeland security. The emphasis will be on local issues, showing students how important their involvement in government is, subsequently revealing how issues of homeland security are important to their daily lives. In breakout sessions, these Student Ambassadors will create their own plans to raise counter-terrorism awareness in their respective schools, and examine how they feel homeland security can be improved to better protect the United States. Finally, Securing the Future offers participating students a unique opportunity to work with other Baltimore-area high school students – from public and private institutions, from the city and the county – to discuss one of the most important issues facing their generation.

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Securing the Future '08This year's Securing the Future program was a huge success thanks to the high caliber of student participants from around the Baltimore area and to our engaging and informative speakers.  This year, students from Baltimore County, Baltimore City, and Harford County heard presentations on issues of homeland security, terrorism, and catastrophic event response from speakers representing academia, research, and government, including:

Steven David, Ph.D.
Professor of International Relations, Johns Hopkins University

Meghan Butasek
Director, Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response for the Baltimore City Health Department

Christopher Thomaskutty
Deputy Mayor for Administration, City of Baltimore

Christian Latimer
Program Manager, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Thomas Kirsch, MD, MPH, FACEP
Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine and in the Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University

Thomas Kirsch, MD, MPH, FACEP
Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine and in the Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University

And, a panel presentation by researchers affiliated with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terror (START), U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence:
Dr. Kathleen Smarick, Executive Director; Dr. Amy Pate, Research Director, Minorities at Risk Project, University of Maryland; Erin Miller, PhD candidate, Criminology, University of Maryland

In addition, participants were introduced to the Johns Hopkins HERU group - our on-campus student run first response unit - through a hands-on, full participatory demonstration of a mass casualty incident.  The day was capped off by Dr. Starnes Walker, Director of Research for the S&T Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security, who provided a wonderful introduction and overview of the workings of DHS and its current research undertakings and future goals. 

Questions can be answered either by phone to Dr. Thanner at (410) 735-6442 or by e-mail to securingthefuture@jhu.edu.