SRA Resources

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Article by Kim Nguyen

Six students from the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) recently attended the Security and Risk Management Association (SARMA) conference in Arlington, Va., where they delivered a presentation on the Security and Risk Analysis (SRA) program at Penn State.

Sophomore Joe Flynn, juniors Russ Beck, Matt Maisel and Craig Shannon, senior Caroline Furey and alumnus Terence Melonas presented “Perspectives from Penn State Security and Risk Analysis Students,” providing conference attendees with an overview of the SRA program. Each highlighted the classes, professors and some of the projects that they developed for use within the program.

Projects included “The Case of General Alpha,” in which they learned about team decision making, DEDACT, a deception analysis tool, and SNAPR, a social networking risk tool. The students were also given the opportunity to discuss projects done by the Security and Risk Analysis Club.

“We had the chance to highlight activities such as our virtual learning environment that utilizes open source virtualization software for students to test hacking,” said Furey.

The students said the presentation went well and were impressed by the reception it received at the conference.

“The presentation was extremely well received,” Beck said. “Those in attendance gave us some great feedback, tips for the future and encouragement to keep up the good work.”

Furey said the SRA program and Penn State were well-received by the security community.

“The professionals in the audience were mostly unaware that universities were developing such programs,” she said. “Many used the discussion period at the end to extend their congratulations on our success thus far and relay how impressed they are at the SRA program and initiative of the students.”

This year’s conference, themed “New Perspectives on Security Risk Management,” was held June 16 - 18 at the George Mason University School of Law’s Center for Infrastructure Protection.

Some 60 speakers presented at the conference on a range of issues facing the security and risk management community. Topics included security in the transportation sector, cyber security, counterterrorism and critical infrastructure protection.

The conference included a speech by Michael Chertoff, former security of homeland security, a keynote session with Tina Gabbrielli, director of the Office of Risk Management and Analysis in the Department of Homeland Security and a motivational speech by Roger Cressey, president of Good Harbor Consulting.

“We were overwhelmed with the opportunity to listen to so many brilliant speakers,” said Shannon.

The students also participated in a meet and greet with others in attendance, including CEOs and CIOs of various companies and professionals in the intelligence analysis, cyber security and risk management field.

For Shannon, meeting others that work in the field exposed him to more options than he had previously imagined available.

“Meeting all of these people with such different backgrounds really reinforced the idea that risk analysis isn’t just something that is needed in the public sector,” he said.

Will McGill, an assistant professor in IST, was also a part of the conference, serving as a panel member on the topic of regional risk analysis. This is the second year that students from IST have attended the conference.

For more information about the SARMA conference, visit: sarma.org. You can also read more about the students’ experiences on Beck’s blog.

Donald Shemanski served for 23 years as a diplomat with the United States Foreign Service. Shemanski more recently held the position of Counselor for Global Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, directing the Embassy office responsible for high-priority policy issues such as counter-terrorism, nuclear nonproliferation, climate change, and international judicial assistance. He has had a number of postings in Washington and abroad, including tours in Italy, Pakistan, Cyprus, and Germany. His assignments have included serving as Deputy Special Envoy to the Afghan Mujahedin.  Before his life in the Foreign Service, Shemanski was also a Lawyer. Shemanski currently resides a professor of security and risk analysis in the College of IST at Penn State.

Dr. Scott Bennett is a Research Professor of Political Science at Penn State. He specializes in international conflict, methodology, and computer applications. Dr. Bennett has studied the duration of international phenomena including wars, crises, rivalries, and alliances. He is currently working to develop models of how the balance of power affects conflict escalation, and what features of countries and conflicts lead to more or less fatalities in wars.

Dr. Philip Jenkins has expertise in numerous subjects in History and Religious Studies. His major interests include the study of global Christianity, past and present; new and emerging religious movements; and twentieth century US history, chiefly post-1975.   Professor Jenkins also has an enduring interest in issues of crime and deviance, and the construction of social problems. In 2007, Dr. Jenkins addressed the Prime Minister of Britain, Tony Blair, at a conference on Islam and Muslims in the World Today.  He has published more than twenty books, which have been translated into ten languages. IN 2003, Dr. Jenkins wrote Images of Terror: What We Can And Can’t Know About Terrorism.