Dr. G. Kemble Bennett, vice chancellor of engineering for The Texas A&M University System and dean of the Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been nominated to serve on the Federal Emergency Management's (FEMA) National Advisory Council. In this capacity, Bennett and other Council members will help ensure effective and ongoing coordination of the federal preparedness, protection, response, recovery and mitigation for natural disasters, acts of terrorism and other man-made disasters. Specifically, the Council will focus attention in the development and revision of the national preparedness goal, the national preparedness system, the National Incident Management System, the National Response Plan, and other related plans and strategies. The development of the National Advisory Committee was set into motion by the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006. Members are appointed by the Administrator and represent a geographic and significant cross section of officials from emergency management and law enforcement, and include homeland security directors, adjutants general, emergency response providers from state, local and tribal governments, private sector, and nongovernmental organizations. "The men and women nominated to serve on the National Advisory Committee are recognized experts across the range of emergency management disciplines," said FEMA Administrator David Paulson. "Their extensive knowledge and diverse points of view will be a great asset as they advise us on how we can best respond to natural and manmade disasters together." Bennett, who was selected for the Emergency Management category, is the only Texan nominated to serve on the Council. Bennett is a leader in local, state and national homeland security and emergency response. He was the founding chairman of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Domestic Preparedness Consortium where he served for five years. He is Executive Director of the National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center and the founder of Texas Task Force-1 (TX-TF1), a FEMA federal urban search and rescue team. He served as director of the team and was deployed to the World Trade Center following the 9-11 terrorist attacks. He has chaired the advisory boards for both TX-TF1 and the Texas Fire Training School and has served as director of the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX), as well as head of the Law Enforcement and Emergency Services Training Divisions of TEEX. He also has been a member of several governmental blue ribbon panels on topics related to terrorism policy and is regularly invited as a speaker at state and national conferences. He was a member of the ECO Terrorism Committee and the National Association of Universities and Land Grant Colleges, and currently serves on the DHS Executive Working Group for the System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders program. From 1999-2002 he was the State of Texas Administrator for the Statewide Homeland Security Grant program. Bennett joined the Texas A&M faculty in 1986 and prior to his current appointment, served as department head in industrial engineering; associate dean; associate vice chancellor; and director of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station and TEEX. Before coming to Texas A&M he held faculty positions at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and the University of South Florida, as well as senior engineering positions at the Martin Co., Lockheed Research Laboratories and the Honeywell Aerospace Corp. Bennett is the recipient of numerous awards and honors and has been recognized for his professional contributions by being elected a Fellow of both the Society of Logistics Engineers and the Institute of Industrial Engineers. He was awarded the Eccles Medal by the Society of Logistics Engineers for his contributions to logistics engineering and has been recognized as a distinguished educator through the awarding of the Albert G. Holzman Award by the Institute of Industrial Engineers. In 2006, Gov. Rick Perry appointed Bennett to a five-year term on the Texas Board of Professional Engineers, which licenses engineers, enforces the Texas Engineering Practice Act and regulates the practice of professional engineering in Texas.

For More Information, Contact: Reporter: Timothy C. Schnettler tschnettler@tamu.edu (979) 458-2277