Antibiotic resistance in foodborne germs, an ongoing public health threat, showed both positive and troubling trends, according to data tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2012. Each year, antibiotic-resistant infections from foodborne germs cause an estimated 430,000 illnesses in the United States.
Jeremy Smith, University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge National Laboratory (UT-ORNL) Governor's Chair, is a member of the team that is trying to engineer enzymes so they work more efficiently against chemical weapons. This brings researchers a step closer to creating a prophylactic drug that would neutralize the deadly effects of the chemical weapons used in Syria and elsewhere.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded more than $840 million to continue improving emergency preparedness of state and local public health and health care systems. The grant funds are distributed through two federal preparedness programs - the Hospital Preparedness Program and the Public Health Emergency Preparedness programs.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced recently its selection of academic partners for the 2014 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) University Challenge, a project designed to find innovative ways to increase public awareness of industrial releases of toxic chemicals in communities and around the country.
Officials at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have announced plans to establish two new research Centers of Excellence to work with academia and industry on issues in forensic science and disaster resilience. NIST Centers of Excellence provide multidisciplinary research centers where experts from academia, industry and NIST can work together on specific high-priority research topics.
Carnegie Mellon University has been issued designations as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance/Cyber Defense Education and a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance/Cyber Defense Research for academic years 2014 through 2021. The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security jointly sponsor the Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) program and award the designations.
Rave Mobile Safety, the trusted software partner for campus and public safety, recently announced availability of Rave Panic Button, a breakthrough technology that helps schools and 9-1-1 more effectively respond to active shooters and other emergencies.
After more than a decade of large, land-based operations driven by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the proposed Defense Department budget for the coming fiscal year focuses on new and emerging threats, including those in cyberspace, with the department proposing significant reductions in the size of the Army and Marines, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told a Senate panel recently.
New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Commissioner Joseph F. Bruno and Department of Design and Construction (DDC) Commissioner Feniosky Peña-Mora recently debuted the nation's first Urban Post-Disaster Housing Prototype. The project aims to augment federal capability to deliver multifamily, multistory housing to urban areas in a post-disaster situation.
The written testimony of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, Newark Special Agent in Charge Andrew McLees. Special Agent McLees shares information about the role of the Department of Homeland Security in supporting the comprehensive efforts to safely secure mass gatherings and large-scale public events in the United States.
