About Reconnect Workshops

The CCICADA Summer Reconnect Workshops expose faculty who teach undergraduates to the role of the mathematical sciences in homeland security by introducing them to a current research topic that will be relevant for classroom presentation. They also give  government and industry researchers  an opportunity to learn about recent techniques.

Topics are presented in a weeklong series of lectures and activities led by a leading expert in the field. Participants are involved in both research activities and in writing materials useful in the classroom or to share with their colleagues, with the possibility of ultimately preparing these materials for publication in either our Technical Report or our Educational Modules Series.

The Reconnect 2013 workshop was held at Morgan State University on water infrastructure and risk analysis.

The Reconnect 2013 workshop was held at Morgan State University on water infrastructure and risk analysis.

These workshops offer the opportunity for junior faculty as well as mid-level and senior faculty (many from minority serving institutions), as well as government and industry professionals, to advance to research questions in a new area of the mathematical sciences. Participants also acquire materials and gain ideas for seminar presentations and for undergraduate research projects and can network with people from a variety of backgrounds.

The 2014 topic is Forensics. (2014 workshop-participant information)

Forensics was traditionally described as training in the skills of public advocacy, including the development of evidence, and thus found one of its important venues in the law courts. As such, the term forensic has become associated with the art and science of legal evidence and argument. Today, CSI has brought attention to the field of criminal forensics as they attempt to solve crimes on television. Forensics includes legal evidence and argument in a variety of areas, from criminal justice and cyber forensics to maritime forensics, environmental forensics, and more.

The Reconnect 2014 will choose a few of these areas and discuss the tools used. For example, fingerprint analysis uses graph theory, cyber forensics uses cryptology, and CT scans are used across many forensics areas especially in marine mammal forensics. Speakers included Nasir Memon from the Computer Science Department at NYU, Victor Faye-Wolfe from the Computer Science Department at the University of Rhode Island, Michael Moore from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Lt. Kellie Dougherty from the U.S. Coast Guard, Sgt. Blake Gilmore of the MA State Police, and Gene Fiorini of Rutgers DIMACS.