UA News

The University of Arizona will lead a team of research universities that have partnered to form the National Center for Border Security and Immigration, Research. The center will receive more than $16 million over six years.

Jay Cohen, the undersecretary for science and technology for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, joined U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, UA President Robert N. Shelton and other UA officials at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the UA campus Wednesday to mark the opening of the center.

The UA will lead the research functions of the center, and the University of Texas at El Paso will lead its educational components.

The establishment of the center by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security follows more than two years of work assembling a team of U.S. universities and Mexican and Canadian institutions, government agencies, border stakeholders, technology companies and national laboratories.

"Borders are a high priority for the integrity of the country and our sovereignty," Cohen said. "We were looking for integrated solutions for security at home."

Cohen also believes that the collaboration with the UA and other universities will encourage younger people to take an interest in the so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.

The National Center for Border Security, Research will be led by Jay Nunamaker Jr., a UA Regents' Professor and the Soldwedel Professor of management information systems, computer science and communication.

Nunamaker currently serves as the director of the UA's Center for Management of Information in the Eller College of Management. Elyse Golob will serve as the center's executive director. She currently is the director of the UA Office of Economic and Policy Analysis.

Research at the National Center for Border Security and Immigration, Research will focus on new technologies such as detection, surveillance, screening, data fusion, sensor networks and other technologies.

The center also will provide research on border risk management, population dynamics, immigration policy, policy, law enforcement, international governance and related legal issues.

A total of eight projects are overseen by the center, segmented into the following categories:

• Detection – Humans, vehicles and decision support
• Networks – Interoperability and reliability
• Fusion – Tools and approaches
• Risk – Mitigation, assessment and management
• Population – Methods, metrics and estimates
• Immigration – Economics and policies
• Governance – Law enforcement and international cooperation
• Law – Civil liberties and rights

Nunamaker cites that departments from throughout the UA, and the other universities involved, will contribute toward the center's success. "It's an integration of all of things all of the universities are doing."

According to Nunamaker, students will be integral contributors to the center's research efforts, and graduate and doctoral students will be hired as research assistants.

He also cites the opportunity to collaborate with agencies such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol as beneficial to the work of the researchers. "It gives us an entrée to agencies that we wouldn't have had a chance to work with otherwise."

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security began the process of establishing the center by issuing a request for proposals. After receiving white papers from several universities, which were reviewed by a non-partisan review board, a handful of finalists were selected. The UA was selected to manage the center in February.

The UA's location – 50 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border – makes it an ideal location for the center's headquarters. "I am so proud that the UA was selected as a co-lead for this center because we are on the front lines," Giffords said.