Outreach & Engagement

Areas of Research :: National Security :: Infrastructure Protection Research

• The New York Strategic Center for Port Security, which combines the security expertise of Maritime College, Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is in the vanguard of security microsensor technology that can detect traces of hazardous materials on cargo-carrying vessels.


• Source Sentinel LLC, a public-private partnership that combines the talents of researchers at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and industry, is using a suite of sensor technologies to develop a field deployable system that can alert officials to specific toxins and chemicals that enter drinking water supplies and treatment systems.


• Structural engineers from the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, who are affiliated with the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research at the University at Buffalo, are studying how to analyze, design and construct buildings, bridges and infrastructure that are resilient to terrorist attack using explosives. Technologies and approaches being evaluated include some developed at University at Buffalo for earthquake-resistant construction.


• Dr. Surajit Sen, associate professor of Physics, is working on a shock-absorption system using long, cone-shaped chains of spheres that ultimately could make blast-proof structures. He has also developed a method of propagating mechanical energy into soil. The backscattered energy can be useful in reconstructing images of buried objects such as mines.

Left to Right: The technology developed by Source Sentinel is a critical component in ongoing efforts to protect public water supplies and build a strong homeland security industry infrastructure in New York State.     SUNY scientists are developing port security microsensor technology that can detect minute traces of hazardous materials on containerships and other vessels.